Countries, especially influential ones like the UK, that are suffering from this BS should band together and fine the shit out of megacorps like Google for allowing this filth to fester and the harm it’s done so far, and also threaten to revoke their operational rights if they don’t agree to strict moderation going forward.
Well, I’m fucked.
My dude, unions without ‘monopolistic control’ have no teeth when negotiating with these parasitic companies. Collective bargaining is only as effective as how many people are in the collective.
God that’s scummy af.
I haven’t seen much coverage on the game yet myself, but I did see the review SkillUp uploaded. Apparently, the writing is pretty bland and mid, like that of Veilguard.
You’re not the only one, friend. The only thing I care about is what sort of pricing hijinks they get up to, which could have industry-wide consequences.
Bioware was a ghost of its former long before their staff was cut.
Early access reviews are notoriously unreliable these days. Think Cyberpunk and DAV just to name two. Sure, you can’t get a refund if you purchase two weeks later. But even though that’s the case, you can still make a more informed decision than going in blind by preordering. 2 weeks later, authentic community sentiment will drown out most of the deceptive marketing and paid-for reviews. Heck, you can even find playthroughs on YouTube to judge a game against your own personal tastes.
Saying that there’s no upside to not preordering just isn’t true.
Not anymore. Mostly for 3 main reasons.
The only reason I’d ever preorder something now is if there’s a significant risk of stock running out quickly. That’s not a thing with digital games, ask there’s no need to consider it.
I’ve been burned far too many times by getting shitty games on day one, after having fallen for all the fake hype, deceptive marketing, sophisticated astroturfing, and paid-for reviews. Now, as a rule, I’ll wait for about 2-4 weeks at least to see what the community sentiment is before I buy something.
And finally, games are fuck all expensive now. 70 dollars is already a bridge too far for many of the bug-riddled, unfinished slop big corpos push out these days. And then there’s “speculation” that RockStar will price GTA6 at a 100 dollars, giving all the publishers out there the precedent to do the same with their own titles. I’ll just take my time and wait for them to go on sale for at least 50% off before I consider getting something. (P.S. I say speculation, but I’m almost entirely convinced that it’s a deliberate industry psyop to get people primed for this insane price tag and reduce the sticker shock-induced backlash)
It’s not either or. It could be both. In rhis case, most of these reasons can be traced back to the perversion of capitalism.