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Skyrim SE and Dishonored 2 review copies will ship one day before release.

Q

Quonny

Member
I still see this as a negative sign, but Doom and others have shown me there are exceptions to the rule.
 
The Lamonster

The Lamonster

Member
To be fair, DOOM ended up being excellent.

Anyway, the only Skyrim SE impressions I care about will come from Digital Foundry :)
 
G

Goldenroad

Member
And, as with Doom, nobody will be harmed by waiting a couple days for reviews to hit before buying. I only bought Doom a month or so ago and I'm sure it's probably even better now than when it launched. Bethesda is trying to tell you "Don't Pre-order Our Games", and when a publisher tells you that, you should probably listen.
 
J

James Scott

Banned
Quonny said:
I still see this as a negative sign, but Doom and others have shown me there are exceptions to the rule.
Click to expand...
Mafia 3 did the same thing and people kept bringing up Doom.
Doesn't meant it's automatically awful, but I don't think it deserves the benefit of the doubt
 
J

Jb

Member
How the fuck does this benefit the publisher? I legit don't understanding it, especially considering both games will probably be pretty well received critically.
 
BigTnaples

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
This really doesn't indicate anything to me. So many games do it these days. Some of them are good, some bad, some are someplace inbetweeen.



But let's all read into it like Skyrim will be a disaster.
 
C

Crankshaft

Member
SomedayTheFire said:
I've never really understood why this is such a problem. Just have some patience.
Click to expand...

Lol. It defeats the whole point of the review really. People want to buy games on release. If there is no review then they have to buy the game blind. Don't like it? Well too bad, store already has your money. (If it's physical)

At least with steam you can get a refund.
 
S

SlickVic

Member
Did that work out well for games like Doom and Mafia III in terms of sales? Don't know how Doom sold and Mafia 3 it's still maybe a bit early too tell.

I wonder if this is going to be the norm now. I imagine certain games like a Naughty Dog game will still get early reviews, but wonder if for other games we may be waiting a week after release to see proper reviews drop.
 
M

Mesoian

Member
Ibuki said:
So now they have a free pass to do this whenever they want.
Click to expand...

I mean, yes. Regardless of Doom's success, they could just NOT provide review copies at all. It's their choice regardless.

We live in a very weird place where youtubers have been playing both of these games for a week, while the traditional sites have been left wanting. Strange days.

DOWN said:
Isn't Smyrim just a graphics review? It's just a visual remaster
Click to expand...

Technical review as well. It'll be interesting to see how the PC runs now that it can run in x64.
 
K

Kathian

Banned
Crankshaft said:
Lol. It defeats the whole point of the review really. People want to buy games on release. If there is no review then they have to buy the game blind. Don't like it? Well too bad, store already has your money. (If it's physical)

At least with steam you can get a refund.
Click to expand...

They mean be patient and don't buy at launch which I agree with. Digital means there is no concern around getting the game in stock.
 
K

Kthulhu

Member
Unless they completely fuck up Skyrim (somehow) I'm sure it's fine.

I may cancel my Dishonored 2 preorder, but the first game was so good that I may stick with it.


Jb said:
How the fuck does this benefit the publisher? I legit don't understanding it, especially considering both games will probably be pretty well received critically.
Click to expand...

They might not. Perhaps that's why. Bad reviews slow down the hype train.
 
J

jbug617

Banned
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.

With the upcoming launches of Skyrim Special Edition and Dishonored 2, we will continue our policy of sending media review copies one day before release. While we will continue to work with media, streamers, and YouTubers to support their coverage – both before and after release – we want everyone, including those in the media, to experience our games at the same time.

We also understand that some of you want to read reviews before you make your decision, and if that’s the case we encourage you to wait for your favorite reviewers to share their thoughts.

Skyrim Special Edition releases globally on October 28 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Dishonored 2 releases globally on November 11 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Click to expand...
https://bethesda.net/en/article/42QH1pTNpKSYIcgKK2C4wW/bethesda-and-game-reviews
 
ComputerBlue

ComputerBlue

Member
There are plenty of youtubers with Skyrim SE already, directly from Bethesda so I wouldn't worry about that too much. Especially since the game is 5 years old.

Dishonored 2 on the other hand. I have little faith in this game for some reason. I hope it turns out okay because I loved the first one.
 
H

hobblygobbly

Member
I don't even understand how this policy benefits Bethesda itself under the assumption that the games are good (or at least they have faith in their product), are they really seeing significant sales of people putting more trust in them and being impatient and not waiting for reviews? It's the only thing that makes sense. There must be some significant sales produced by impatience similar to Denuvo because it pushes impatient pirates to buy it instead of waiting for it to be cracked.
 
B

Benjamin1981

Member
Arkane already proved that they can make a great game. So there is nothing to worry about with Dishonored 2. Skyrim will be Skyrim and the only relevant information will be performance testing from Digital Foundry.
 
S

Simon Belmont

Banned
I think this is going to be the norm for Bethesda games now. It'll be interesting to see if other publishers follow suit.

Edit: Didn't see the statement. I'm not much of a prognosticator apparently.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
At Bethesda, we value media reviews.
Click to expand...
No, you very clearly wish they didn't exist, and figure that mailing out copies one day before release is the way to get reviews out the absolute latest, because otherwise reviewers might try to source early copies from retailers.

You're only even bothering commenting on this because you want to mitigate the bad PR of doing so as much as possible.
 
S

spectator

Member
"We also understand that some of you want to read reviews before you make your decision, and if that’s the case we encourage you to wait for your favorite reviewers to share their thoughts."

... but don't miss out on those pre-order bonuses, kiddies!
 
L

Logash

Member
Publishers can do what ever they want. Personally, idc about Skyrim because there is very little they can do to fuck that up but Dishonored is a different story. I'll wait to see if it's good but I'm not gonna kick and scream about how they suck for doing this.
 
R

Rexatality

Member
Valar Morghulis said:
There are plenty of youtubers with Skyrim SE already, directly from Bethesda so I wouldn't worry about that too much. Especially since the game is 5 years old.

Dishonored 2 on the other hand. I have little faith in this game for some reason. I hope it turns out okay because I loved the first one.
Click to expand...

If you loved the first game, I don't see any reason to doubt Dishonored 2. That's just me, though.
 
K

kswiston

Member
Wasn't Mafia 3 from 2k games?


I am getting the Skyrim SE upgrade for free on PC since I own the vanilla game and DLC.

Dishonored 2 is a down the road purchase along with 99% of the games I buy these days. I hope it is as good as the first though.
 
F0rneus

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
I'm not scared for Skyrim because well, the game is already critically acclaimed. I already know it's a good one. The 30FPS on consoles is horseshit, but unless it's PS3 levels of Skyrim bad, the port so far looked pretty good from the vids we have.

Dishonored 2 we'll see. I expect it to be stellar from what I've seen. This might be Doom all over again. But the thing is...We know straight from Bethesda ( I don't remember the interview, someone help here) that they thought the single player wouldn't go over well with reviewers.
 
A

Anno

Member
So I assume these games will hit a popular streamer near you prior to then? I mean, I guess I appreciate them just coming out and saying it as well as telling you to wait for reviews if you want. I imagine more publishers will do this and just not say word one about it.
 
B

Boke1879

Member
Seems most publishers will be doing this. If anything you'll see more youtubers playing these games a week or two before release.
 
L

LostMyNarbles

Member
Shame. If I am not mistaken Fallout 4 had a ton of technical issues and with that in mind I'd be leery about the performance of Skyrim ahead of reviews.
 
D

DOBERMAN INC

Member
I don't have too much of an issue with it, it's their choice but my only issue would be bugs, any bugs that reviewers may have found and revealed to the developer will now ship with the game and take x amount of time to address.
 
D

darkside31337

Tomodachi wa Mahou
I don't have a problem with the decision itself but good lord at that spin. What a load of shit. I wish they would just be honest... about anything really.
 
B

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Nirolak said:
No, you very clearly wish they didn't exist, and figure that mailing out copies one day before release is the way to get reviews out the absolute latest, because otherwise reviewers might try to source early copies from retailers.

You're only even bothering commenting on this because you want to mitigate the bad PR of doing so as much as possible.
Click to expand...

More or less yep.

Thankfully I get Skyrim SE for free anyway and I'm actually not worried about the quality of the game with Dishonored 2 but after Mafia 3 I'll be waiting for a technical review ta. That plus I need to play the DLC for Dishonored first anyway so no rush.
 
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