Destiny review copies going out on the day before release

http://www.polygon.com/forums/destiny/2014/9/2/6097679/a-note-from-the-reviews-editor-no-release-day-destiny-review

Bungie the terrific beyond reproach studio that they are, that have totally never under-delivered in any capacity, will not have review copies out for timely reviews.

Why make this a thread? Well in general high profile games usually offset doubt with you know, a relatively late embargo, but with Destiny it's straight up trying to avoid day one reviews. Could be because the game is mmo-lite and stuff, but that's a bunch of hokum after a certain point, if the game is supposed to be legit, why have little faith in it?

Carry on my friends.

Destiny has always had been a wait and see game rather than day one. Too bad a bunch of preorderers didn't get the memo.

selling on hype (not merit) seems like the way to go these days.

Not a good sign is it

Console gamers don't buy games based off reviews anyways.

It's all about whether or not the game is advertised on tv.

They got the open beta instead..

Stop making sense and get mad at Bungie. Get mad, damn you.

The pre-order let people play the Beta, if you didn't like it you could cancel the pre-order and be done with it. But lots of people still love it, myself included. My experience in the beta gave me only more faith in the final release. Destiny is one of the biggest game launches ever, its receiving just as much un-warranted hate as it is un-warranted praise.

MMO's that have been tethered to online play have had review codes come out way earlier than what Bungie's game is doing.

Plus let's be real, given how many review copies go out, early access to their play testers (bungie has always done this), and all that jazz: They could have had servers and online ready to go for reviewers way before a day before release.

A beta is not a review copy. You don't give full reviews based on a beta. A game of such magnitude should have early review copies sent out unless Bungie doesn't want you to know what reviewers think.

Well it's not a MMO. It's more like diablo3, path of exile, borderlands, hellgate, GW1, etc. Coop RPG.

That is not a good sign. Bungie however is a top tier studio so i'm not worried in the least.

Diablo 3 (2 weeks earlier in the case of the most recent Diablo 3 expansion), Borderlands 2, Guild Wars 1 had review codes sent out earlier than the day before. Point is being tethered to online play isn't really something that doesn't have a work around in 2014. Could it be server or last minute changes they want to do? sure, I can buy that, but because it's an online experience? they could easily set that up given how many sites, magazines, and youtube channels they can send that game to.

@jg4xchamp: This might be the reason: Bungie Weekly Update

ninjadragonkllr What time will the servers be open for the public in North America and worldwide?

When it is September 9th somewhere in the world, and you have access to your very own version of Destiny, it will be time for you to create a character that will keep you company for a good, long time. Retailers will stick to time-zones. Our servers won’t know the difference. Retailers will break street date. Our servers won’t.

Which then begs the question, why not have those servers up before hand?

It's not like they wouldn't get a respectable amount of traffic that could work out the game.

Im excited for the game but if its an epic failure ill laugh and move on. I want it to be good tho because other than Wasteland 2 there's nothing until Dragon Age

Oooh....that's never a good sign.

The only thing that comes to mind is because the launch is Sep 9, not 8 or 7 or 6.

But I don't know.

Review codes for most big games go out before the release date, even when they have an online component. In fact the online servers are usually up for the sake of review codes, so this doesn't exactly fly as justification.

"most" and "usually"

Bungie isn't turning their servers on till "it is September 9th somewhere in the world" that is the reason review copies aren't going out early to me.

I didn't like demo so I'm not getting it at all until much later on.

Which again in 2014 has an easy work around, you just turn them on and send out review copies.

They had an Alpha and Beta, I'm sure there's nothing crazy going on.

That being said, the amount of coverage certain sites like IGN are doing for it already show me which reviews not to trust.

StarCraft II didn't have review copies sent out at all (reviews bought their own copies), and that game was awesome. Destiny is a game meant to be played with other people, so having reviewers play alone or with very few other people wouldn't make much sense.

I dont see the problem with this, if you really want a fair review of the game then wait. We dont want another fiasco like what happened with BF4, where reviewers got to play the game in a controlled environment, and servers were different than what the game shipped with.

It will still get high reviews unless they go full EA and the game doesn't work for half a year.

Game spot user score 8.3 not bad imo.

Just look at Watch Doge. In fact, marketing gets a bigger budget than the actual development nowadays anyway.

HYPE!!!!

ALWAYS A GOOD SIGN

Still got this slut preordered. Got a very good friend to play it with. Hell, I played a lot of stuff with him. @wolverine4262 my GOAT.

Bring on Bungielands.

They aren't going to open a mmo type game a week in advance for people. That would require them to open the servers up for the game. Servers are offline until the 8th.

Co-op play would be non-existent. Competitive multiplayer would be non-existent.

I love how people are trying to claim bungie is hiding something.

Incoming flop.

It's obviously because they are evil and hate gamers.

They are essentially North Korea, but somehow in Washington State.

They have more than enough merit coming from nearly two decades of making high-quality, critically acclaimed titles repeatedly...

There is still a decent amount of content to experience without the need for online play.

that merit is entirely independent of this game. many times before people have hyped games based on the pedigree of the developer.

i won't join you in making such an assumption.

Why would anyone be mad at bungie? They clearly want to hide what many people realized in the beta. It lacks diverse content and is just not that fun in design.

LOL at 3 planets only.. Pre order cancelled. I will get it 1 or 2 years later when they include all the other planets that the day 1ers fronted money for through DLC in one nice package. Not mad at them for that. Activision has thought of a simple way to get WoW money out of a shooter. neat for them

This whole late embargo and the late review copies thing is really not good for the industry's health.

Honest, professional, timely criticism is absolutely crucial for an entertainment industry. Even Hollywood doesn't touch this. Gaming industry really is corrupt from the inside. Something needs to change.

This game will flop

Whatever floats your boat, if money is an issue. Me and my Starhawk clan (the boys) are gonna no-life the hell out of it from day one.

Yehaw.

No surprise there. It's basically an MMO and those take awhile to review and need bigger community playing it.

@Basinboy I told you.

I'm not overly surprised given the nature of the game. Still, that being said, I don't know i that is the reason why they are shipping review copies so late.

They must have been pretty confident to do an open beta, the reason I bought it.

It doesn't really matter. The review copies are probably there just so that the reviewers get to set things up before launch. Like any other MMO, true reviewing can only start after official launch.

I was impressed they had an open beta, I wasn't too impressed with the game but it still tempts me greatly to pick it up. Having a character and getting gear and weapons is what is pulling me in.

It's more of a lack of comprehensiveness for me. I already got tired of Russia during just the alpha and I expect the other 3 planets to grow OLD quickly as well. I would rather have more content from the onset of my play through instead of waiting for the DLC

@freedomfreak: