Bethesda won't Supply Early Review Copies for Any Game Going Forward

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SBFord

I think that's the right way to go.

kitarad

This is the best way to go forward as the level of hysteria by the lack of responsibility on the buyer who just goes out without doing any research and buying something has reached levels where personal responsibility is negligible. They then decide to go everywhere and crap over stuff they imagined in their head.

So limiting exposure is the best way to ensure this does not happen with frequency and people learn to be patient.

kitarad

Stick by your decisions if you cannot wait and pre-purchase then on your head be it. As Bill Maher puts it 'Stop your whining you ....'

waynejr2

Nyctelios said:

Doom success is due its quality, not the marketing strategy at all.

Blind purchase is not consumer friendly - this only enhances the toxic pre order culture we already have. And the day one fixing patch culture due the release of unfinished games, and the "surprise there is a store with microtransactions and we forgot to tell you on our thousands of interviews" culture and "we told lies about the game during all it's development" culture.

Most of the time early reviews are good for technical points in ports and such... So the buyer can be aware certain problems are expected from day 1 - in some games - and the reviews/analysis I see always point out "this is an early copy and maybe day 1 patch will fix this thing I'm showing you".

This is not consumer friendly. This is not the right way to go.

It is consumer neutral.  That is ok.  

SBFord

Nyctelios said:

This is not consumer friendly. This is not the right way to go.

While I see your point in a general way, I really do believe that people need to draw their own conclusions. How many times has a review been published that has been shouted down as bad or "just one guy's (or gal's) opinion" and what not? And how many times, if the review is positive, are reviewers accused of being PAID SHILLS or, conversely, if the review is negative, that they are STUPID? Nearly 100% of the time. Previews will still be posted and, in this day and age, everyone  needs to expect a day or week 1 patch. It's just become the norm. 

I love my job, but writing reviews is one of the hardest and most frustrating article types I write since when all is said and done, it's just my opinion even as hard as I try (and I do try!) to be objective.

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FlyByKnight

This is fine, nobody buy the games until they're 100% sure of it's quality.

Kyleran

FlyByKnight said:

This is fine, nobody buy the games until they're 100% sure of it's quality.

Many people lack that sort of self control, they are governed by their impulses.

waynejr2

FlyByKnight said:

This is fine, nobody buy the games until they're 100% sure of it's quality.

Or if they are willing to take a risk and not complain about the results.

Renoaku

blueturtle13 said:

Bethesda, the publisher behind The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Dishonored, Quake, and Doom series, have announced a new blanket policy for their upcoming games. From now on, any Bethesda-published title won't be sent out to critics early, but will instead arrive with them on the day before launch, meaning reviews will start to appear in the days after release.

'At Bethesda, we value media reviews.'

'We read them. We watch them. We try to learn from them when they offer critique. And we understand their value to our players.'

'Earlier this year we released DOOM. We sent review copies to arrive the day before launch, which led to speculation about the quality of the game. Since then DOOM has emerged as a critical and commercial hit, and is now one of the highest-rated shooters of the past few years.'

Read their whole statement here:
https://bethesda.net/en/article/42QH1pTNpKSYIcgKK2C4wW/bethesda-and-game-reviews

Godo thing I don't buy their games then, or will wait until a steam sale.

Talonsin

That means less "launch day" sales since those of us with a bit of self control will wait to see the reviews/gameplay videos.

Distopia

Eh I rarely read reviews before the release of TES games anyway, anything thrown together in that little bit of time on a bethesda RPG isn't worth the read in the first place.. 

Konfess

I'm not a reviewer, but I suspect they do need time to do their work.  This will have zero effect on hype and over speculation.  Once word gets out, however it gets out, about an upcoming game there will be hype.  This is about the race to be first, I say that Vloggers and Bloggers have won.  Print reviews have lost.  In 1992 I had a friend who wrote for a magazine.  Their work took 2 months to get published.  That magazine is gone now, and my friend is now a Vlogger.

I also thought maybe they can't decide who would get to go first.  Bethesda ran the risk of offending the more powerful voice.  Or what if the issue was security, advanced copies ran the risk of becoming pirated copies.

Ramajama

Im probably lost in translation, but how is this a good thing? Isn't that pointing more in the direction that they want to dupe more customers with lower quality product?

DarLorkar

Ramajama said:

Im probably lost in translation, but how is this a good thing? Isn't that pointing more in the direction that they want to dupe more customers with lower quality product?

You are supposed to be a customer, not a lemming.

Do some research, read up on game, and wait until reviews come out before buying.

Until the game companies can reach into your bank and take the price of a game, the responsibility is on the consumer. So use it wisely for goodness sake. 

Octagon7711

Quality of some some games have been pretty bad lately, with bad ports, bugs, and problems that can take up to a year to fix.  Doom is a product that's been by the numbers so people pretty much know what to expect.  I use to always buy pre-orders but now find it better to get a feel from the games by overall review quality and live streams.  I'll continue to wait and see how a game plays rather then follow the hype train.

I like the timed demos some other games are doing.  Play a full version of the game but only for a limited time to see if you like it.  

Burntvet

I think this is more of a realization that commercial/paid for reviews are not taken as seriously any more.
 
Too many games have received high critic scores out of the gate and been crap. TW:Rome2, NMS, and even just now Civ6 is getting critic scores in the 90s and player scores below 80.

Personally, I don't trust any "professional" review any more, and I am not alone.

donger56

Fine with me. I always wait until after a game is released and I can watch some game play on twitch or youtube or something. I'm done with pre-orders, early access, crowdfunding and all of the other scams that have been used lately. I don't read reviews either because they are not objective. I don't want to watch a commercial. You can't really be objective when your income is derived from giving a positive opinion of something. More research and less emotional spending will be the only thing that motivates these developers to start making better games and stop using things like name recognition and fanboy hype to sell games that don't deliver. 

Vrika

I think this is bad for us gamers.

If the game were same price before and after launch, then it would be okay. But with all the pre-order bonuses and discounts going around, I feel like we're being sold pig in a poke. And if you want to look inside the poke to see what you'd get, the price immediately goes 10% up.

FrodoFragins

Of course people were concerned about a Doom game not made by iD or Carmack.

I don't support them not sending out copies early to reviewers.  I've actually moved to relying on watching twitch streamers for games I am not 100% sure of.  Watching streams got me to buy Total War:Warhammer and gave me tons of entertainment watching people play the giant pile of turd No Mans Sky.

Stuka1000

Kyleran

DMKano said:

For me its quite simple - I don't buy until i get a hands-on demo/trial.

How in the world can I make an informed decision about a video game until I try it myself first?

I can do research, watch videos until I'm blue in the face - and still might dislike the game once I play it first hand.

There's no substitute for actual hands-on gameplay.

Just wondering, is that how you chose a new restaurant to eat in? How about a movie?

In both of those cases likely you listen to reviews by others, maybe watch a trailer or two but then you throw caution to the wind and take plunge, because after all, they are small money purchases.

Sure, a new car, television, cell phone, or house you really want first hand experience due to their value but even then some faith has to be given because you can't know how they'll fare over the long haul.(hello Samsung Note buyers)

Just because gaming offers the possibility of playing before buying doesn't mean you have to, heck its a small value purchase like most others, do a bit of research sure, but then take the plunge.

At the end of the day there really is little to lose.

Ramajama

DarLorkar said:

Ramajama said:

Im probably lost in translation, but how is this a good thing? Isn't that pointing more in the direction that they want to dupe more customers with lower quality product?

You are supposed to be a customer, not a lemming.

Do some research, read up on game, and wait until reviews come out before buying.

Until the game companies can reach into your bank and take the price of a game, the responsibility is on the consumer. So use it wisely for goodness sake. 

So with this they try lift up gamers from being lemmings to customers? 

Anyways, I just thought that good business principle is - if you stand behind your product, you should have no problem with showing it to reviewers in advance. If you have crap, then you do Gold Edition Pre-Orders. 

iGumballStar

kitarad said:

This is the best way to go forward as the level of hysteria by the lack of responsibility on the buyer who just goes out without doing any research and buying something has reached levels where personal responsibility is negligible. They then decide to go everywhere and crap over stuff they imagined in their head.

So limiting exposure is the best way to ensure this does not happen with frequency and people learn to be patient.

Isn't it the other way around? With no exposure, more people are going to decide on their purchases based on the fantasies they create in their own minds. If anything, this will worsen the ''issue'', not solve it, and more people are going to complain when the game doesn't meet their expectations.

Bethesda and other companies aren't doing this move to ''help'' costumers be more responsible. They are doing it to limit bad press early on. They don't want reviews to be released based on a build that doesn't include the day-1 patch.

Derros

Im guessing they've worked out that potential lost sales due to poor review outweigh any gains from a positive review, just double down on pre-order bonuses and hype to make those up.

As always, the best bet is to never pre-order and wait a week or so after release, scarcity isnt a thing in the age of digital distribution anyway. Wait, if nothing else, just to make sure its not another arkham knight port situation or something like AC Unity.