Most things exist for the sake of capitalism in some way, shape or form; no one's questioning that. The point [I think] happyninja42 is making is that as we as consumers have come to recognize the business practices of these developers have tended to range more and more between opportunistic to outright predatory and less about creating a quality representation of their efforts for all to pay for and enjoy, moves like this are less and less appreciated.
Like I said before, it's highly unlikely anyone is buying a Playstation solely for Spider-Man in a single game, but a lot of [non-Playstation] potential buyers might be turned off by the thought of a cross-platform title being partitioned based on which platform they own, i.e.: everyone's paying $60; why is anyone being punished for not having paid for it on an specific platform? Like, what was the conversation in the boardroom at development's beginning: "let's focus on making an exceptional Avengers gaming experience," or " "let's create any Avengers experience as quickly as possible, then piecemeal it out in the form of exclusive DLC depending on where and how it's bought?"
I get it. Game developers are not benevolent, altruistic soft hearts who exist solely for the betterment of our casual life experience; they're shrewd businesses hell bent on making as much cash as possible. The question is how does excluding a segment of potential spenders, much to the ire of said spenders, benefit that mission? If Spider-Man was available to everyone who buys the game, whether at launch or months later, they'd stand to make much more; instead, we're on the fourth page of thread debating the merits of not doing so... Wheres the thread with anyone asking FOR content exclusivity? Is any gamer arguing FOR this kind of exclusivity or simply that it's not "that bad?" If the best you can say about something is it's not "that bad," the fact that it IS bad at all is telling.
Actually, it isn't that unlikely that someone would by a playstation solely for Spider-man in a single game. I mean, there are people who went out and bought a ps4 for Spider-man the video game. Hell, some people bought the
Spider-man console solely for Spider-man.
You're not talking to an unprincipled man. I still haven't bought anything from Epic game store because I hate their business model. I haven't bought Borderlands 3 even though I love the series because of how Randy Pitchford acts. I get outrage.
I'm not even stating that people should not feel slighted for the action by Sony. I'm a Spider-man fanboy. All their business practices are shady. But you're asking the wrong question for the wrong segment. They aren't looking for you and me.
You've seen what Brawlman put up. We gamers aren't of interest here.
This is a game built for whales.
The Virgin deal, the Verizon Deal, the exclusives here, there, and everywhere... This is a vehicle for microtransactions. There
will be PS4s sold because of this. And it won't matter that you and I won't buy into it, because there will be enough whales to make this so much more profitable for Sony than our silly little 'votes with our wallets'.
I'm not saying don't fight the good fight. I die on so many hills, I'm probably responsible for many new forests. If you want someone to actually rally against, we're looking at the wrong people.
Rally against the whales. The ones who make it so profitable to these business that they don't even have to heed us. Because that's exactly what happens.
I never said anything that would imply that he did. I was responding to the post comparing people being angry about business practices in a niche fighter game from 18 years ago, to the level of people being angry today, about a character that is far more globally known, beloved, and marketable. And my point is that they are just not comparable. I mean not even counting the fact that we now live in a globally networked society, so everyone can gripe to everyone else, compared to 18 years ago. The simple fact that Spider-Man has existed for like 60+ years, and has been in multiple generations worth of cultural lexicon. Compared to....Soul Calibur.
Sorry but that just doesn't have the widespread penetration or appeal in a market as Spider-Man.
Oddly enough, I'm not stating that you stated that. That was a lead up to my point, the rest of my post there.
Everything you're saying is what is driving this crappy deal. And you're absolutely right.
However, like I just said to Xprimentyl, this has never been about us as gamers. You and me, the 'normal' people. It's about the whales out there. And the biggest media draw of all time will be milked as much as possible. No matter how much I and other people identify with him, he is a commodity now. And yes, that makes me sick to say.
You say Soul Calibur 2 isn't comparable to this situation. I disagree. Soul Calibur 2 and other games like it lead the way for Sony. What do I mean? Soul Calibur VI.
Where they had Star Wars. Back when Star Wars was a license to print money. Comic books weren't always as popular as they are now. And even so, Comic books are on their way out. That's half the reason why Sony owns Spider-man's rights today. But do you know what was always popular? Freaking Star Wars. Do you remember how many people freaked that they couldn't get
Darth Vader because they had an xbox 360?
Again, I will never deny Spider-man's impact on the world. He's affected me in ways that I can't even really put into words, even though I do know he's just an IP. But this exclusive BS we find ourselves in the middle of has been growing for years. And that's my point. Whales and casuals let things erode to the point that it's just a matter of scooping up popular IPs and finding the best deal for the companies.
We're secondary.
Again, that doesn't mean we shouldn't fight. I wasn't going to buy this game anyway, and I know they are going to be profitable if they just get a good number of whales. But we still go for what our principles say. This is just a fight that was decided back in Soul Calibur II days, where they tested the waters for this BS that we're now drowning in.
That's why it's comparable. It led to this.
