Forums » General Gaming

• Noodles

  

  • 277 posts
   

  October 31, 2016 9:47 AM EDT

         Bethesda recently announced that they will no longer send early free copies of their new games to reviewers. What do you think of this? I'm just curious to know your opinion.

  

         My thoughts are as follows. If I intend to buy a game on day one or even pre-order it, I have no interest in a review until after I've finished playing. My mind is already set so why bother with someone else's opinion? It doesn't matter to me how objective that opinion is. I remember reading and watching Skyrim's reviews a whole year after I started playing it. If however the game turns out to suck, I won't buy the next one from the same developer so soon. Instead I won't have any problem in waiting a couple weeks from the release date for reviews to pour in because I will no longer be too hyped about the game. 

  
  This post was edited by Noodles at October 31, 2016 9:48 AM EDT
• Overhate

  

  • 288 posts
   

  October 31, 2016 10:03 AM EDT

  I honestly couldn't care less.

• WuYiXiang

  

  • 312 posts
   

  October 31, 2016 10:21 AM EDT

  TotalBiscuit says it best.
• Legion

  

  • 700 posts
   

  October 31, 2016 11:01 AM EDT

  They might see a slight decrease in pre-order sales, but it's Bethesda. I can't imagine this will ever matter significantly. Ethically, it rings a bit hollow. 

  "we want everyone, including those in the media, to experience our games at the same time"

  This seems to imply that their games will always be worth experiencing. People shouldn't be punished for wanting to know how a game functions and generally holds up by being denied timely reviews. Bad reviews could hurt sales, but I genuinely wonder if that's a legitimate concern for Bethesda anymore.  

• Veloth the Prophet

  

  • 641 posts
   

  October 31, 2016 11:06 AM EDT

  Doesn't really make a difference. Most game companies will start to do this now because they don't need game sites or reviews to sell games anymore. Publishers have their own twitch channels and social media to do the same thing game sites used to do. 

• WuYiXiang

  

  • 312 posts
   

  October 31, 2016 11:19 AM EDT

  Legion said:

  "we want everyone, including those in the media, to experience our games at the same time" 

  Gods, this quote bugs the hell out of me, as does the rest of the message. Also, sure, everyone experiences the game at the same time...

  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.

  Full announcement here.

  This is the biggest pile of bullcrap I've read in a while. So what if DOOM was a great game? Bethesda's behavior before launch was certainly sketchy, and the speculation was more than warranted. For them to act like they're the victims is insane.

  This whole thing is disgusting, and I doubt I'll buy another Bethesda game for a long time.

  
  This post was edited by WuYiXiang at October 31, 2016 11:38 AM EDT
• Zonnonn

  

  • 585 posts
   

  October 31, 2016 3:57 PM EDT

  I can't see it having any implications, as I think that with games such as ES and FO, word of mouth and hearing opinions from friends is more important than what a reviewer thinks, as playing it can be very unique to the player, a fact many reviewers fail to see.
  However, their reasons for it annoy me. They pretty much said 'our games are great, we don't need people says no their not', at least in my opinion anyway.
• SpookyBorn2021

  

  • 1467 posts
   

  October 31, 2016 5:38 PM EDT

  Wait there are reviews for Bethesda games? I thought that they were just given a random score between 7 and 10 on release :P 

  I honestly don't care, but I admit it kind of feels sketchy, critics have become a huge part of how video games are released, and as a community in general I think we make a lot of our assumptions off of how critics view games. I personally don't read reviews for games I don't already have and have finished, but for some people I'm sure reading reviews helps them make their judgement on whether they should spend $60 (or $100 if your Australian >.>) on a game.

  So it doesn't impact me personally, but I could see this being either a really good thing for Bethesda (more mystery) or a shit thing for them depending on people and the critic community. 

• Hawkward

  

  • 15 posts
   

  November 1, 2016 2:42 AM EDT

  I don't know why they would give out preview copies of any game. How can it help them? There can be terrible reviews but good reviews will not increase sales at all.

• Zonnonn

  

  • 585 posts
   

  November 1, 2016 3:29 AM EDT

  Hawkward said:

  I don't know why they would give out preview copies of any game. How can it help them? There can be terrible reviews but good reviews will not increase sales at all.

  For games it general I reckon it has some impact, but for franchises like ES other, non-reviewer views are more valuable to me, like posts on this site and other forums.

• WuYiXiang

  

  • 312 posts
   

  November 1, 2016 8:11 AM EDT

  Hawkward said:

  I don't know why they would give out preview copies of any game. How can it help them? There can be terrible reviews but good reviews will not increase sales at all.

  Good reviews help to drum up hype and increase the number of pre-order sales. This only affects people who aren't devoted fans, however.

  
  This post was edited by WuYiXiang at November 1, 2016 8:11 AM EDT
• Hawkward

  

  • 15 posts
   

  November 1, 2016 7:35 PM EDT

  WuYiXiang said:

  Hawkward said:

  I don't know why they would give out preview copies of any game. How can it help them? There can be terrible reviews but good reviews will not increase sales at all.

  Good reviews help to drum up hype and increase the number of pre-order sales. This only affects people who aren't devoted fans, however.

  Typically I would agree but I think people have become disillusioned with good reviews. People/sites get paid to put up good reviews and has a lot less of an effect than reviews used to have. Just look at how many people and review sites said No Man's Sky was the best thing ever or how Ghostbusters was a good movie. Basically people trust reviews as much as they trust politicians.

• WuYiXiang

  

  • 312 posts
   

  November 1, 2016 7:48 PM EDT

  Hawkward said:

  Typically I would agree but I think people have become disillusioned with good reviews. People/sites get paid to put up good reviews and has a lot less of an effect than reviews used to have. Just look at how many people and review sites said No Man's Sky was the best thing ever or how Ghostbusters was a good movie. Basically people trust reviews as much as they trust politicians.

  See, I would agree with that if it weren't for the fact that I trust NerdCubed and TotalBiscuit's opinions on games (especially first impressions) since my tastes are basically the same as theirs. Square Enix gave Dan access to the beta of Just Cause 3 for a while, and it definitely made me want the game a lot more than I normally would have.

• Hawkward

  

  • 15 posts
   

  November 2, 2016 6:02 AM EDT

  WuYiXiang said:

  Hawkward said:

  Typically I would agree but I think people have become disillusioned with good reviews. People/sites get paid to put up good reviews and has a lot less of an effect than reviews used to have. Just look at how many people and review sites said No Man's Sky was the best thing ever or how Ghostbusters was a good movie. Basically people trust reviews as much as they trust politicians.

  See, I would agree with that if it weren't for the fact that I trust NerdCubed and TotalBiscuit's opinions on games (especially first impressions) since my tastes are basically the same as theirs. Square Enix gave Dan access to the beta of Just Cause 3 for a while, and it definitely made me want the game a lot more than I normally would have.

  I have 2 questions for you. The first is, would you have bought Just Cause 3 without that review? It seems like you got more hyped about the game but would have gotten it anyway. The second question is, has a review ever changed your mind about getting a game? I guess a sub question related to this second question would be, did that review cause you to make a mistate if you did change your mind?

• Hawkward

  

  • 15 posts
   

  November 2, 2016 6:02 AM EDT

  WuYiXiang said:

  Hawkward said:

  Typically I would agree but I think people have become disillusioned with good reviews. People/sites get paid to put up good reviews and has a lot less of an effect than reviews used to have. Just look at how many people and review sites said No Man's Sky was the best thing ever or how Ghostbusters was a good movie. Basically people trust reviews as much as they trust politicians.

  See, I would agree with that if it weren't for the fact that I trust NerdCubed and TotalBiscuit's opinions on games (especially first impressions) since my tastes are basically the same as theirs. Square Enix gave Dan access to the beta of Just Cause 3 for a while, and it definitely made me want the game a lot more than I normally would have.

  I have 2 questions for you. The first is, would you have bought Just Cause 3 without that review? It seems like you got more hyped about the game but would have gotten it anyway. The second question is, has a review ever changed your mind about getting a game? I guess a sub question related to this second question would be, did that review cause you to make a mistate if you did change your mind?

• WuYiXiang

  

  • 312 posts
   

  November 2, 2016 8:37 AM EDT

  I started out completely uninterested in JC3. And I've bought a LOT of games based on TotalBiscuit's reviews.