Poll: Have publishers taken special editions too far?

[mxc2012]

I read an IGN article i think on the topic and i was wondering what you guys think.

So in case anyone does not know, the new Splinter Cell game has a special edition coming out for 170 dollars which includes:

Custom 3-channel, ready to fly dual-engine remote-controlled airplane with a retail value of $150

and a bunch of other stuff. Now despite the fact that I will be buying it(in fact i have already pre ordered it) , I can't help feeling like a sucker. Will anyone else be buying it?

 

[EzraPound]

Yeah, special editions are getting ridiculous. But I like them when they come with stuff that's practical--I bought GoldenEye for Wii's SE because it came with a CONTROLLER, not an art book, a plastic firearm, and a cartridge of dental floss with Pierce Brosnan's face emblazoned on it.

 

[SSJBlastoise]

I'll just start off by saying that I'm not going to answer the poll because how much I am willing to spend is purely a case by case basis.

Now to answer your question in the title, no. Simply because there are often different editions which cater to what some people want. I bought the Bioshock Infinite premium edition because I wanted the art book and the other little items and the songbird edition didn't appeal to me because I didn't want a statue.

If the game only came out with the basic version and a version that cost $180 (random number) that includes an art book, little items and other in-game stuff and an RC toy it would be unfair because it would alienate the people that want only the smaller stuff.

And now that you've mentioned this edition I may look into it just for the fact that if you look at it like this: you can get an RC plane for retail price and get the new Splinter Cell game for $20 which seems good to me haha.

 

[Shroomster]

It mainly seems to be a money sink, as if im gonna get 100$ worth of satisfaction from a game (with a few exeptions), i could go to my capital city for that and go to a gig

 

[an annoyed writer]

I like some special editions, and I've got a few on my shelf at the moment. The most I have and will ever pay for one though is $150(USD, for you internationals here) and I will spend no more. Now this is coming from someone who likes a lot of modern special editions: Statues? Why not? Prop replicas? Sure! Artbooks? Hell Yeah! Practical stuff? Definitely. That being said, I hate special edition DLC, and I hate "Special Editions" that are little more than the standard edition with some extra DLC. Those can die in a fire.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

The only special editions that bother me are the ones that comes with a massive figurine or statue. I want the special edition, but I don't want the stupid statue. ._.

 

[Daft Time]

The only special editions that bother me are the ones that comes with a massive figurine or statue. I want the special edition, but I don't want the stupid statue. ._.

Heh, the only special editions that interest me are the ones that give me cool bits of merchandise. My main problem with a lot of special editions is a lot of the content is digital. I particularly hate the "buy this for one level we cut awkwardly out of the rest of the game!" thing that seems popular at the moment.

EDIT: That said, I don't actually spend money on special editions - I usually don't have enough in cash to buy it, even without all the justification stuff. When I was younger I bought a few though.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

The only special editions that bother me are the ones that comes with a massive figurine or statue. I want the special edition, but I don't want the stupid statue. ._.

Heh, the only special editions that interest me are the ones that give me cool bits of merchandise. My main problem with a lot of special editions is a lot of the content is digital. I particularly hate the "buy this for one level we cut awkwardly out of the rest of the game!" thing that seems popular at the moment.

EDIT: That said, I don't actually spend money on special editions - I usually don't have enough in cash to buy it, even without all the justification stuff. When I was younger I bought a few though.

I like physical art books and actual disc soundtracks. I was excited for the Dark Souls Collector's Edition(which was a free upgrade when you reserved it), but they changed it. Europe got the physical goodies while America got download codes. ._. We still got a physical art book, which was awesome, but I wanted a physical soundtrack, too. :{ I actually still have working download codes for the soundtrack and Behind the Scenes videos, since you can YouTube pretty much all of it.

 

[Daft Time]

The only special editions that bother me are the ones that comes with a massive figurine or statue. I want the special edition, but I don't want the stupid statue. ._.

Heh, the only special editions that interest me are the ones that give me cool bits of merchandise. My main problem with a lot of special editions is a lot of the content is digital. I particularly hate the "buy this for one level we cut awkwardly out of the rest of the game!" thing that seems popular at the moment.

EDIT: That said, I don't actually spend money on special editions - I usually don't have enough in cash to buy it, even without all the justification stuff. When I was younger I bought a few though.

I like physical art books and actual disc soundtracks. I was excited for the Dark Souls Collector's Edition(which was a free upgrade when you reserved it), but they changed it. Europe got the physical goodies while America got download codes. ._. We still got a physical art book, which was awesome, but I wanted a physical soundtrack, too. :{ I actually still have working download codes for the soundtrack and Behind the Scenes videos, since you can YouTube pretty much all of it.

Yeah, I really like physical copies of art-books and soundtracks as well. My stereo, when I have access to it, is almost as old as I am - so CD's are the easiest input. Digital copies are almost useless to me for listening to outside the game.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Kupo!

And with physical soundtracks, you can rip them off the disc if you really want a digital copy for your mp3 player. But of course, it's something a lot of customers want, so bye bye to that!

 

[Tyler Trahan]

I only think it's too much if the only options I have are the 60 dollar plain version and the 150 dollar UBER version. If there's the normal, extreme, and then something in the middle then I'm completely content. For example look at Rome II, the 150 dollar version looks friggin awesome IT COMES WITH A KIT TO MAKE A MINIATURE CATAPULT. However not everyone has that kinda money, if they made one for... 80 or 100 bucks that had some of the amenities of the collectors edition and made it a "Deluxe" version then I'm happy.

 

[Legion]

I find them to be a waste of money for me to be honest.

The art books, and other physical stuff will get looked at once and then forgotten about. The in-game stuff more often than not is an item with better abilities or statistics, and they quickly get outclassed by items in the normal game within an hour or so.

The statues can be a nice idea, but they never seem to be of something I'd want to have on display.

I also find that unless the game is going to last me a while, then a collectors edition just isn't worth the money, as I normally sell on games once I am done with them, unless there is multiplayer that I am likely to want to stick with. Or the campaign has a lot of re-playability.

 

[Fimbulvetr3822]

I only think it's too much if the only options I have are the 60 dollar plain version and the 150 dollar UBER version. If there's the normal, extreme, and then something in the middle then I'm completely content. For example look at Rome II, the 150 dollar version looks friggin awesome IT COMES WITH A KIT TO MAKE A MINIATURE CATAPULT. However not everyone has that kinda money, if they made one for... 80 or 100 bucks that had some of the amenities of the collectors edition and made it a "Deluxe" version then I'm happy.

As announced so far there is no ingame content associated with the collectors edition, however you will get the "Greek Culture Pack" when you preorder either standard or collectors edition. Its a shame though, as I am emigrating next year this will be the first Total war game I didn't get the collectors edition for . In my eyes I will never have enough money to give to the Creative Assembly.

 

[mxc2012]

I'll just start off by saying that I'm not going to answer the poll because how much I am willing to spend is purely a case by case basis.

Now to answer your question in the title, no. Simply because there are often different editions which cater to what some people want. I bought the Bioshock Infinite premium edition because I wanted the art book and the other little items and the songbird edition didn't appeal to me because I didn't want a statue.

If the game only came out with the basic version and a version that cost $180 (random number) that includes an art book, little items and other in-game stuff and an RC toy it would be unfair because it would alienate the people that want only the smaller stuff.

And now that you've mentioned this edition I may look into it just for the fact that if you look at it like this: you can get an RC plane for retail price and get the new Splinter Cell game for $20 which seems good to me haha.

That is actually the same logic i had when I ordered it, I agree that it depends on what game it is. I decide based on the series so if it is a series that I really enjoy I am more likely to go special edition. It seems like a good deal if you are into the series for sure.

 

[Total LOLige]

I've never bought a collectors edition and I don't plan to in the near future. I don't really like spending £40 on a game never mind £80-£110+. The Gears of War 3 collectors edition looked cool with the replica lancer but that's about it as far as I've been interested. I don't care for the digital crap you get either, "here's a free super awesome weapon, that's good for three levels" and other useless shit. I'm probably missing the whole point of these things because to be honest I'm not much of a collector, however I do like steelbook versions(I haven't bought any) of games and DVDs.

 

[mohit9206]

The worst kind of special editions are the pre-order based bonuses. Its really funny how some people will pre-order a game that they would not normally have only because it comes with stupid and silly pre-order bonuses like free downloadable avatar, a free soundtrack etc. But hey who am i to judge them ? To each their own. I have never spent more than $20 on a game in my life and i avoid all these marketing gimmicks like pre-orders,special editions, etc.

 

[Little Gray]

Yeah, I really like physical copies of art-books and soundtracks as well. My stereo, when I have access to it, is almost as old as I am - so CD's are the easiest input. Digital copies are almost useless to me for listening to outside the game.

You can hook a computer up to pretty much every stereo made in the past forty years or so as long as it wasnt a cheap piece of crap and sometimes you even can with those. I have one in my garage that is over thirty years old or so and when we have parties I plug my laptop/ipod into it.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Soundtracks and stuff like that are awesome. The BlazBlue Continuum Shift EX limited edition had a cool box and soundtrack. Annoyingly it didn't have all the songs in it and the soundtrack in that game is fucking godlike.

Persona 4 came with only half a soundtrack as well. Granted there are a lot of songs in that game but still.

Apparently i'm getting the P4A limited edition because Atlus decided to fuck up the EU release date by almost a full 12 months. You physically cannot buy the not-limited edition on Amazon anymore I think since my preorder (dated August 31st 2012 ty scumbags) was shifted onto the limited edition version. Thanks I guess. Assholes.

But they are getting out of hand. Not that they aren't HILARIOUS at times. Dead Island: Riptide anyone? Who the fuck was that statue aimed at? It's not even offensive, it was just bizzare and I have no idea why anyone would ever want such a tasteless statue. It's literally a severed female torso with no arms wearing the remnants of a bikini. What the fuck?

 

[Sniper Team 4]

The only collector's edition of a game I ever bought was Mass Effect 3, because I loved the franchise and I wanted to get the art book. It was okay.
No, wait! I keep forgetting that I bought AC III collector's edition. I REALLY wanted that flag!

But anyway, the only time I even consider buying a collector's edition is if the game comes with a statue. I like that sort of thing, and my shelves are covered with Kotobukiya statues and other products like that. However, the statues that do come with collector's editions always tend to be figures that I don't care about. I'd prefer a Cortana figure to a Master Chief one, Elizabeth to Song Bird, Merrill to Hawke, Liara, Female Shepard, or Tali (or even Miranda) to Male Shepard, Zelda to Link...so basically, I guess what I'm saying is that I would prefer a statue of the females in the game over the grizzly, tough-as-nails, look at how awesome I am as I glare at you, male statues that collector's editions seem to go with. Or the monster statues that they like to come with instead.

 

[Yuuki]

Crysis 3 is a hilarious example, it had 2 editions: "Hunter Edition" and "Deluxe Edition".

I was like ok, I just want the regular copy, no edition crap, where is that? Turns out Hunter Edition WAS the regular game.
It was just called Hunter Edition because...I have no idea. I believe they tried to make it "special" and possibly boosting sales by a tiny percentage.

Which makes me wonder if this is how they'll name future games.

Accouncing Crysis 4! This game will come in 3 editions:

AWESOME edition - $59.99
KICKASS edition - $69.99
BADASS edition - $89.99

What exactly is the point of calling something "edition" when it is just the regular game and priced accordingly?