Zynga Angers Gamers With Flubbed Street Racer Shutdown - UPDATED
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
They are upset because they invested money in virtual property in a persistant world. A bit differant than a subscription based game where the company honors the remaining subscription months, but refuses to allow renewals and shuts the game down when they naturally expire.Credge said:
I'm sure there is some kind of agreement made that Zynga can do this, similar to clauses in some of the lifetime subscriptions for MMORPGs that the subscription still allows the company to take the game down any time it wants and for any reason. Seeing this actually happen in this factor though raises a lot of questions, including the validity of online contracts, which have always been in disupute to some extent. Zynga isn't going out of business, indeed they are still supporting games in the same format and on the same platform, they are simply choosing to shut that one down and screw the people who invested because of their bottom line. It will be interesting to see what happens if this goes to court, while the paperwork is in their favor doubtlessly, that has not always guaranteed a victory.
Also to play Devil's Advocate, while their attitude does blow chips, one routine criticism I hear about Zynga is that all their games are fundementally the same, and play in a very similar fashion. Engine and playstyle wise, Frontierville might amount to what is a conceptual reskin of their Street Racing game. Oh sure, common sense dictates that the storylines involved (such as they are) matter to the player base, however we live in a world of increasing corperate detachement where the people making desicians oftentimes seem not to get things like this, common sense decreasing in proportion to how much they routinely decide based on numbers and statistics. To the guys at the top it might really seem like the same thing. While a unique situation so far, this isn't the first example we've seen of an extremely patronizing attitude by a big business that seems to just not get it.
Of course by the numbers they might just not care. As I've pointed out before there is such a thing as "corperate chic" and being able to abuse your consumers publically and still take their money on a massive scale is a big part of it. I've seen this discussed over the years, and some of the comments made by Bobby Kotick and various Sony execs seem to play into it. It is possible that Zynga is doing this in part to show off to other businesses in hopes of attracting more investors and such due to how solid their base business is. Assuming they increase profits by cutting the expenses involved in running "Street Racing", losing 500k users is no big deal, especially if they can rely on their other game player bases remaining untouched due to addiction and people not caring about what happens elsewhere in the "Zyngaverse". The horrible threat of displease customers talking to their friends and gradually undermining their business also being irrelevent. Basically if I was some dude who was looking for a stable business to invest money in, someone demonstrating they could abuse 500,000 customers with no ill effect to the sheeple running into their arms with cash bags would certainly impress me with the investment lasting for the long term. Especially if they are insulting with how they do it, and nothing happens.
Such are my rambling thoughts on the subject, not nessicarly accurate, but what comes to mind when I look at it.
As far as that goes, I'm kind of inclined to agree. No game lasts forever and that's especially true with microtransaction-based digital content. It's one of the reasons I tend to avoid digital purchases, even if I have to put much greater effort into finding conventional copies. It's mine and it can't be taken away just because somebody decides that it's no longer cost effective.Credge said:
But the real problem here, I think, is Zynga's attitude. Losing digital content is life in the big city but the whole "go play Frontierville" thing is just a slap in the face, as is the decision to shut down Street Racing without any explanation whatsoever. It displays a remarkable level of contempt toward the customer base that's pretty hard for anyone to miss.
From what I've seen most games work on a subscription basis, where you continue to pay while you play and, hopefully, are getting your money's worth each month. Then there's DLC, but usually you own that and the product so you should be able to play it eternally. Instances where online authentication has been required and servers have been shut down have been widely panned and the more mature gaming industry players are understanding their obligations better now. In the event that Steam stopping serving games I'd hope that they provided access to the games you own to at least back up installers and retain copies.DJPirtu said:
Zynga are taking bold steps which should be a warning to the digital distribution as a whole. You're paying them and presuming/trusting that they don't simply decide to pull hosting of the product, and any or all of your investment into it.
I hope that companies respond positively to this and it doesn't become the norm.
IIRC, this isn't Zynga's only misstep in the digital age. The big bosses come down as condescending and crass, not really caring about the customers they anger, merely the fact that they get money out of their customers.
I'm now convinced I will never invest money into these games. At the drop of a hat, all of that money would go to a huge faceless corporation that shouldn't be getting so large so fast.
I'm now convinced I will never invest money into these games. At the drop of a hat, all of that money would go to a huge faceless corporation that shouldn't be getting so large so fast.
People write words, so it's basically the same, right?Marmooset said:
Anyways, this is just stupid. The worst thing is that no one can or will lash out at them; the poor Street Racing folks have no rights towards the things they bought, and nobody else will care enough to help them.
Ya, but the thing about a large majority of social gamers is that they don't tend to care that much nor do they listen. You could stand at a street corner for 2 hours talking about how Zynga did this and stole that or is ripping off those guys, but in the end, a good majority of the people you spoke to will still log into Farmville or Frontierville and keep playing and keep playing.Kwil said:
I know a lot of the money comes from Russia from friends of Putin (take that how you want), however, I think that is just the starting up investment. The maintaining cost are more then covered by "buy stuff in the advertisements, get points for maintaining your farm/ keeping your wagon supplied/ tricking out your cow/ etc." buisness model gets them LOADS of cash.geek.flip said:
Where do you think half the applications on Facebook make their money? Why do you think so many people make games and applications for it?funksobeefy said:
Well ok, sounds good.Marmooset said:
. . .
OH GOD MY EYES. I CAN'T UNSEE THAT!!
Where's the brain bleach? Oh God, Oh GOd.
HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK!?
. . .
[sub]Never again, oh god. *Sobs*[/sub] I STILL SEE IT!
