Games no longer including instruction booklets

Eh , i've learned to live with , but it is strange that you noticed it now , cause EA has been doing it way before this.

I've noticed it for a long time but it's just now beginning to sink in, also I rarely buy EA games and the ones I generally do I get on PC.

As a collector, I don't like it, although it's been going on for awhile.

Yep.

I don't miss them and the games now have tutorials at the beginning or training sections, so there isn't much use for em. ( save the trees )

This and those stupid eco cases bug me, yeah.

Super thin, cheaply made, feel like you're going to break them by looking at them wrong? Yeah, I hate them as well.

I don't mind it so much. When I was a kid I used to like thumbing through them to see if they had any background information on the characters, but the internet kinda serves that purpose now. I never ever actually used them to learn how to play the game.

It bothers me in the same way as Digital games costing the same as retail. So the game publisher makes more money but doesn't pass that savings on to the consumer. The publisher doesn't have to print the directions, they don't have to press the disc, they don't need to make cover art, they don't need to have a plastic case and they don't need to ship any product. This adds up to a ton of savings for the publisher yet we still get charged $60 to download the games. This is why until digital games become $10 - $20 cheaper I'm all about the physical copies unless the only way to get the game is digital then I just wait for a sale.

You should have seen my face when i got Fallout NV Complete.

Just a napkin with a controller drawn on it.

Ouch...

I love the smell of fresh print and reading through a new game manual but in the age of digital downloads and ever increasing costs involved with creating games. I'm happy to see them go, if it means the price remains steady, at the moment games are cheaper now (taking inflation into account) than they were ten years ago.

Most games usually have a pdf manual either in the game folder or available online, at least for PC games.

I'm like the TC. While I may not have always read the game manual there was always some cool background story for the game in the book. Granted it is all in the game now but it was cool to have a book of information instead of a digital copy.

Honestly I don't care about the manuals, I never read them anyway. As a couple people mentioned, the cases have become too flimsy. Prefer the steelbooks just wish they were the standard casing.

I remember the golden age of SNES games always come with instruction books they come with a story to tell on a game, always thick when containing hits, and helpful tips. That said on last-gen, they were getting thin and thin by the minute and that right there is when it's nearing it's extinction of instruction booklets. At least Strategy guide books are still here. Also, handhelds still do instruction booklets.

Dudebro and american titles doesn't include manuals. I got Blazblue on the PS4 and the manual was there; same with DOA5LR and other Japanese titles.

I miss manuals too. They made the game feel complete in a sense.

But most games have digital manuals now. Not to mention things on the Internet like Gamefaqs. Makes manuals more or less pointless these days.

People are too lazy to read nowadays. I used to read them while the game installed.

Instruction manuals use to be a really neat addition to the game. I remember the NES ones were cool. If you got a special one that was thicker with some extra content, you were in heaven.

Now YouTube is my instruction manual.

I thought it would bother me, just like i thought the cases getting cheaper would bother me, but it dont. They find these cool ways to surprise me, like in game manuals and pictures to match the case reduction.

The downfall is that not everybody does it. A bunch of my Wii U and 3DS games still do come with manuals, but i do have a bunch that dont. Barely none use the case reduction like Kid Icarus Uprising, and i wish more would.

The instruction books were only ever good for things that are now covered by tutorials. Unless a game is especially complicated like an RPG or strategy game, there's really no need for external information anymore, and there hardly ever was in the first place. Even in more complicated games, well written tooltip information can cover any questions you have.

Steam games come with PDF's, if you have poor eyes (as I do), the zoom feature and back-light is generally better than a 7 inch booklet.

Being the age of the Internet as well, we have resourcess beyond booklets, such as youtube.

It does bother me. Now that I´m collecting I will gladly pay extra $$$ for a game with booklet, actually, if it doesn´t have the booklet I don´t purchase it.

Like, who cares these days? Instruction booklets today are so lifeless and dull compared to three generations ago. Besides one or two of you, no one will ever open it up and look at it. I would save the paper, it's not a good collectors item, and it never was either.

I got the interwebs.

Only useful in the Souls series for newcomers

Oh yeah? It's not a good collector's item, and it never was either?

This is worth $200 - $230

This is now worth $60 - $90

You're speaking out of turn, and out of complete ignorance with people who are actually collector's.

Yes, it is a collector's item, still don't think it's a good one. Again, the booklets from three generations and before are the only ones worth a damn.

The reason for the demise of instruction manuals isn't so much to do with environmental reasons or cost saving of material, but the reality that they're an archaic way of teaching the game to the players. Back in the day of simpler game design, all that was really needed was a description of the HUD (most of which was already intuitive such as health bar, life count, weapon count, etc...) the function for a very limited amount of buttons, and maybe a catalogue of the enemy types.

And as games became more complex, the need for manuals seemed even more necessary. Until a paradigm occurred; as games evolved into more dynamic experiences with multiple input functions as well as multiple play styles and layers in design, trying to provide the player all the information of the mechanics and design structure of the game in a linear and static book became outdated.

With the growth of the tech to allow multiple layers of content on the media, having an interactive and contextual tutorial presented in real time, all synchronized with the action as it happened, was found to be the more efficient and natural way to teach the players all the essentials of the game. No more minutes wasted on learning before playing, now the player could "learn in the field" so to speak, and enjoy the action right away. Plus the dynamic nature of in-game tutorials fluidly presents the instruction as needed, instead of a static sequence of pages in a book.

Going back to paper manuals would be akin to processing accounts via abacus in an office with computers. There really is no reason to go back to it.

Instructions appear on the screen every five seconds. What would a manual be good for, dlc drop dates?

I dont need a manual, BUT I think its lazy and kinda disrespectful when the game ships with nothing or a freaking flyer telling to buy the season pass.

If you aint gonna put a manual (which i agree that it isnt really needed) so put a poster or something worth while in there instead.

I love instruction booklets. I was happy to see The Evil Within and Onechanbara Z2: Chaos come with good booklets.

Dont care. I dont even bother with physical copies of games anymore. i embrace our digital future.

My import had a full colored booklet, I was shocked! :P

But then what will Sony gamers do without instructions/guides!?

I do on PC, the console market isn't ready yet.

Manuals don't play nice with balance and QoL patches.

@-God- said:

But then what will Sony gamers do without instructions/guides!?

..what you CAN'T do.. Actually play games on a PS4 or gaming PC. :P

It kinda bothers me, coming from the NES era. I used to enjoy checking out the instruction booklets.

What really bothers me is that they try to play both off both these things as an "eco" decision... You are a company, we all know you just want to save money.

Not that I don't want others to have what they desire as long as it doesn't harm others....but do we really need this same topic thats been beaten to death for the passed 7 years?

Booklets are a thing of the past. It sucks, I guess, doesn't bother me, but man.

Been going on for ages.

The Witcher 3 did it right in so many beautiful ways.

I don't miss em, but I was pretty stoked with all the shit that came with my Witcher 3 game. I wouldn't mind more of that.

Does it bother me? Yes. But if i had my choice between a small booklet that came in my games, or the awesome collectibles manuscripts, extras, comic and design art that are densely populated in the recent remakes i've been playing (Gears Ultimate, Rare Replay, Mega Man Legacy)... i'd pic the in-game extras.

I think that is the point. The stuff that came included with the Witcher was a cut above the rest, lol... but the fact you are saying it was a lot is laughable. Paper-thin inserts and a map. that is "normal" for older games.

Instruction booklets were kind of neato when we were kids, and it helped that car ride home, but they are completely unnecessary in today's era.

Most games have tutorials, and actual good game design is capable of teaching the player the game by simply playing the game. So while I get the fond memory aspect of instruction booklets, they have no actual value to the player in the modern era.

I couldn't care less whether a game has one or not.

The witcher 3 didn't have that problem lol, that thing was packed

All of this is accurate, although personally I miss having manuals. Yes, a game (these days) should be well designed enough to teach you how to play effectively as you play rather than forcing you to study a thick instruction manual. However, manuals had other purposes depending on the game. For example, in complex RPGs like Neverwinter Nights 2 the manual served as an encyclopedia of all of the various skills and abilities your characters could possibly acquire in the game in addition to a detailed breakdown of the rules of that game's version of the D&D 3rd edition ruleset.

I recently picked up Until Dawn and there wasn't even a single slip of paper in the box. :(

-Byshop

I remember on the way home from Toys R Us or where ever, reading through it on the subway with my older brother is what the game booklet was for. It was like a ritual and I was thrilled if the booklet was fat. But I cant say I necessarily need them now.