70°

The Diminishing Consumer Value

As several opinion blogs and varying articles have already noted, the growing trend amidst the video game entertainment industry is one in which the highest sales get’s the highest praise. Too often a game can be released riddled with bugs, glitches and performance issues, only to be backed up with a multi-million dollar advertisement and marketing campaign, garnering it the top spot in sales nationwide.

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sempercog.com
kdogdaddy4940d ago

For once i'd like our opinions and voices to count more for our wallets. But history tells us that is never to change.

Yi-Long4940d ago (Edited 4940d ago )

... first of all I just feel 50-60 bucks is often too much for what we're getting.

2nd of all, developers often announce they'll DLC-milk their new game before it's even out, so that automatically means I won't be buying it at release, but I will just wait for a complete/ultimate/GOTY edition which will have all the content included.

IF I'm still interested by then.

3rd of all: Nowadays games are often on sale within months of release.

4th: there are so many great games coming out nowadays, that I already have a pile of games I have yet to play, and by the time I'm done, the games which have come out in the meantime are already on sale anyway, so why even bother buying it at release?

5th: bugs and patches. When you buy a game in the first weeks you pretty much already know it's probably gonna get patches.

There are more reasons why it's better to just wait and 'vote with your wallet', like games being too short, too easy, etc etc...

In short: Just wait a couple of months and get the game for half or even a third of the price. It will give you so much more to spend and enjoy.

kdogdaddy4940d ago

Couldn't agree with you more. As an avid gamer, and criticizing player, I couldn't tell you how many times I've been burned and forced to deal with frustrating issues ranging from released, broken games to exorbitant fees and worthless DLC's.

jim2wheels4940d ago

I do exactly the same. I just got God of War 3, Castlevania LoS and Pro Evo 2011 for £55 (around $70-80?) from Amazon. Two of those were released less than a month ago!

One reason is price, the other reason being that I know most of the bugs will be ironed out before I play it.

GT5 is the exception to the rule of course ;)

Yi-Long4940d ago

... yeah, GT5 might be an exception for me as well.

On the one hand I already have a whole pile of games I have yet to play, but on the other hand a local store will be selling it for 44 euro here when it's released.... so that's a pretty good price here in Holland for a new release...

I'll wait to see some reviews and I might decide either way.

-Alpha4940d ago (Edited 4940d ago )

That's exactly what I do-- wait a couple months. Some games I make an exception.

It's too bad that the general trend this gen is to release broken games and then patch them down the line. Sometimes they don't even get patched.

MW2 was supposed to get a mega patch for commando all that but Acti canceled it. The reason? BO was around the corner.

Consumer value is dying because consumers allow it to. Simple as that. And if you DON'T bend over there are still too many others that do.

I still think that there is a great amount of value in many games, but more and more devs are getting lazy.

jack_burt0n4940d ago

I do the same thing but the problem with that is the industry is getting top heavy.

Activision will keep increasing the RRP of Call of Duty every year and the only titles that retain their value are 3 million plus sellers like GTA4 and red dead redemption.

What that means is smaller titles will literally disappear if we all wait till they hit £17.99 if u can afford it support ur fav games on launch!!

Unless u want the only games available to u a call of duty every year and GTA every 3 years.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4940d ago
kdogdaddy4940d ago

Say's the *cough* marxist/socialist. (inside joke)

DarkSorrow4940d ago

Well, I never buy a game either. I'll download it first. If it's good I might buy it. If it sucks, I didn't waste my money did I?

kdogdaddy4940d ago

Whatever happened to a proliferation of Game Demo's and open beta's before a game's launch?

iceman064940d ago

That was pretty much KILLED with the sequel to the sequel to the sequel mentality that has plagued the industry this gen. Because companies really don't want to take the financial risk on new IP's, they have begun to sequel us to death. Since the assume that MOST of their sales come from repeat business, they feel that there is no need for a timely demo. Unfortunately since the average consumers are mostly sheep, they will buy anything with the proper name attached...quality be damned. Thus, why have a beta if you REALLY don't care about the quality of the release. If there's an issue...just patch it...they'll buy it anyway. THAT is what the industry has become. Turn in your unfinished term paper because you KNOW that you will get unlimited re-writes!!!

LJCabo2se4940d ago

Bring back the demos and beta's!!

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90°

All Call of Duty Black Ops Games Ranked

The Nerd Stash: "Developed by Treyarch Studios, Call of Duty: Black Ops games are some of the best in the series in terms of gameplay, story, and -- of course -- Zombies."

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thenerdstash.com
Rynxie12h ago(Edited 12h ago)

Black ops 4, because it was the last cod of duty I was able to dominate with a +2 k/d ratio. Before all the freaking cheating started to happen. It was nice catching people off guard and shooting at them first and getting the kill. Unlike now, where I shoot people first, but they gun me down with less hits, less time, literally feels like they can kill me in a split second. At times, they are able to run away after me shooting them way more than necessary, yet, the second I'm spotted, I'm dead, there's no me running away to cover. They can do cartwheels, summersaults, backflips and gun you down perfectly. They can shoot you across the map with perfect accuracy. They can jump around like morons and gun you down without even having to correct their aim. They have superman split second perfect reactions. That's the best way to describe it, everything they do is spot on perfect. They can spam and spray (no praying) their gun from far away, because they have no recoil or bullet spread. It always feels like I have to aim and also correct my aim when moving around, while these pricks don't have to do the same.

And yes, I know how to play fps games. I dominated many fps games like: Resistance 1&2, kz 2&3, Socom, MAG, Crysis, Gotham City Impostors, blitz brigade etc. all with 2-4 k/d ratio. Kz2 (lag input controls) and resistance (no aim assist in resistance) being the hardest and were the games I reached either close to a 3 k/d ratio or above.

I truly got to enjoy blacks ops 4 and got my money's worth out of it. Afterwords, I would either stop playing cod games after a while, because of the cheating, or would skip buying cod games for a year or two before buying another.

80°

Cheat Provider To Pay Call Of Duty Creator Activision Nearly $15M In Damages

Cheat software provider EngineOwning will pay Call of Duty creator Activision nearly $15 million in damages and legal fees.

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twistedvoxel.com
Jin_Sakai2d ago

Cheat providers for competitive games should be illegal.

Rynxie2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

This is what developers and manufacturers should do. I know going after cheat devices/makers is a cat and mouse game, and cost money. However, they can get that money back by sueing these manufacturers of cheat devices. Take a page from Nintendo's playbook.

70°

Activision team is opening a new game studio in Poland 'Elsewhere Entertainment' to build new AAA IP

Microsoft's Activision subsidiary announced today that it is opening a new game development studio to take advantage of the huge talent pool growing in Poland. It'll be the second Activision studio based in the region, joining Infinity Ward Krakow, although this studio is, in fact, not working on Call of Duty.

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windowscentral.com
Psychonaut8515d ago

They’re not working on Call of Duty? Give it time.