Jimquisition: Watch Dogs - Five Collector's Editions For One Game? What? F*$%ing WHAT?

[Grimh]

Yeah the whole thing's pretty silly. I'm certainly not getting any of those.

I had a look at the spreadsheet and it seems all the DLC stuff that's divided up between the editions is in the season pass.
So I guess I'll just get the standard edition and the season pass sometime whenever.

But then I'll have to live with the fact that I will never own what's-his-face's iconic cap.
That's gonna be tough... I mean, it's just so iconic.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

It's UbiSoft, what did you expect? They have been at it for ages, with the past few Assassin's Creed editions and the newest Splinter Cell being prime examples.

The fact that they are doing it with an unestabilished IP just show how much they give about consumer satisfaction.

don't talk to me about the new Splinter Cel on PC. Awful port, the frame rate got worse as I lowered setting. And Sam Fishers voice sounded strange no matter how many times the game was patched

 

[JarinArenos]

Dear Ubisoft,

Thank you for solving my conundrum regarding this game. I've been avoiding your releases for some time now, but I'd been considering breaking down and buying Watch Dogs. This announcement is perfectly timed to re-affirm my resolve and not purchase any version, collector's or no.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Here's what the games industry keeps teaching me;
Never trust any pre-lauch media or details.
Never pre-order.
Never trust a game not to have DRM.
Previews are mainly soft PR pieces, they are largely useless.
Avoid buying DLC as much as possible.
Never buy a paid game with a 'real money economy'.
Reviewers are terrible at judging PC ports, wait for a trusted source to evaluate it.
Wait a couple of months for the patches and truth to eventually come out.
Wait for the game of the year edition with all the DLC in it for less money than new.

After years of being burned the industry has basically turned me into a paranoid survivalist of a consumer. If you want me to buy any game you're going to have to prove a LOT.

Yep I'm pretty much a "wait for the GOTY on sale" type of guy, unless i see a really good price on a CD Key/DLC etc. ie just got Saints Row IV & season pass for £10 on Humble Sale. Played the Third, was fun but not worth the full price of a game, IV looked more of the same, waited for a price to suit.
I can list all my pre orders of the last 4 years;
Mass Effect 2
Dark Souls
Blood Dragon
Dark Souls 2
Mario Kart Wii U (only swayed by the fact i'd also get a free copy of the Wonderful 101)

Thats it, not a lot. What it is though, is a vote of no confidence, a vote with my wallet; and behind my keyboard, I'm pretty smug about the gamers who still get stung by the hype machine (not Joe/Jo public, but those who come to sites like this, and should have no excuse)

 

[Hawk of the Plain]

This right here is exactly the kind of crap I stopped buying games at release in almost all cases over. Yes it means I am behind six months to a year sometimes more on games I want to play, but I will gladly take that and pay a reasonable price for a complete game without slices cut off to be sold separately. Than to buy it a release and keep getting shafted for more money if I want the full game as more DLC comes out.

Hell I am still waiting for a Saints Row 4 GOTY/complete edition with the stupid amount of DLC that has.

 

[Magmarock]

I sent you an alien toy ^^ but Amazon wouldn't let me send any kind of notice with it.

Nonetheless you are quite welcome and I honestly think your videos should be required viewing. The amount of people I find who actually don't agree with basic consumer principles is astounding.

 

[Hitchmeister]

It's really not that complicated to figure out which Watch_Dogs special edition to buy. Just get the one that offers the most console exclusive missions at 1080p 60fps.

 

[thorin01]

The gaming industry right now reminds a lot of the comic book industry of the mid to late 90s. Ridiculously huge sales numbers. Multiple variant covers for even standard issues. Special editions. Toy bundles. Specialty bagging. All that stuff they did right before the market dropped out from under the industry. The industry still hasn?t recovered from that mess. Both DC and Marvel have become little more than sources of licensed properties for their respective parent companies. Sales of comics remain a bare fraction of what they were in the mid 90s.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

I feel Jim's videos should more directed at consumers than actual publishers, but he keeps acting as if all these practices are 100% the fault of publishers. Is it really that hard to understand that consumers are the MAIN reason this kind of bullshit gets pushed so far? "Pre-order culture" was created by consumers - publishers presented the concept and consumers went crazy over it, they spoke (with their wallets) "DO THIS MORE OFTEN PLEASE!" so that's exactly what publishers did.
Consumers encouraged ridiculous DLC practices by buying everything the moment it gets thrown out, buying DLCs that launch with the released game. Consumers embraced collector editions so here we are.

There's no point getting worked-up about the game industry making "fuck-ups", because all of these moves are calculated. There is no right/wrong/good/evil in business as long as it doesn't break any laws - there is only what sells and what doesn't sell. Yeah go ahead and tell me "you sound just like a soulless corrupt publisher", but I only strive to be realistic about things and not let emotions/morals get in the way of that reality.

Everyone has the right to criticize, but to what end? To what purpose? To achieve WHAT? Self-satisfaction of getting it off your chest, that's all I can think of. The only thing that is going to persuade publishers is sales figures (or lack of), i.e. voting with wallets.

 

[Mr C]

I hated the shitty Gears of War and Halo 3 tins, I do not know why they couldn't have used the same DVD style metal boxes used for the special editions of Doom 3 and Halo 2 on the original Xbox. However, Assassin's Creed on 360 was the final straw. A lame metal box with a cheaply crafted figure. Haven't wasted money on a special edition since, nor will I start again with any of these travesties Ubisoft are trying to shift.

 

[Mr C]

It's really not that complicated to figure out which Watch_Dogs special edition to buy. Just get the one that offers the most console exclusive missions at 1080p 60fps.

Saw what you did there, lol

 

[Kerethos]

Here's what the games industry keeps teaching me;
Never trust any pre-lauch media or details.
Never pre-order.
Never trust a game not to have DRM.
Previews are mainly soft PR pieces, they are largely useless.
Avoid buying DLC as much as possible.
Never buy a paid game with a 'real money economy'.
Reviewers are terrible at judging PC ports, wait for a trusted source to evaluate it.
Wait a couple of months for the patches and truth to eventually come out.
Wait for the game of the year edition with all the DLC in it for less money than new.

After years of being burned the industry has basically turned me into a paranoid survivalist of a consumer. If you want me to buy any game you're going to have to prove a LOT.

Oh, happy days on the internet when you see people who share your views on how to properly decide whether or not a game is worth your time and money!

This is exactly the way I do my games shopping nowadays, and I wish the large masses would embrace it too.

God I hate the pre-order culture and its obsession with day 1 DLC. It just means bad games sell before word gets out their bad, and good games get sold piece by piece... and both screw the consumer.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

There is another choice of course. There is the choice not to buy into any of this collector's edition bullshit. However don't enough people will actually do that.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I don't like Collector's Editions at launch in the first place. The one kind that I do like the sound of is a later Collector's Edition, with physical merchandise and possibly an alternate skin or something but no significant content changes to the original game. But even beyond not liking them, the gall of having console-exclusive content, store-exclusive content, preorder-exclusive content and the editions having such frenetic offerings so as to confuse the customer, that is infuriating.

When Watch_Dogs was previewed originally: That looks really cool, especially the open-world hacking.

When Watch_Dogs got a graphics downgrade: That doesn't bode well.

When early Watch_Dogs builds were reviewed: So it's a bit more restricted than I expected but it'll probably still be good, just not incredible.

When Watch_Dogs got 5 different editions, season pass, launch DLC, etc.: Sick of your shit, Ubisoft. You won't see a cent from me.

 

[irishda]

As someone who has never bought a collector's edition anything (Wow! You mean I get a figurine? That would've impressed seven year old me to no end), every time I see a special edition game I think "What fucking WHAT?!"

 

[Vegosiux]

I feel Jim's videos should more directed at consumers than actual publishers, but he keeps acting as if all these practices are 100% the fault of publishers. Is it really that hard to understand that consumers are the MAIN reason this kind of bullshit gets pushed so far? "Pre-order culture" was created by consumers - publishers presented the concept and consumers went crazy over it, they spoke (with their wallets) "DO THIS MORE OFTEN PLEASE!" so that's exactly what publishers did.
Consumers encouraged ridiculous DLC practices by buying everything the moment it gets thrown out, buying DLCs that launch with the released game. Consumers embraced collector editions so here we are.

There's no point getting worked-up about the game industry making "fuck-ups", because all of these moves are calculated. There is no right/wrong/good/evil in business as long as it doesn't break any laws - there is only what sells and what doesn't sell. Yeah go ahead and tell me "you sound just like a soulless corrupt publisher", but I only strive to be realistic about things and not let emotions/morals get in the way of that reality.

Everyone has the right to criticize, but to what end? To what purpose? To achieve WHAT? Self-satisfaction of getting it off your chest, that's all I can think of. The only thing that is going to persuade publishers is sales figures (or lack of), i.e. voting with wallets.

It's...more complicated. Yes, not to completely absolve the consumer, but advertising isn't just "the science of selling stuff", it's the science of manipulating people into thinking they want and/or need said stuff. Marketing departments have folks with degrees in psych whose profession it is to figure out how to trick the consumer into believing that handing over their money for whatever the company's selling is something they wanted to do all along in the first place.

The consumer can counter that by keeping themselves informed, and not buy things on a whim, but advertising is designed to trigger the whimsy-override over the cold, calculating reason.

 

[Vegosiux]

First world problems to the extreme.

How about if you can afford a collectors edition AT ALL, you have literally nothing to complain about.

Okay, I'll bite. How bad must a problem be before we have "something to complain about"? I mean, what's the threshold that makes complaints "legitimate"?

No really, complaints are valid. I always complain if I get the feeling someone's trying to rip the customer off.

 

[Snacuum]

Not to mention the terrible evolution of scarcity and economy that has been created around these 'collector's editions' to the point that getting a special edition of some variety now is completely synonymous with pre-ordering.

There used to be a time when somebody who wanted a special edition could wait and see how the game turned out, or wait and see if it was worth the price. Or even get a good bargain down the line. These days, many special editions are bought up by ebay traders who on-sell at a massive markup (like 300%) thanks to the 'limited' release. Even the regular Joes just selling their games second-hand have caught wind of this and try to make a deal for themselves like it's antiques roadshow or something.

I miss the time when I picked up almost all the special editions of games I originally missed on PS2 and Xbox. Now there's entire lists of games I haven't played because for so long I was hoping for a good deal on special editions.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

I feel Jim's videos should more directed at consumers than actual publishers, but he keeps acting as if all these practices are 100% the fault of publishers. Is it really that hard to understand that consumers are the MAIN reason this kind of bullshit gets pushed so far? "Pre-order culture" was created by consumers - publishers presented the concept and consumers went crazy over it, they spoke (with their wallets) "DO THIS MORE OFTEN PLEASE!" so that's exactly what publishers did.
Consumers encouraged ridiculous DLC practices by buying everything the moment it gets thrown out, buying DLCs that launch with the released game. Consumers embraced collector editions so here we are.

There's no point getting worked-up about the game industry making "fuck-ups", because all of these moves are calculated. There is no right/wrong/good/evil in business as long as it doesn't break any laws - there is only what sells and what doesn't sell. Yeah go ahead and tell me "you sound just like a soulless corrupt publisher", but I only strive to be realistic about things and not let emotions/morals get in the way of that reality.

Everyone has the right to criticize, but to what end? To what purpose? To achieve WHAT? Self-satisfaction of getting it off your chest, that's all I can think of. The only thing that is going to persuade publishers is sales figures (or lack of), i.e. voting with wallets.

It's...more complicated. Yes, not to completely absolve the consumer, but advertising isn't just "the science of selling stuff", it's the science of manipulating people into thinking they want and/or need said stuff. Marketing departments have folks with degrees in psych whose profession it is to figure out how to trick the consumer into believing that handing over their money for whatever the company's selling is something they wanted to do all along in the first place.

The consumer can counter that by keeping themselves informed, and not buy things on a whim, but advertising is designed to trigger the whimsy-override over the cold, calculating reason.

Exactly, and Jim is constantly criticizing those advertising designs. I was pointing out that he could be instead aiming his efforts towards informing consumers to NOT buy into this stuff or calculate for themselves whether it's worthwhile for them (he occasionally does do that).
Hurling verbal criticism at publishers is a futile effort that simply won't change anything because most of the world's biggest businesses and corporations aren't interested in opinions from individuals or groups, only quarterly reports (i.e. the wider picture). Jim seems to be under the impression that publishers are listening directly to him with that "oh look another big fuck-up by the game industry" tone of voice, but that's not how things work.

But I guess we all know what would make for more interesting JimQuisition episodes, it's vastly more entertaining to see someone ripping shit apart as evidenced by Yahtzee (my hero)