New Idea for a gaming Protest

[crotalidian]

OK so as one of my recent topics states. I am currently refusing to buy any Activision (and by Extension Blizzard) products in a protest of the way Bobby Kotick Treats his consumers.

That is as magpies with bags of money who are so interested by a new shiny that they forget how much they hate him for the 10 minutes it takes to pre-order from Gamestop or wherever.

So as Modern Warfare 2 and L4D2 (to some extent) showed Gamers are well known for vocally complaining about something and then buying it anyway so they don?t lose nerd points for not getting the New Bang Shooty Fun 2 on release day. So I am here to propose a new way to express displeasure, new media is usually given its initial success rating by the first week of sales, so the next time A company such as Activision releases a game (say Black Ops) we know that Gamers are not willing to miss this game but if enough people could be convinced to hold off on the game for (say) a week then the initial sales numbers would take a big dent, couple that with a focused effort in company forums to say we are holding back on this game for x reason then studios may take note. OK they still get their money but we have proved as a community there are too many who will *****, moan and gripe but then pre-order the special edition or whatever.

So would the Studios take note of a poor first week of sales if they were told why?

 

[SilverStrike]

I think the flaw here is the scale of which you're talking. The dent required would need to be quite large to make some idiots ~coughActivisioncough~ to take notice.
How are you going to convince that many people to forgo it?
Especially if they want the pre-order special thingie? (If there is one)

 

[L4hlborg]

Well, they would notice it, but they wouldn't probably pay too much attention to it. They still get the money. Though they might think that gamers wouldn't buy the next game at all, so it might cause some sort of reaction.

Ofcource, it would require a lot of people. I'm totally in for this, I'm boycotting Guitar Hero and Call of Duty for dangerously decreasing quality any way.

 

[Orwellian37]

Has protesting in the games industry actually ever done ANYTHING? The L4D2 boycott was destroyed when they realized that the product was still great. Holding off on getting Black Ops, even if every Escapist joined in, wouldn't cause enough of a problem to Activision. United we won't be able to stop Activision from being a bunch of pricks. There are too many people who will buy their games anyways because, as you said, they are magpies with bags of money.

 

[crotalidian]

OK to crunch some numbers: MW" sold 4.2million in month 1 assuming a decrease each week

2.00 mil (week 1)
1.00 mil (week 2)
0.75 mil (week 3)
0.50 mil (week 4)

ok so in order for there to be a significant dent in the release figures for Black Ops I assum you would have to have 200-500k people that would have bought it on release day holding out on this game for a week and telling activision why, this would be ~ a 10% drop in week 1 revenue, coupled with a large outcry from the community. Would this bad publicity cause the company to take any notice?

 

[TPiddy]

Here's an idea.... how about you just not buy it at all... and stop giving a shit about your nerd score....

I have so many friends who want me to play CoD and NHL with them and I refuse to do so until the games are actually a fun experience for me. Grow a pair and stick to your convictions. At the very least you'll feel better about yourself.

 

[migo]

The only good way to protest is to buy actually good games. Skip out on StarCraft II (whether it's a good game or not) and buy Civilization V instead (as an example, I actually don't know any other RTS games as I don't care for them). Screw CoD Black Ops and get CounterStrike Source instead.

Straight up boycotting doesn't work, but driving up sales for games made by companies that treat us well will do the trick.

EA, for example, is well worth supporting, because they take risks, releasing Mirror's Edge, and even though it didn't sell they'll release Mirror's Edge 2 (eventually, when they have a gap in development for games that earn them money). I'm not saying go buy Battlefield Bad Company 2 if you don't care for brown shooters, but if that is the kind of game you like, get EA's counterpart to CoD BO. That's a double fuck you to ActiVision, since it's a lost sale for them, and a gained sale for EA, and it shows that companies that are willing to risk trying new IPs will get support.

 

[ESCAPIST DELETE THIS ACCOUNT]

If you wanna piss with the giant colossus that is Activision then im in

 

[Radeonx]

A couple hundred people boycotting a product won't do anything.
Activision actually publishes some good games, so boycotting them would only be hurting yourself.
Honestly, all this boycott stuff is just stupid.

 

[Woodsey]

You're seriously overestimating people's willpower.

 

[FactualSquirrel]

1) They'd barely lose any money out of it.
2) Why would gamers want to do that anyway? I play games for fun, and as far as I can tell, they're not powering their magical game creating machines with puppies and rainbows, so it's all good[footnote]Why yes, my reasoning is a joke, but it's a valid point nonetheless[/footnote].

 

[Eggsnham]

-Le Snippity-

This might actually work, but you're forgetting that people will buy anything as long as there's some piece of entertainment that still pertains to their interests. Myself included in this statement.

Not to mention the fact that gamers have next to no control in the development process of videogames, and that most of these organized "protests" often end in failure as the protesters, shouting "Viva La Revolution" are the minority while the majority of gamers have learned to suck it up and buy it, or just ignore both extremes.

Also, the idea you suggested; not buying the game for a week wouldn't work in the long run because the game would still be bought and there would still be sequels.

The MW2 boycott didn't end so well; a small group of PC gamers didn't buy the game while Activision still made an obscene amount of cash. So just imagine if this protest were to take place, the game would have plummeting ratings, sure, but the companies would still be making tons o' cash.

 

[Xiorell]

See I really don't get that either... "Whinge whinge whinge, at the store buying it anyway". Why don't people just not buy it if it upsets you that much? Cocks.
Oh I forgot, it doesn't actually bother people that much they just like crying about it coz ya know, it's the internet.
Once again, Cocks.

 

[tricky_tree]

Just out of curiosity, what is everyone's beef with activision?

 

[squid5580]

Just out of curiosity, what is everyone's beef with activision?

Bobby has a tendency of giving gamers the straight goods. He needs to make money and makes no apologies for it. For some reason that makes him evil.

 

[bpm195]

Is it really that hard to just not buy a video game? I mean seriously people need to harden the **** up. There's nothing wrong with disliking a company but overall enjoying their product and subsequently supporting them. If a company does something so terrible that you have to boycott them on principle, then don't buy from them.

You people are inviting these companies into your bed, crying rape, and when the charges are dropped you're inviting them back to your bed to try again.

I haven't bought an Activision game since 2004, but I don't make some big fuss about how terrible their games are and try to get them to improve. I don't care if they give it to their customers raw up the ass, it's not my problem anymore because I don't buy their games. They haven't made anything so good that I feel like I'm missing something important by not playing.

Also, I'm an avid L4D player, and I never for a moment pretended to boycott or even disapprove of L4D2. However, I did make note of every friend I had that said they would join the boycott and I made a point of calling them each an idiot and failure at capitalism. Dumbasses like those are the reason I support socialism; consumers are content to take it up the ass from big businesses convinced that complaining the whole time makes it better.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Instead of that, you could just buy it used. They get no money.

Or acknowledge, that, unless you get thousands of people to agree, it won't mean anything.

 

[Del-Toro]

Just out of curiosity, what is everyone's beef with activision?

Bobby has a tendency of giving gamers the straight goods. He needs to make money and makes no apologies for it. For some reason that makes him evil.

People love to forget that videogame companies are businesses that need to turn a profit, and that they aren't going go in directions that will reduce them to breaking even or less "out of respect for their audience". It's like all the rage when FF13 went multiplatform, how the really hardcore japanophile waps got pissed as hell because they felt as if Square Enix had "betrayed them". It's things like that. Gamers have a huge entitlement complex, so hearing game companies talk/go about their business as a business enterprise as opposed to an artistic / philantropic endeavor makes them feel like they aren't getting everything they believe they are owed.

 

[migo]

Just out of curiosity, what is everyone's beef with activision?

They just rehash successful properties rather than releasing anything new.