With Electronic Arts recently winning the Golden Poo from Consumerist.com for being the worst company in America I decided to make a list
of ways video game publishers screw over their loyal costumers. I understand
that Electronic Arts is not the worst company in America but just stating that
there are worse companies does not exonerate Electronic Arts, Activision, Warner Brothers, Ubisoft, or any of the other gigantic game publishers from their dickish
actions.
1. Downloadable Content (DLC) – Publishers are using
downloadable content as a way to cash in even further on games that are already
overpriced at 59.99. One would assume that 60 dollars is enough for one
videogame but many games have multiple DLC’s ranging from 10-30 dollars. This
would be fine if the content is worth the price but it very rarely is. In the
cases of Call of Duty or Battlefield these are simply map packs which cost the
company almost nothing to produce. When first person shooters were actually not
populated with teenage retards and pretty much exclusively on PCs companies
used to give users the ability to make their own maps for multiplayer and there
were literally thousands of maps for players to use. Instead we pay 15 dollars
for 4-5 new maps while EA and Activision roll around in fountains of money and
children’s souls. I haven’t found a DLC worth paying for and I’ve
embarrassingly paid for more than I’d like to admit.
2. Online Passes – Due to game companies loving profits and
hating you the gamer, many have decided to include online passes for their
games. These are usually included with a new purchase of the game and ensure
that you can play multiplayer or download (and pay for) all the bullshit overpriced
downloadable content.
They did this in order to combat used games sales because
god forbid the consumer not give them 60 or more dollars for their game. The
game industry constantly complains about how the used game market is killing
the industry despite presenting no evidence that it’s any different than the
used book market. There are talks about eliminating the used game market all
together on the next wave of consoles and with digital distribution seemingly
the only rational next step for gaming, they probably will succeed. It’s sad
that these companies who rake in billions of dollars in profit are worried
about the used game market that shows no noticeable impact on their sales.
Every time the videogame industry remotely struggles they’re very quick to tell
you it’s the used games market’s fault. They literally want you to purchase a
commodity for 60 dollars
plus whatever downloadable content and then have that
commodity be totally worthless after you bought it. Let’s be totally clear,
this is not just unfair, it’s evil.
3. In Game Purchases – This is kind of like downloadable
content but more of a slap in the face to the gamer. In game purchases are
paying for something you could normally do in the game so you can get it right
away. For example, in MLB: The Show’s Road to the Show mode you make your baseball
player who’s trying to become a successful baseball player better by playing
games. Sony has allowed gamers who don’t feel like going through this process
to purchase attribute points right off the start for a nominal fee. I feel like
it defeats the purpose of the game and I feel like you should never have to pay
for something you can get in the game anyway. If they felt some players might
like to progress quicker in the game they should make you be able to customize
the game mode, not charge you. I don't play a lot of IOS games but this seems to be frequently found in most of the games available on the App Store. It’s really just a despicable cash in for
companies and shouldn't be tolerated in any means.
4. Remakes – Remakes, “HD Collections,” or “ports” have
taken the game industry over. If you played a game that’s over 5 years old, and
it was good, chances are it’s been remade for HD televisions and will cost you
between 20-60 dollars. Most of the time it’s just the same game with updated
graphics and once in a while they’ll throw in a few extras that don’t really
add to the game experience much. I guess it isn’t enough to make a crap load of
money off the consumer the first time around so companies need to really milk
them for every dollar they have. “Buy our game for the 16th time or
you’ll miss out on the remake where we replaced all the characters, action and
story with Tim Tebow, only 59.99!”
5. Perennials – If there is a new version of the game you
like to play released every year, chances are you’re paying for bullshit. I’ll
just use Call of Duty and Madden for examples. Both are not bad games and have
pretty solid gaming engines behind them, but both have not added a single
fucking thing to their games in the last 5 years. You’re essentially paying for
a new coat of paint over the same product every year. Sports games in general
tend to be huge offenders of this and I’ve explained by dislike of Call of Duty
in my article, Call of Duty Fucking Sucks. I wonder if you can figure out what
that article is about.
6. Gimmicks – So many videogames are targeted at people who
don’t like to play videogames through gimmicks. Remember how the Nintendo Wii
was going to change gaming by getting people off their couch? Well guess what?
It didn’t change a thing! There are literally about 10 games (Being totally
generous here because the real number is probably 0) for the Wii that actually
make use of the motion controls or do anything that is actually innovative or
fun. The Wii sold through the roof proving what morons we all are, and so did
the Microsoft Kinect and Playstation Move which were just rip offs of the
already failed gimmick. I have to stop with this one before I enter into a
territory where I just start insulting everyone. All I have to say is did you
really think playing videogames was going to get your fat ass in shape?
7. Advertising- When you pay 59.99 for a product the last
thing you should have to do is see shameless ads. EA is a huge offender of this
with Gatorade ads running on Madden to Burger King ads running on their Fight
Night series. It isn’t enough to just sell you an overpriced videogame but they
have to advertise inside the game itself? That’s just disgusting right?
8- Pre-order Incentives- Again, the videogame industry is so
concerned you don’t buy games used that they offer “exclusive content” as
incentives to pre-order a game. When videogames weren’t as mainstream you used
to actually have to pre-order a game to have it on the day it came out. Now
game retailers like Gamestop lie to you about their supply (trust me you can
buy whatever game you want the day it comes out) and offer you incentives to
pre-order that are almost never worth it. The content is almost never exclusive
to pre-orders because companies love money so much that they’ll eventually
release it anyway.
I don’t think it’s asking too much for companies to make a
reasonable profit without blatantly stealing your money. I mean some of these
tactics can only be described as greedy in the best of light. Let me sum things
up explaining the game Mortal Kombat that was released last year.
The game was a remake of the games released in the 90’s and
was also rereleased in the early 2000’s. It
debuted at 60 dollars and had special pre-order content on it that you could
only get if you pre-ordered the game. It also had downloadable content already
available at the online store on the day of its release. The worst part about
this downloadable content was that it was already included on the disc you
just bought. So it obviously didn’t cost the company a
cent more to include this content as it was made before the games
release but the consumer was still expected to pay 5-10 to "unlock" it from the disc. On top
of that they expected gamers to pay 5 dollars for the extra characters they’d
be releasing in the upcoming months.
If this isn't a sickening and unacceptable way
to treat your customers then what is? Just because video games are “unimportant” doesn’t
mean that Warner Bros. in this case can just blatantly milk money out of you. Games are art and I totally don't mind paying for them to be developed because they're awesome. It's just tough to buy these games knowing you're supporting companies that don't give a shit about the art and just look at you as a walking dollar sign.
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