But *insert company here* cares about The Gamers!

[The Enquirer]

Insert Sony in there and you've got the basic response I got when I was asked why I play Pc games and was not getting a Playstation 4. I was told "PC DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THE GAMERS!". Yes I was told that in all caps. This is why I stopped using Facebook and now shall continue to do so.

Aside from the total lunacy of saying my machine doesn't care about me rather than say, a particular company, I got to argue that Sony doesn't exactly care either. Between removing OtherOS retroactively from the PS3 after it was an advertised feature and major selling point, taking people to court who attempted to mod the console for one reason or another, or releasing the ps4 with many features inactive, essentially selling an unfinished product. I'm curious, what company do you think has screwed people over the worst? And which company has the worst consumers?

 

[Vegosiux]

How can an inanimate object care about anyone, anyway, indeed!

On the second point, not like "PC" is a "company" or that PCs are designed, built and sold by one company. Though, if we want to go for companies that really screw people over we are in the wrong industry. Should look at insurance, pharmaceutics and banking instead.

Still, I'll toss in the usual "EA stinks", but so does Activision when it comes to screwing people over, while the folks at Ubisoft just seem to be completely inept at dealing with their customers. And the fact that Sony had a huge PR head start entering the new gen solely by the virtue of "We're not Microsoft" is telling >.>

 

[Foolery]

No one cares about the gamers. They care about their wallets. Not a hard concept to understand. I don't give a fuck which company screwed over whoever. That shit is to be expected.

 

[Diablo2000]

I came in here thinking you were talking about "The Gamers", really funny movie that anyone who played DnD should watch.
But yeah... What to say?

"COMPANIES ARE GREEDY!"
Oh, no shit...

 

[Phrozenflame500]

PC is an asshole. Screw that guy, he doesn't care about the gamers.

Really, assuming any major corporate entity cares about you, even if they actually do, is a bad idea.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Companies don't love you. They love your money. I've never forgotten that.

 

[Something Amyss]

Companies don't love you. They love your money. I've never forgotten that.

It never amazes me how people will try and take their feelings for a corporation and assume they're reciprocated. It's one thing when it's a person, but when it's a company, a place of business....

At best, some companies have better PR and business relations with their consumers. And I'd rather reward that, but it's weird to see people associate it with affection.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

It never amazes me how people will try and take their feelings for a corporation and assume they're reciprocated.

So you're not surprised people expect it?

 

[GabeZhul]

But it's true! My PC really doesn't care about me! I was sick last week, and the bastard couldn't even be bothered to send me a get well card! /J

Seriously though, OP's experience might be the most off-the-wall stupid thing I have heard in the past few weeks, and I am a guy who frequently visits creationist youtube-channels for the lulz. At least there you expect the mind-numbing "arguments" in advance...

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Some companies do, but I often get this impression of them only through things they do that are beneficial to me or that I agree with. If they don't do any of those things then I do not get that impression. Caring about me as a consumer is not an argument for me, it is a result of other arguments I could use.

 

[Tanis]

COMPANIES AREN'T PEOPLE!
Wait, I mean, unless they're in the USA.
D:

But, seriously?
Atlus cares, they're so good at it.

 

[not_you]

Now, I find the thread title and the subject matter rather conflicting...

On the one hand the title set me off to believe that this would be a comparison between companies who actually do give a shit about gamers... (The only one I can think of is CD Project Red aka GoG... And even then it might not be caring about the gamers as much as it's "we pretend we care so we can have more money")

But then there's the actual content of the thread which just outlines how much companies don't care about us...

Also: Pc doesn't care about the gamers? yeah right... If it weren't for PC's there wouldn't be any games! What do you think they're made on? Cardboard?

Anyway... I do agree though, with the general consensus and everyone else's opinions...
No company actually cares about gamers... They TRY to make us THINK they do, but they're only really doing that so they have more money at the end of the day...

I mean, you could argue that some indie companies DO care about us, since they don't have anything else to rely on... So, yeah... CD Project Red... the only AAA company that can at least TRY and claim caring...

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Whether a company cares or not is irrelevant. The real question everyone should be asking themselves is, can and will this company deliver? If so, give them money. If not, keep it. It's really that simple. A lot of people take capitalism way too personally.

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

You mean Blizzard and Valve don't love me?

WHY!? WHAT DID I DO?~

Poor loyalists, it's OK to be loyal, but they'll never need you in a love way, they just need you in a cha-chinga way. It's OK, you always have your family.

Also EA, EA will always love you.

 

[JoJo]

No one cares about the gamers. They care about their wallets. Not a hard concept to understand. I don't give a fuck which company screwed over whoever. That shit is to be expected.

To be expected maybe, but we should still care who screws over who, so us consumers can punish companies which continually screw over customers by avoiding their products. They may not care about the gamers but they will care when their bad reputation starts hitting their profit margins. We should all stay educated and try to reward good companies whenever possible, make it an effective business strategy to be good to your customers.

 

[teebeeohh]

Companies don't care about you but some companies believe that a combination of good quality in your product and treating your customer right are better long term methods than dicking people over for short term gain.

 

[Heronblade]

I find that rather amusing, since I find that gaming on well balanced PC beats every console made by any company ever. You care about it, it cares about you, and a hell of a lot more than the console makers do.

 

[chadachada123]

Companies don't love you. They love your money. I've never forgotten that.

Valve loves you... If you are a content creator of some sorts. If you collaborate with someone to create content for their games and then get screwed over they screw that dude much more.

But to be serious and on topic: No, game companies never care about the gamer first. In the end they have to pay bills, eat etc. It is a job. And like most people they don't want to settle with a certain amount but want more.

While every business is looking to make at least enough money to stay afloat, I will say this:

When Bioware was founded by three medical doctors that simply loved video games, they took a philosophy of "We want to make video games, and to do that, we need to make money." This is likely true of many developers, at least as far as original intent goes or before they are bought out by one of the major publishers.

Currently, EA, owner of Bioware, and at least every other corporate video game publisher, takes the philosophy of "We want to make money, and to do that, we need to make video games."

While the wording might seem only subtly different, the difference in tone it sets and the way it affects gameplay is, I feel, pretty significant.

Edit: Valve, in my opinion, is a...unique case, since they are neither a public corporation nor do they have a, strictly-speaking, 'hierarchy' like most businesses that usually leads to greed that affects the gameplay. From appearances, it's almost as if they think "We want to make money AND games AND not fuck over people in the process."