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[SerTapTap]

They cite Doom 4, but Bethesda clearly screwed up Doom's messaging massively pre-launch. Focusing on (what everyone even post-release agrees was) mediocre multiplayer for series famous for single player was exactly the wrong thing to do.

Out of curiosity, has there been any game that got reviewed on launch day that were critically panned? I'm kinda curious on the worries that some people have regarding those two games.

Besides Mafia 3 and No Man's Sky, of course

Yes? Tons? Assassin's Creed Unity being the most obvious example. A large amount of long-forgotten launch games too.

 

[Sephzilla]

This is a red flag to me. Yes, Doom turned out to be great. But lets not forget Skyrim PS3.

 

[Peterthumpa]

So now they have a free pass to do this whenever they want.

"Free pass"? You talk like using this approach is some kind of crime.

 

[SerTapTap]

Ha, that's not how reviews work

You're aware that it's well known that Bethesda cuts off outlets, right? Here's a kotaku piece on it.. Unless you specifically mean because of low scores (that's more questionable), but publishers do totally blacklist people/companies. No one's entitled to review copies after all and they can just quietly not send stuff, for any reason.

 

[Deadbeat]

No, they can wait. You don't have to buy a game day one regardless of how much you're excited

But then I miss out on preorder bonuses.

 

[Rexatality]

But then I miss out on preorder bonuses.

Do people really care about pre-order bonuses? Maybe I didn't play a lot of games, but most of them pre-order bonuses are useless trinkets nowadays.

 

[Matt]

But then I miss out on preorder bonuses.

So preorder, don't open it, and return it if reviews are bad.

 

[hamchan]

Out of curiosity, has there been any game that got reviewed on launch day that were critically panned? I'm kinda curious on the worries that some people have regarding those two games.

Besides Mafia 3 and No Man's Sky, of course

Willing to bet the majority of them based on how people can seemingly only cite DOOM and Dying Light as the positive ones.

 

[Caayn]

But then I miss out on preorder bonuses.

A worthless skin and a few other trinkets that would've been in the game regardless if people didn't pre-order.

 

[The Last Wizard]

"Free pass"? You talk like using this approach is some kind of crime.

Not a crime but it's shady ass fuck towards day one buyers.

 

[russian box]

Except there's one or two YouTubers and Twitch streamers who already have Skyrim SE.

This,

Youtubers, big ones with lots of subs who make content on whatever are just wanting views and money, They are not going to be critical of the golden ticket they are handed

 

[show me your skeleton]

'we want everyone to play the game at the same time... except for the new-media, easily bought types that provide us a lot of buzz, they can play them early.'

 

[Oersted]

"Free pass"? You talk like using this approach is some kind of crime.

Lol at your reading skills.

Its a shit practice.

The end.

 

[Aliquidmeri]

Meanwhile a lot of streamers already are in possession of the game thanks to Bethesda. Are (screaming, yelling) streamers more important than reviewers?

Kinda strange situation.

From a sales perspective? They most definitely are.

 

[Chobel]

Why worry when you can wait for reviews?

I'm worried because it is one of my most anticipated games in this fall, and if it sucked I'll be really disappointed. I don't care when reviews hit if the game is good, but usually post release review embargo means something is off.

EDIT: While it's not really post release embargo, the effect is basically the same, Bethesda is making sure the reviews comes days after the release.

 

[thechristoph]

Reviews are a largely obsolete step of the marketing process. Nobody should be surprised.

 

[Hale-XF11]

I'm worried because it is one of my most anticipated games in this fall, and if it sucked I'll be really disappointed. I don't care when reviews hit if the game is good, but usually post launch review embargo means something is off.

If it sucks, I'll be disappointed too, but it's still better to wait for reviews if you're worried about it.

 

[Ominym]

While I trust Bethesda, given how Skyrim PS3 turned out there is no reason to believe that their push for this trend is well intentioned.

That said, either wait for the games to be reviewed or be prepared to be potentially burned. The choice is yours.

 

[tryagainlater]

It's a poor practice but hopefully people will counter it simply by not preordering. Oh, who am I kidding?

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

https://bethesda.net/en/article/42QH1pTNpKSYIcgKK2C4wW/bethesda-and-game-reviews

Wow, this is some of the smuggest PR I've ever read.

 

[SunBroDave]

Remember Mafia 3 people.

 

[Jarmel]

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.

ding ding ding

Absolutely disgusting behaviour.

 

[More_Badass]

You're aware that it's well known that Bethesda cuts off outlets, right? Here's a kotaku piece on it.. Unless you specifically mean because of low scores (that's more questionable), but publishers do totally blacklist people/companies. No one's entitled to review copies after all and they can just quietly not send stuff, for any reason.

I was refering to the "there's no planet where Evil Within is a 5" comment.

 

[Hitokiri03]

Meanwhile a lot of streamers already are in possession of the game thanks to Bethesda. Are (screaming, yelling) streamers more important than reviewers?

Kinda strange situation.

Youtubers and streamers tend to be less critical about the games they play than the traditional media. This video is a good example why publishers love them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onFm-7_wTyA

 

[randomusername]

This is pretty silly but bethesdas gonna bethesda. If they really value reviews then they wouldn't send out copies the day before lol they're just banking on pre-orders.

 

[NegativeCero]

Great! Good thing I haven't preordered Dishonored, and will continue to not preorder.

 

[etrain911]

I fear that this and holding games back early will soon become industry standard. I wish that Bethesda had tried this with a worse game than Doom. That game will forever be held up to justify this shitty practice. Bethesda's PR statement is meaningless garbage.

 

[Emperor_Uriel]

Bethesda have the right to send out review copies for their own game whenever they want.
Obviously, you guys have the right to not buy anything until the reviews are out and you know for a fact the game doesn't suck.

I don't see a problem?

Some might argue that the concepts of "we want everyone to experience our games at the same time" and "if you're worried about the quality, just wait for reviews" conflict.

I sort of view it as passive aggressive. Publishers are quickly making "informed purchases" and "day 1 purchases" mutually exclusive. Clearly, there must be data floating around that positive reviews do less to improve sales than negative reviews do to hurt them.

 

[MUnited83]

Meanwhile a lot of streamers already are in possession of the game thanks to Bethesda. Are (screaming, yelling) streamers more important than reviewers?

Kinda strange situation.

Not only more important, they are better for actually showcasing your game. Reviews are meaningless, but at least with a video you can get a feel for the game.

 

[Par Score]

But guys, the reviews are already out:


(This is incredibly, incredibly scummy)

 

[MisterShine]

So Bethesda is officially deciding that review sites are worthless to them and streamers are the only thing that meaningfully affects sales?

Because that's how I read this.

 

[dmr87]

Solution: Don't pre-order/buy on Steam where you can refund/watch a stream.

 

[Barakov]

DOOM was a nice surprise but that doesn't give Bethesda a pass on this stuff. It'll be a good idea to hold off on Skyrim remastered and Dishonored 2 until reviews are out.

 

[Kthulhu]

But guys, the reviews are already out:


(This is incredibly, incredibly scummy)

Lol, fuck that shit, pre order gone now Bethesda.

If Dishonored 2 ends up sucking at least I'll have Pokemon.

 

[Petrae]

So Bethesda is officially deciding that review sites are worthless to them and streamers are the only thing that meaningfully affects sales?

Because that's how I read this.

Streamers aren't usually as critical as reviewers, and many are excited to get the product early under any circumstances because more subs/views for them earns more money-- and now the only way to get any look at a game pre-launch is through them.

Traditional gaming press/reviewers aren't anywhere near as important to publishers as they once were. It's all about enthusiast streamers and YouTubers, who are willing to play ball as publishers desire.

 

[K.Jack]

Meanwhile a lot of streamers already are in possession of the game thanks to Bethesda. Are (screaming, yelling) streamers more important than reviewers?

Well, yeah, streamers who are pretty much guaranteed to not say anything critical, while they hype up their watchers on the game, are the present and future of where publishers are going with their marketing.

Why pay, for what you can get for free?

 

[Poimandres]

I basically have to buy Dishonored 2 for PS4 (my wife wants it!) so my hands are tied on this either way. I'm very confident the game will be good, but I am concerned about performance

This seems par for the course for Bethesda these days, so not worth reading in to.

 

[Emperor_Uriel]

I also want to emphasize that I find it very weird Bethesda of all companies has decided that this is a standard they want to push, considering the quality of their games.

The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Dishonored, Doom; a significant portion of their catalogue is made of of content-rich, high quality, critically lauded and commercially beloved series. I'm honestly far more worried about sketchier/less proven companies following suit, so it's disheartening to see Bethesda paving the way for them.

 

[SaganIsGOAT]

In these cases just wait a week after release to make your decision to buy or not.

 

[FStop7]

I'm always amazed by the crew that is ready to lie down in front of traffic to defend the honor of their favorite corporations.

 

[BobTheFork]

People keep bringing up Doom and 'how it worked' but you DO realize it means Bethesda THOUGHT that game was shit and reviews would be bad, right?

They got lucky. Yes people loved it but they were not planning on that.
Unless this is their attempt to just end review before purchases, I doubt they are doing the same thing to test a theory.

 

[Forsaken82]

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.

Most people won't cancel their pre-orders if they find out the game sucks 24 hours in advance of picking it up. Week in advance is another story.

That being said... I don't think either game is going to review poorly enough that this ends up being bad.

There is no additional benefit to early reviews, so from a publishers mindset they retain the most sales by delaying the opinions as late as possible.

 

[BaronMonstro]

As much as I want to support Arkane and the sequel to my favourite game of 2012 ASAP; I'll be waiting for the reviews.

(pls be gud)

 

[russian box]

The whole youtuber thing but not reviewers just means only good things get said about the games, If you want everyone to experience it at the same time, you wouldn't send it to youtubers. right?

 

[Zombie James]

Bethesda put reviewers that consistently give them low scores on their shit list. For example, after Tom Chick gave Rage a 4/10 and Skyrim a 7/10, Bethesda refused to cooperate with QuartertoThree. Pete Hines and co. believe in the 8-10 scale.

Fallout 4 was my last Bethesda straw and Pete Hines' bullshit was one of the reasons why. He just flat-out lies to people, like the "solid 30fps" he promised just days before F4's launch. Bethesda probably knows people are catching on to their lies and broken releases, hence this policy.

 

[Swindle]

I still remember how buggy Skyrim was for PS3. I'm gonna wait and see this time.

 

[KingBroly]

Fallout 4 was my last Bethesda straw and Pete Hines' bullshit was one of the reasons why. He just flat-out lies to people, like the "solid 30fps" he promised just days before F4's launch. Bethesda probably knows people are catching on to their lies and broken releases, hence this policy.

It's only going to lead to lower review scores and worse sales because there'll be an ever-increasing stigma of 'these are janky games.'

 

[Velkyn]

This is so fucking spineless on Bethesda's part. They want all the free preview coverage but when it comes time to pay the piper, they want an out.

Fucking gross.

 

[lt519]

They have media outlets by the balls too. Not many video game websites are going to thumb their nose at Devs and not preview/review their games because of this. They need the clicks and revenue just as much.

Glad that Polygon has basically a warning against this practice up as their main article.

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

It's only going to lead to lower review scores and worse sales because there'll be an ever-increasing stigma of 'these are janky games.'

Lol, their games have had that stigma for many years now.