@metrosdawn: Yes its problematic, but at the same time it is quite important for data analysts.
Because now you have a sizeable amount of disconted players (4000 negative reviews on Steam alone). Now lets say that after the 1 year exclusivity passes & the game doesnt sell so much on all stores. Now you have one possible cause why your product didnt deliver the sales expectation you predicted.
IMO the fact that the various companies needeed to put out PR statements (Deep Silver/Koch Media/4A Games in the case of Metro & Gearbox/2K in the case of BL3) speaks volumes about the potential PR fallout.
@Bread_or_Decide: We dont actually know Metro Exodus sales.
All Epic has said is that Metro Exodus sold 2.5 times more than Metro Last Light & hasnt shown us concrete numbers.
This information is very misleading because:
1) Steam users were a lot lower in 2013 (Metro Last Light release) than in 2019. Steam concurrent users in 2013 were 6.5 million, in 2015 they were 8.5 million, in 2016 they were 14 million, in 2019 there are 18.5 concurrent users. Steam has been expanding over 300% a year!
2) Sequels to established franchises/games most likely sell more than their predecessor.
3) 2.5 times more doesnt seem that impressive when compared to Witcher 3 for instance, which sold 15 times more copies than WItcher 2 (a 2012 game, 1 year before than Metro Last Light).
@jenilya: Negative reviews are very important actually. Over 85% of potential customers look negative reviews when they want to make a purchase. Over 90% of customers actively search for online reviews. Negative reviews are important because they make businesses grow & focus on their mistakes.
Now for the current situation:
1) Borderlands 3 was announced as an exclusive game on the Epic Store. Meaning that other big stores (like Steam & GoG, but especially Steam which has 20% of the global market wont get it).
2) Epic prepaid the publisher 2K a sizeable amount for 1 year exclusivity. This is a move that has immediate benefits (quick money). But it also has significant risks (you limit yourself to a smaller audience etc).
3) There was a sizable amount of negative reviews (over 4000 reviews just on Steam). This data shows a significant portion of your player base has shown their discontent. This may become problematic.
4) Lets assume that Borderlands doesnt get that many sales on Epic as the devs hoped. Now the data/marketing teams will have a possible causality (the amount of negative reviews 1 tear before) that they can directly link with the less than expected sales. This can happen but it also cant happen.
5) After the 1 year exclusivity ends, how will people that missed the game react? Games have a low life cycle & usually 1 year later the majorly discounted GOTY editions arrive. Will they buy BL3 for a 60$ price? IMO I dont think so. Lets remember that successes like GTA PC Edition (with extra FPS mode, extra car models, new missions etc) are quite uncommon in the industry.
@jenilya: Almost every online store has a review section.
Over 90% of customers read online reviews & 88% trust the current online review system.
Over 70% of customers will buy a product only after reading a positive review.
Businesses that dont have online reviews have reliability problems (25%), Expertise problems (20%) and Professionalism problems (20%) according to multiple surveys.
My guess is that Epic has probably Expertise problems (since it misses a lot of key features according to its competition which is Steam, GoG, Origin, UPlay, etc). Most likely the reason for these problems is maybe because they cut costs (the sideffect of not having cloud saves, mod support & other features etc). Building infrastracture is costly.
But it also could be a Professionalism problem, after all on the subject of spying on Steam users the CEO of Epik said that it was a aside effect of "a rush job" https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-03-15-epic-responds-to-accusations-of-steam-data-mining. Meaning they created their systems quickly, urgently, or without due care. This is the epitome of professionalism problems that are sometimes common in companies.
I really liked it a lot and it definitely surprised me. I think its up there with Avengers 1, Infinity War & Man of Steel. IMO the other superhero movies werent that good.
Hahahaha, maybe you guys should go to the Rockstar forums instead of whining here on Gamespot. Because in the official RDO forums the Rockstar developers are there and will see your criticisms, thus you will have a chance to make the game better.
Unless you enjoy whining here with the Gamespot reviewer. But you wont change anything.
Also a question for the Gamespot reviewer.
Here in this article you condemn the gunplay as "clumsy". Why you didnt also condemn the gunplay in your review of single player game? In fact the only drawback (accoding to you review was the elements of semi-realism. Why?
@Elnath10: You shouldnt be so focused on a review that instead of 10/10 is 9/10. You also shouldnt believe that 10/10 games are perfect either.
Generally you should only use the number system to see if the game/product you buy doesnt suck. Because you can enjoy even 5/10, 6/10 or 7/10 games easily.
The metric/number system is a good evaluation of checking to see if the game is polished (example if it has bugs). It shouldnt be used as the absolute rating ever. Do note however that a metric system is far more preferable to a Yes/No system (example Kotaku's). A Yes/No system is quite bad for a lot of reasons actually.
What you should do is this->1. Check reviews from a LOT of sources. 2. Especially check the written reviews because they are usually a lot more detailed. 3. Compare written reviews from a lot of sources (for instance review A is complaining about controls, review B doesnt mention anything, Review C mentions they are ok, Review D mentions they have some problems, you should know that the controls are in reality either a minor problem or none at all), 4. Check player reviews (best used for online games or games that receive periodic updates, Steam reviews are the best for this, even troll reviews offer something -a laugh-), 5. Check some gameplay footage (example Youtube) to finalize any missing content you may have.
Now about game journalists in general. They rate highly concepts like ease of gameplay, introduction, tutorials and if a game is different from the others (Gamespot places too much emphasis on that, or at least it used to -sequels were usually rated lower-). They play so many games to review them & usually only play the story, that they become jaded as time passes by. (the reviewer mentions that he only played 1 or 2 robberies for instance). They focus on the characters and not so much on the plot, or the lore or world-building of a game. Some reviewers factor in politics as well and these are the worst kind of reviewers, they have so bias and as such they try to push some agenda.
Lets see an example of afail review->Resident Evil 6 for instance got a 4.5/10 score from Gamespot. Obviously it didnt deserve that low (Metacritic gave it a 69/100, Gamespot reviewers gave it a 6.9/10, https://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-6/). Just posting this to show you that even respected sites can fail spectacularly.
About this particular review i dont like it that much. I am talking about the written review. Because it focuses a lot of very specific stuff that seem like the food to weight ratio, the missions with the black man, and the morality system. It doesnt focus a lot on the gameplay like the stealth system, the combat system, the mission structure and so on.
IMO check Game Informer's review (https://www.gameinformer.com/review/red-dead-redemption-ii/an-open-world-western-for-the-ages) OR IGN Japan's review (https://jp.ign.com/red-dead-redemption-2/30228/review/2, just auto-translate it, dont worry i dont know japanese either). Just read the written review and only check the score at the end. These two reviews are much better at conveying their message across than Gamespot's. IMO IGN Japan's review is the most detailed.
@aegis_kleais: Its good to have trust in an awesome developer, but IMO blind trust isnt the way to go. As a customer you always have to remind to a company to uphold their values and to encourage them to continue to do so. Blind loyalty isnt the way to go and thinking otherwise is a fallacy. Support them with all your heart, but not blindly.
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