Jimquisition: Watch Dogs - Five Collector's Editions For One Game? What? F*$%ing WHAT?

[Something Amyss]

Thank God for not caring about Collectors Editions, Special Editions, or What-have-you Editions. Their impractically large boxes and kitschy statues are apparently the reason I should pay more money. Well, joke's on you, industry.

The thing that bugs me is that you're seeing additional in-game content, like missions and story material, in sets like this. I don't care much about plastic crap that comes with the games, but when I see a bunch of missions offered as DLC, I can't help but wonder how much longer the game would be if it weren't diced up for pre-orders.

When the next market crash of the games industry comes, I can only hope that the golden parachutes of these corporate douche-bags will be filled with either dirty laundry, silverware, or an anvil. -_-

Considering it'll likely only happen in cartoons, why not?

Can a character's costume be iconic if no-ones played it yet and also it's just a regular hat? Really, it's just a baseball cap.

No, but it hasn't stopped the industry from trying to manufacture culture.

I just bought it for $45. Instead of pre-order special editions, how about just offering discounts? Incidentally, I still think Microsoft store is offering this deal.

They want more money, so no way would that happen.

Anyone else find it hilarious how their is an ad for Watch_Dogs right next to Jim's videos?

I'm so used to it at this point I just look at it as business as usual.

 

[shrekfan246]

I can only hope that the golden parachutes of these corporate douche-bags will be filled with either dirty laundry, silverware, or an anvil. -_-

Well, a golden parachute would probably function much like an anvil, in fairness.

OT: Yeah, the first thing I said when I saw that spreadsheet picture (Andy Shandy can likely corroborate this) was "Fuck off, Ubisoft."

I dunno that this will keep me from eventually playing the game, but the entire thing is just disgraceful and really made me wish that Ubisoft didn't occasionally still make good games (just like EA, Activision, Capcom, Square Enix... seems to be a recurring theme here) because it seems like everyone involved in publishing video games is hell-bent on rocketing toward a crash that I steadfastly believed to be impossible only a year ago. Even the indie scene is turning to shite, with everything flooding onto Steam lately with no regards to quality control. I just...

It just makes me sad that this is where gaming has landed. Again. I still think a full crash like the 80's is impossible because gaming is just too big now, but I'll be damned if the developers and publishers aren't trying their hardest to make it happen.

 

[WoahDan]

I've never really seen stuff like this as anti-consumer, though I guess it kind of is given that they are putting my enjoyment of a product as secondary to their bottom line. They aren't even helping their bottom line though, which is the tragedy of the thing, my job as a consumer is to get the best content I (legally) can at the lowest cost I (legally) can, if Ubi want to segregate their content like this then the best deal for me is to wait till the inevitable 'ultimate' edition with all the DLC, and if the game does so badly at launch it never gets an 'ultimate' edition? Then too fucking bad, all Ubi has managed to do is lose themselves a sale.

 

[Barbas]

Oh, this is bad. This has gotten really, really terribad. Overpriced AAA title to start with, then misdirection, poor communication and lies, then FIVE collector's editions? Who do they think is going to be left to want to buy this maligned joke of a game now? Who are they even marketing it to now, people who've just wondered in to a gaming store for the first time and randomly selected it???

All that potential, all that work, flushed down the toilet by mismanagement. Ubisoft finally appear to have collectively lost the plot. Shiiiii[sub]iiiii[sub]iiiii[sub]iiiiit.[/sub][/sub][/sub]

 

[punipunipyo]

Oh well... I guess I will skip this game then... I'm too busy playing sun-bro in DS2 and having Jolly Co-Op action anyways!

 

[WildFire15]

Five full collectors editions? I've not paid Watch_Dogs that much attention but I'm not sure how that level of idiocy slipped past. I'd rather hoped Codemasters' not exactly successful attempt to give alternative track layouts and a few cars as pre-order bonuses for GRiD 2 to difference retailers was as far as I was getting, but then I guess I'm a naive fool. Of course, the difference in GRiD 2's case was the Steam version included all the 'pre-order content' for less then any of the console versions so at least some customers 'won', but I went for ages confused out of my mind about a game I would have otherwise gladly pre-ordered but very nearly didn't even bother with. If that happens with a fan of the series, imagine what would happen to those who are only casually interested.

 

[Wuvlycuddles]

And the saddest thing of all is there will be one place where you can get ALL the bonus content in one.... piracy!

Kinda pathetic that the people who aren't even paying for it are getting the better more complete version of something.

 

[igor2201]

I just want to point out that if you actually read the spreadsheet, you'd notice that outside of the playstation exclusive content, the standard edition game and season pass nabs you all content for the game thats locked out in "special editions"

Everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that all the stuff you cant get using those 2 items are physical things.

 

[tdylan]

Is there a console collectors edition that makes it run at 60FPS in 1080p? They should make the "Broken promises" edition or maybe just the "You are a gullible fool" edition for per-orders.

"Broken Promises" and "Gullible Fool" sound like the names of "episodic dlc," don't they?

Is this why the game was delayed? In order to get all this "extra content" finished?

 

[orangeapples]

Where can I see this spreadsheet? I know Jim showed it i the video, but I want to be able to see the thing in its full glory.

 

[K12]

On the plus side if this game bombs massively despite being quite good then I can get it for half the current price in about a month.

 

[Erttheking]

I don't really think that collectors editions are that bad (Still kicking myself for not getting the Fallout New Vegas one) but that fucking table...Jesus fuck they overdid it.

Yeah, think imma wait for the game of the year edition.

 

[AdmiralCheez]

Well, I was interested in the game. That time has passed, though. I shouldn't have to consult a spreadsheet to figure out which version of the same game I want, when the game isn't even out yet, and there's no word on what the DLC bonus missions even do.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Hey...put that damn content back into the game! Bollocks to pre order incentives, isnt buying the game on release good enough to give you the full game?!
Are we really powerless to change this bullcrap? It saddens me to think that the teen and pre-teen (depressingly some of the adult) market just dont see this as a bad thing. They will just go with what the hype demands of them.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Thank God for not caring about Collectors Editions, Special Editions, or What-have-you Editions. Their impractically large boxes and kitschy statues are apparently the reason I should pay more money. Well, joke's on you, industry.

The thing that bugs me is that you're seeing additional in-game content, like missions and story material, in sets like this. I don't care much about plastic crap that comes with the games, but when I see a bunch of missions offered as DLC, I can't help but wonder how much longer the game would be if it weren't diced up for pre-orders.

Not that I have a lot of experience with pre-order bonus missions, but these usually seem like tacked on extra content for the sake of getting people to pre-order. This certainly seemed the case with Assassin's Creed 4. I don't think I ever played a game thinking 'Hmm, something's missing here...' only to find out later that there was extra content only available by pre-ordering that would've made the game experience feel more complete.

The only special/collectors edition I ever bought was Dark Souls, and that was because those were the only copies they had left and were priced the same as the regular version. And it just had a little art book and the soundtrack on CD. Anyway, that being the only one, I never felt like I was missing out on actual game content by not pre-ordering.

Maybe there have been games where single-player/story content was locked away at the admission of pre-ordering, but I (thankfully) have never come across them. DLC generally pissed me off more in that respect. The Mass Effect games specifically.

 

[veloper]

I cannot become upset about this.
It's stupid to have all that DLC spread out over 5 different special editions, but most likely none of that DLC will be anything special, let alone essential, and it all just boils down to the base game being sucky or not.

Waiting for that inevitable GOTY version at a discount is also a fine idea.

 

[azurine]

My reaction when first hearing about this was:

"What? Are they out of their fucking minds!?"

But this is pretty close.

I never had any interest in Watch Dogs to begin with, it looked like another Titanfall situation (by which I mean the game gets loads of publicity, is pretty much decided it'll be a hit by the developers before release, gets released, then everything goes quiet and no one ever mentions it again), but this?

This is the worst possible way to sell anything. Imagine if a book was sold with 5 different versions, each telling a slightly different story. No one would buy that. No one would know what the real version is. What if a movie was made this way, where every version was using different colour correction, aspect ratio, and accents by the characters? That would never sell, it would just annoy people.

What really pisses me off is that EA and Ubisoft are called "industry leaders", by which they must mean "the guys leading the industry into a brick wall".

 

[Scorpid]

I'll see you in 2 years Watchdogs if I even see you at all.