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Corporate greed and the color of money

I´m sorry that I “might” ruin the party mood for all of those who´s waiting patiently for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided to be released, and those who are already enjoying Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain as of now. Nevertheless, I can´t stay silent about this matter any longer. As it´s something, which makes my blood boil out of anger. I’m of course talking about Konami´s and Square Enix greed for money (as both companies have hit an all-time low when it comes to corporate greed as of lately). However, I’m going to start with the crazy pre-order deal for Mankind Diveded. So sit tight and buckle up, because this is going to be one hell of a ride! You know, even though I have seen quite a few greedy “pre-order campaigns” over the years. I have to say that Square Enix “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” (which is set for a release on the 23rd of February next year, for Windows, PS4 and Xbox One) pre-order offers are the greediest pre-order deal that I’ve ever seen to date. In fact, as a consumer you get punished if you don´t pre-order Mankind Divided. And why is that? Because you will not get the complete gameplay experience if you don´t pre-order the game.

Are you kidding me Square Enix? For real?

Now you might ask yourself the following question “What in the name of Gabe Newell are you talking about?” Well, please allow me to explain the details for you. So we´re going to start by taking a look at a post which EU Playstation blog published yesterday:

“The available rewards within each tier include in-game items packs, digital books and music expanding on the world of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and an extra in-game mission. The very last tier is one of a kind, as its reward will be an early release of the game, four days prior to its scheduled launch! For more details on Augment your Pre-order, check out www.augmentyourpreorder.com.” – http://blog.eu.playstation.com/

In other words, you won´t get the “complete” Deus Ex: Mankind Divided gameplay experience “IF” you don´t pre-order the game (or at least a “less” fun gameplay experience). Even Adrian Chmielarz (Co-owner/Creative Director at The Astronauts) thought that this so called “exclusive pre-order” deal, are nothing more than a rip off:

“Augment Your Pre-order” aka “Now YOU Decide Which Already-on-Disc Stuff You Will Miss”. – Adrian Chmielarz, Co-owner/Creative Director at The Astronauts

We have now reached a whole new level of pre-order greed…

Augment your pre-order today! Thanks, but no thanks…

Not only that, but the “4 day early release” pre-order bonus for Mankind Divided might actually cause a lot of spoilers for players who have not yet played the game. I´m also quite sure that piracy will go up because of all this “pre-order nonsense.” As Gamers don´t like the idea of paying for a “none-complete” gameplay experience. Thus, they will seek “alternative” ways (piracy) to get their hands on the “complete” (everything included) edition of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. I find all of this to be somewhat laughable, considering the fact that people tend to laugh at me when I state that I enjoy games which are 10 to 15 years old (or more). Well, you can think what you want about retro and old-school games. The truth is still that those old games sure as hell doesn´t suffer from DLC´s, Pay-to-win, “you must pre-order the game in order to get the complete gameplay experience,” or “broken on release issues” (for most part).

Just take Batman: Arkham Knight for example, the PC-version of the game had huge technical difficulties on release. However, “some” Gamers were saved by Valve´s refund policy. “IF” they asked for a refund before they have played more than two hours of the game. And that´s another really bad thing with the Mankind Dividied pre-order deal. There is no consumer protection at all for the console players (like Valve´s refund policy via Steam for example). So “if” Deus Ex: Mankind Divided turns out to be a really bad game, then though luck mate. As the Xbox One and PS4 players won´t get their hard-earned money back. So in all fairness, Square Enix has become too greedy for their own good (Totalbiscuit hit the head on the nail on this subject earlier today, and you can watch that video further down the page!). That´s also why I have chosen not to pre-order Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, as I don´t want to reward this kind of behavior.

Konami really HATES their fans and consumers

Thus the #fuckyoukonami hashtag.

Then we got the part concerning MGS5: The Phantom Pain and Konami´s broken promises (lies) regarding the FOB facilities. Because the players will only get ONE FOB facility for free, the rest will cost real money (yes, you read it right). That´s such a low move Konami, but keep on pissing your fans and consumers off. I mean, it has done wonders to your company so far right? In all seriousness, what the hell is wrong with game publishers and companies nowadays? I would never EVER do such a thing if I were to release a game. As I believe that you shouldn´t treat your fans and consumers like that.

So shame on you Konami and Square Enix!

Credit:
Totalbiscuit and Mgs2master2

Source:
The Playstation blog

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.