Controversy Clocking Episode 3: Deus Ex Mankind Divided and toxic pre-order culture

Pre-orders have come under a lot of scrutiny in recent years. What was once a way to guarantee a copy of a highly anticipated game on day one has turned into a point of scepticism and suspicion. When a major title announces its pre-order scheme nowadays, many questions are asked; are the game companies being truthful in their representation of the final product? How is content divided among all the retailers and online stores which will distribute the title? Are aspects of the game being cut out and restricted to people who pay early? These questions have prompted many individuals, most notably YouTuber TotalBiscuit to stop pre-ordering all together (Which he discusses in the video above). Frankly there’s not much trust or indeed any reasonable benefit to pre-orders anymore; so where did they go wrong? It all comes down to the drive for profits.

There was a time when pre-orders were so simple; I remember purchasing InFamous for the PS3 back in 2009, the game came with an access code for the Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta. That was it; there was only one piece of downloadable content restricted to pre-orders, the Gigawatt blade, and that was a tiny portion of the entire game which could easily be skipped without feeling cheated. Nowadays, there are pre-order incentives everywhere and each retailer absolutely has to have their own little slice of content to boost their personal sales. Watch Dogs was one of the biggest examples of this; nine, count them, NINE different versions of the game went up for sale at several different retailers, meaning that no matter which edition you chose, you were going to lose out on some content. On top of that, Ubisoft also put out a season pass for downloadable content that we knew nothing about. Of course all the content from each of these editions was eventually released onto digital marketplaces for consumers to buy for an additional set of fees. It’s clear what their goals were from the offset and apparently it paid off; Watch Dogs became the most successful new IP in Ubisoft’s history, breaking the record for day one sales. If this proves anything, it’s that pre-order culture is still very much alive and well, even as it continues to degenerate into one of the biggest money-making ploys in gaming.

The most recent case of pre-order rubbish in the games industry stems from the upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. “Augment your pre-order” was a horrendous system; encouraging consumers to pre-order and then tell everyone else to do the same in order to gradually unlock what they called tier bonuses, which included extra missions and the worst of all, getting the game five days early. Rarely has there ever been a point where content has been split up so vigorously whilst hype culture is exploited to the highest level. It was done solely to maximise profits before the game was even out and it’s quite shocking that anyone would actually buy into this practice. The practice on the whole was almost like an infestation, ripping off one consumer, before spreading to others and the only way to be guaranteed every bit of content was to pay out an insulting one hundred and fifty dollars for the Collector’s Edition. Suffice it to say, consumers and critics of the industry were furious and demanded the system to be cancelled.

Pre-orders on the whole have become a pretty poor value for all consumers; in the case of games like Watch Dogs, most were practically forced to put down more money to get the extra content that was left out of the version they pre-ordered via digital means, whereas with other titles like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, hundreds of customers were left with a broken game and had no real opportunity to get their money back. The bottom line is that they have your money already, so why should they care if it negatively impacts you in terms of value? Getting the game on day one is a small benefit, compared to the numerous opportunities it gives companies to rip you off. It’s gotten to the point where the only reason why people pre-order is to get access to this additional content and little else.

The aftermath

Thankfully, game developers and publishers are listening, now more than ever. Nowhere has that been more evident than this year. Following the largely negative feedback, Square Enix and Eidos Montreal have cancelled the “Augment your pre-order” scheme, offering all content with a single pre-order rather than splitting the content up. It feels like consumers are finally having a proper voice against the practices that are plaguing the game industry. With that said, pre-orders are still a very controversial topic as when you hand companies your money early on, it’s practically a free pass for them to cut content and throw in other bad practices. There won’t ever be a time when all consumers are completely informed about the ways game companies treat their customers but this has been a step in the right direction. Another positive change that happened recently was a new law in the UK; the Consumer Rights Act will now ensure that full refunds can be given for faulty or unsatisfactory digital goods purchase for thirty days after purchase. Other countries where games are sold should seriously consider this kind of law as it will significantly cut down on the times companies can get away with shipping broken products to market.