Pachter in Major Tizzy With Advocacy Group Over Black Ops

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Pachter in Major Tizzy With Advocacy Group Over Black Ops



Michael Pachter believes Gamers' Voice is a "crybaby" for complaining about bugs in Black Ops, while Gamers' Voice finds Pachter ignorant of reality.

When industry analyst Michael Pachter learned that UK-based advocacy group Gamers' Voice lodged a Call of Duty: Black Ops [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107163-Gaming-Advocacy-Group-Reports-Black-Ops-to-UK-Government], he called Gamers' Voice a "crybaby" and said the move was a grab for political attention. Pachter's comments have sparked a debate over just how buggy the final version of a game can be, and how the public should respond if it feels slighted.

When IncGamers asked Pachter for his opinion on the Gamers' Voice complaint, he said: "They sound like a crybaby to me. All games are buggy, some more so than others. Have you tried Fallout: New Vegas [http://www.amazon.com/Fallout-New-Vegas-Pc/dp/B002SU4QG4]? Buggiest game ever ... If people don't like it, they can take it back to retail for a refund. Most bugs are patched within a reasonable time, and any serious gamer expects bugs. In my view, this is a blatant stunt by [Gamers' Voice founder and British Parliament member Tom Watson] to grab attention."

Gamers' Voice responded to Pachter by calling him ignorant of the organization, which Tom Watson did help to establish but has no hand in the daily operation of, and criticizing his knowledge of how serious it considers Black Ops' bugs to be. "We are not influenced by politicians; we represent gamers who have a variety of concerns," Gamers' Voice said in a press release. "We are reacting to Activision because we've had many, many emails about the game's crippling issues from British (and international) gamers who are unhappy with the buggy product and poor service Activision has provided to PC and PS3 gamers."

Gamers' Voice alleges that Black Ops' has "show-stopping" bugs it believes should have been fixed by Activision. To the advocacy group, critics and reviewers aren't a suitable form of communication about these bugs for consumers. Meanwhile, Pachter fired back his response to Gamers' Voice, saying it "seems genuinely unaware about standards for product performance in the UK and elsewhere."

"Given that tens of millions of people have managed to play Black Ops for hundreds of millions of hours, I can only conclude that the game works sufficiently well so as to allow for hundreds of millions of hours of game play," Pachter said to CVG in his reply. "The publisher is responsible for delivering a quality experience, not a perfect one ... Gamers' Voice can continue its quixotic quest to cause Activision to respond to a regulatory inquiry, or could take a more traditional approach and try to unite gamers to take a more civilized approach."

Pachter points out that Activision is a behemoth, and likely won't be intimidated enough to change its philosophy on game development and hitting the perfect release date, adding: "Consumers can't sue companies that make inferior products, unless they are unsafe, cause health problems, or are not fit for the intended purpose ... Gamers' Voice faces an impossible task in attempting to convince regulators that the game is not fit for its intended purpose."

Many gamers are definitely unhappy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105606-Disgruntled-PS3-Owner-Starts-Black-Ops-Refund-Petition] about the state of Black Ops, so I don't think it's right for Pachter to outright dismiss the attempt by Gamers' Voice to ask for an investigation on the matter. I can certainly see why Activision wouldn't want to miss its launch date for the yearly franchise, but if a product isn't ready, it should be held back. A publisher should be held accountable, but on the other hand, gamers also shouldn't have unreasonable expectations. Are the bugs found in the PC and PlayStation 3 versions of Black Ops severe enough to validate Gamers' Voice's complaint?

Source: IncGamers [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/285382/news/pachters-complete-researched-response-to-gamers-voice-controversy/]

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Soviet Heavy

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Jan 22, 2010
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Unless you're on the PC of course. Then you can't return the bloody thing.
I want to put Pachter in the Fear Pactor game that ENN came up with.

Anyways, Pachter is a sales analyst. Exactly how much does he know about game development? He could probably know about the time it takes to get a product to the shelves, but isn't it within the rights of the consumer to feel like they are getting a stable product?
 

Fuselage

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Nov 18, 2009
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Pachter should not be given more coverage, He is not a Analyst, He is an idiot who thinks he knows.
OT: Pachter is an idiot, All I need to say.
 

FightThePower

The Voice of Treason
Dec 17, 2008
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Pachter seems to have completely missed the point. All games have bugs, yes, but considering that the PC version of Black Ops is often completely incapable of running on PCs that are perfectly capable of handling it is more than just a funny little glitch. Honestly it sounds like he knows very little about the terrible optimisation of Black Ops for the PC and PS3.

Bottom line is: if you sell a product that doesn't work properly on a system that it's designed for, you can hardly call people 'crybabies' when they complain that the game they spent money on doesn't work properly.
 

MonkeyPunch

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Feb 20, 2008
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We expect bugs?
No - we realise that having 100% bug-free software is impossible, but there are also limits as to what is acceptable.

Also if gamers keep accepting buggy release we're opening ourselves up to getting shafted on a more regular basis.

Expecting that the utmost effort is done to eradicate bugs before a release is really not asking for that much. This problem is compounded when we clearly see that a game is released to meet a certain deadline, be it for movie tie-ins to be released alongside the respective movie or in the case of BLOPS the yearly release schedule Activision has set - and "oh look, the game has a lot of bugs but at least it got release at in the right release window".

I think what we demand is that games are first and foremost released in a complete and playable state and only secondly to meet an (to us consumers) arbitrary deadline which Publishers would like to see. If developers haven't allocated enough time to test their game sufficiently and iron out most of the bugs it is their problem and they should be held accountable for it.

[edit] Not to mention apparently the game is still buggy, yet the developers have time to create map packs and DLC, but not fix the core problems. [fixing core problems = no extra cash, DLC on the other hand = extra revenue]
You've got to understand that it could make some consumers a little angry.
 

Rednog

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Nov 3, 2008
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Since when can you return an opened game to a retail store? Last I checked most placed will maybe give you another copy on a good day if you claim it doesn't work or isn't broken. Or if you're insanely/u] lucky they will give you store credit, but never a refund.
Oh and let me call up Steam to return my Black Ops copy, oh wait they won't take it back.

I'm sorry but BOps was terribly coded, the game chugs insanely bad when you go to things like class creation, seriously my computer never blue screened or froze ever until BOPs. And it took a fine tuning of settings before the game wouldn't randomly cutout on my screen's display.

I honestly don't know what's with Patcher, but all of his predictions and news regarding him just make him sound insane. I understand this guy is supposed to have "cred" but I swear every time he just sounds like a dolt.

Bugs are to be expected, but bugs they are supposed to be odd or rare things, not popup the second you install the damn game and incapacitates thousands of gamers. Bugs that basic you would expect to pick up are inexcusable.

Hell I still can't play Zombie mode, I run the highest settings in multiplayer fine, but as soon as I boot up Zombie mode it makes my machine drop its fps to damn near nothing or it has a seizure and dies.
 

Woodsey

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Aug 9, 2009
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" Most bugs are patched within a reasonable time, and any serious gamer expects bugs. In my view, this is a blatant stunt by [Gamers' Voice founder and British Parliament member Tom Watson] to grab attention.""

Well BlOps hasn't been patched within a reasonable time, so I'd say it's fair enough. Just because it's what happens with some other games doesn't make it right for fuck's sake - if I paid the amounts Activision like to charge for CoD then the game had better be major-bug free.
 

stiffy

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Mar 23, 2010
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Blops (pc) is not worth $59 (us). The inferior port to pc and ps3 should reflect this. How about a price $10 drop maybe?
The old adage that "tens of thousands play it, with no problem" doesn't ring true to me. If i order a rare steak, and its well done; I don't really care that the jackass next to me likes their's well done. Being a premium game (the american idol of games) that comes out every year, I expect the product to reflect the price and reputation of quality it has earned.

If Activision continues down this road, you will see a steady drop in sales over time as the brand name becomes tarnished (legal i$$uses aside). Who will want to play the same ol' re-skinned COD in 2014 (COD:Napoleanic Wars? COD: Space? COD: French and indian War?) Not Me
 

RatRace123

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Dec 1, 2009
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"Mr. Pachter, we can't play the game because of bugs"
"All games have bugs, quit whining"
"But, that kinda seems like a big deal, you should probably do something about it"
"Why? We already have your money."
"Ok, then I guess we'll just have to boycott any future products of yours"
"You don't mean that, you'll still give us your money"
"(sigh) Yeah... you're right."
 

squid5580

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Feb 20, 2008
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No you ass. I do not I repeat DO NOT fork out $70+ for a game expecting there to be bugs. You know what I expect you dumbass?? I expect them to take that "reasonable amount of time" that they use to patch the game. Delay the game for that amount of time. And release the PROPER FUCKING VERSION!!!!

I know I know that kind of thinking is wrong as I have been told many many times by many many gamer. So it is no wonder that shit never changes. Maybe if this group gets enough "political attention" this kind of thinking will become more normal. Or maybe most people don't mind paying $70+ and then waiting for the full fixed version if it means they get the broken version a few weeks early. All I know is it can't be helping the industry combat things like piracy or used game sales with these kinds of practices. I have traded in many a buggy game just in spite of the developers who couldn't be bothered to test them. Hoping that someone would like to save that $5 so they don't see another goddamn cent. It may be a small fuck you in the grand scheme of things but it makes me feel better.
 

jamesworkshop

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Sep 3, 2008
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I have to agree with the relevant point, Gamer's voice has as little chance for success than if they were to try to convince the European Commission to go after Valve for Steams monopoly of the Digital distribution market.

As for Activision currently battling EA legally along with Zampella and West, are not then going to be motivated by this issue by taking this strategy.
 

sosolidshoe

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May 17, 2010
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Michael Pachter, just another ignorant American. How he has the fucking gall to attack Gamer's Voice for their knowledge of consumer rights law in the UK, when he apparently isn't even fucking aware that it's IMPOSSIBLE to return PC games to retailers in this country, is only the most recent in a long line of moronic comments which illustrates said ignorance.

How do I know I'm right, Mr Pachter? Because I used to fucking RUN a game store; PC games cannot be returned once opened. Why don't you go back to making vague predictions about shit gamers don't actually care about, you're good at that. Idiot.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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If people don't like it, they can take it back to retail for a refund.
Really? You're saying that we can take Blops back to Steam, Play, Amazon, GAME, Gamestation, Tesco's etc. and get a refund?

Would you like to try that? (I'm not sure if DD counts as refund in his mind, but I'd be more than happy to watch Mr. Pachter try and get his money back from a high street store because he doesn't like a game.)
 

thethingthatlurks

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Feb 16, 2010
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Did anybody else think that it is hilarious of Pachter of all people to call somebody an "attention grabbing crybaby?" Ah well, my default position is that Pachter is an idiot who gets paid approximately $1,000,000,000 too much a year (yeah, he should actually have to pay to get his stupid opinions published), and this hasn't exactly persuaded me otherwise. I can't comment on BLops being buggy, as I'd rather gauge my eyes out than pay for something as insipid as a CoD game, but I contest the notion that NV was "teh buggiest game EVAR."
In short: Pachter is an idiot.
 

flaming_squirrel

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Jun 28, 2008
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On a rating of 1-10 for how buggy the PC version of black ops is it scores lolwut.

It's not even a consistant buggyness, on some setups it will run flawlessly, on others (potentially better) systems it'll be unplayable. For me it's pretty much fine apart from random lagspikes and the odd crash, but I'm a lucky one.