thegirlleastlikelyto
Member
Yeah, this is why we have laws around advertising.
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Pitchford: Fans wrong to sue Gearbox over Aliens: Colonial Marines
- Thread starter BY2K
- Start date
Yeah, this is why we have laws around advertising.
Pathfinder
Member
This attitude is exactly why people like Pitchford got away with shit like this.
But now we have Steam refunds to hold publishers responsible for the crap they try to pawn off on us.
TheHolyTurnip
Member
Wait, so the market should judge the product instead of the legal system?
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-10-aliens-colonial-marines-managed-1-31-million-sales
So, a smashing success that is yearning for a sequel! Which camp are you in, the one that thought E3 was trash for announcing TLG instead of a CM sequel or the one that is still super miffed about the cancellation of the WiiU version?
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-10-aliens-colonial-marines-managed-1-31-million-sales
So, a smashing success that is yearning for a sequel! Which camp are you in, the one that thought E3 was trash for announcing TLG instead of a CM sequel or the one that is still super miffed about the cancellation of the WiiU version?
Class action lawsuits are better for this purpose.
Not buying a game isn't enough to prevent others from getting screwed by false advertising.
super-heated plasma
Member
Can someone tell me what it is exactly they did wrong with the game and how they lied? I never really followed it.
Hey now, that's offensive to magicians.
Take a peek at the gifs a few posts up. Demo vs Final.
Pitchford completely misrepresented the game (long story as to how the demo vs final is so different) and continues to say they did nothing wrong.
A:CM's demo vs final is nothing like the typical "downgrade controversies" GAF has been posting about on games like Watch_Dogs or Witcher 3 or The Division or whatever else that's been noticeably downgraded. The demo of A:CM is practically an entirely different game compared to the finished product -- right down to the alien AI. It's like the difference between a tech demo for a franchise and an actual game -- you know, things like the Zelda Gamecube tech demo vs The Wind Waker.
And they put it out there at E3, touting it as what you would be getting later that year. That's blatantly a form of false advertising -- they even tried to cover up the final game right up until the day it released. They knew the game they were putting out there was not what they showed at E3 and they clearly don't care that they deceived consumers.
The worst part of it is that iirc the game actually sold 2 million despite how bad it was (or was it shipped? I remember reading sold but someone correct me if I'm wrong). All those people who bought it either "enjoyed" it because of its half-baked B-tier hilarity or were burned on it and mad they spent $50 or $60 on it -- on a glorified CoD with aliens campaign.
It's probably the one time the community can legitimately be infuriated at a company for misrepresenting a game at a trade show. It doesn't matter if it's a licensed game, the game was touted to not be the typical shovelware movie-franchise game and they showed footage backing it up... yet it turned out that it in fact was your typical movie-franchise game. Again, deceiving consumers.
And they put it out there at E3, touting it as what you would be getting later that year. That's blatantly a form of false advertising -- they even tried to cover up the final game right up until the day it released. They knew the game they were putting out there was not what they showed at E3 and they clearly don't care that they deceived consumers.
The worst part of it is that iirc the game actually sold 2 million despite how bad it was (or was it shipped? I remember reading sold but someone correct me if I'm wrong). All those people who bought it either "enjoyed" it because of its half-baked B-tier hilarity or were burned on it and mad they spent $50 or $60 on it -- on a glorified CoD with aliens campaign.
It's probably the one time the community can legitimately be infuriated at a company for misrepresenting a game at a trade show. It doesn't matter if it's a licensed game, the game was touted to not be the typical shovelware movie-franchise game and they showed footage backing it up... yet it turned out that it in fact was your typical movie-franchise game. Again, deceiving consumers.
Pathfinder
Member
He's got the Donald Trump Syndrome.
The market is able to function when sellers are honest about the products they are offering.
Class-Action Lawsuits exist as a means of gathering a collection of people and resources to create a powerful unit to contest large companies in court.
"The market can't decide" on whole when companies are free to straight up lie and deceive their customers.
Lawsuits punish companies that deceive in ways that are difficult to accomplish when the promotional machine drowns out criticism and dissent.
Calling people stupid for preordering something is missing the point that companies are setting up "preorder" promotions on the basis of willfully faked footage.
They are willfully deceiving customers in the same way that a used car salesman would sell a customer a lemon.
And that's why we have laws to prevent that. Giving consumer's recourse in court is wonderful.
Companies put arbitration clauses in their TOS's to limit consumer power. People may hate lawyers making tons of money off these kinds of suits, but they serve a purpose.
Class-Action Lawsuits exist as a means of gathering a collection of people and resources to create a powerful unit to contest large companies in court.
"The market can't decide" on whole when companies are free to straight up lie and deceive their customers.
Lawsuits punish companies that deceive in ways that are difficult to accomplish when the promotional machine drowns out criticism and dissent.
Calling people stupid for preordering something is missing the point that companies are setting up "preorder" promotions on the basis of willfully faked footage.
They are willfully deceiving customers in the same way that a used car salesman would sell a customer a lemon.
And that's why we have laws to prevent that. Giving consumer's recourse in court is wonderful.
Companies put arbitration clauses in their TOS's to limit consumer power. People may hate lawyers making tons of money off these kinds of suits, but they serve a purpose.
The Maverick
Member
People were right to sue, that game was misrepresented until the day of release.
Stiler
Member
I have been a longtime fan of Gearbox, from their BIA series.
I played Borderlands but it just wasn't for me.
I got hoodwinked in the Aliens: CM hype, the original trailer looked great then game came out and ugh....well we all know how it was.
It's the fact that Randy as the balls not only to straight up lie to his customers but also that he still thinks Gearbox did nothing wrong and was in the right.
Talking about how much passion they had for the Aliens series and then they hand part of it off to another studio and focus on Borderlands.
That's not even talking about the BIA games, the game series that made their studio and has many fans, where they work on this ongoing storyline through multiple games and then they get to the LAST game to make, to finish out the story that we've followed for years and years only to drop it and focus everything on Borderlands. Seems like they have no intention of giving fans closure on the BIA series.
Alien: Isolation showed what REAL passion for the IP could bring, glad we at least got that game after the travesty that was Aliens: CM.
After the whole fisaco I will never pre order a gearbox game and will never trust any of their trailers or previews.
I played Borderlands but it just wasn't for me.
I got hoodwinked in the Aliens: CM hype, the original trailer looked great then game came out and ugh....well we all know how it was.
It's the fact that Randy as the balls not only to straight up lie to his customers but also that he still thinks Gearbox did nothing wrong and was in the right.
Talking about how much passion they had for the Aliens series and then they hand part of it off to another studio and focus on Borderlands.
That's not even talking about the BIA games, the game series that made their studio and has many fans, where they work on this ongoing storyline through multiple games and then they get to the LAST game to make, to finish out the story that we've followed for years and years only to drop it and focus everything on Borderlands. Seems like they have no intention of giving fans closure on the BIA series.
Alien: Isolation showed what REAL passion for the IP could bring, glad we at least got that game after the travesty that was Aliens: CM.
After the whole fisaco I will never pre order a gearbox game and will never trust any of their trailers or previews.
jim2point0
Banned
Fucking hell...
I wish this giant turd-mountain wasn't attached to a series I love so much (Borderlands).
jim2point0
Banned
Stole money from who?
jim2point0
Banned
You'd think they'd be in deep shit with Sega were that the case.
Regardless, seems like an unverifiable rumor.
Regardless, seems like an unverifiable rumor.
jim2point0
Banned
Absolutely none of that has to do with them supposedly stealing money though. That's all about how Gearbox misrepresented the game (which they obviously did).
Daria Morgendorffer
Member
Fucking Pitchford, I'm a huge fan of the Borderlands series but stuff like this just makes me so mad at Gearbox.
I'm angrier at myself though because I know I'm gonna get the next BL game at launch again and support this studio.
I'm angrier at myself though because I know I'm gonna get the next BL game at launch again and support this studio.
First let me say it is an honor to have you reply to my post I am a huge fan
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I am no pc gamer but it seems as if steam allows a lot of devs to misrepresent products so gearbox doing it doesn't seem to be a suprise...
I'm always perplexed by false advertising cuz the games industry feels like the fast good industry... you pay for a product that looks good in a picture but what you get is almost always a downgrade
The problem is how much is the difference between advertised and received ... if I see a bacon cheeseburger with 4 slices of bacon in the picture but only receive 3 slices thats only a small annoyance... if I receive a bacon cheeseburger missing one of the buns that's a bigger problem
Look at many of our triple aaa games these days and you'll see a downgrade in nearly 100 percent of cases ex. Witcher 3
However in the case of w3 the downgrade is small.. aliens cm was a massive downgrade and to a beloved fan base eager for this type of game
TheSadRanger
Banned
Tell that to Creative Assembly, who actually made a very high quality alien game and probably had their sales of Isolation suffer from the stigma of CM.
Some day I hope Gearbox is able to divulge the details of how SEGA and Fox put them through such a rigamarole to the point of essentially killing the original intention and passion behind a game they were supposed to have more freedom on. Until then it's certainly not my place to tell that story I guess, and they'll have to continue taking it on the chin for a lot of things that were unfortunately out of their control.
afternoon delight
Member
A wild DEFENDER appears! Uses UNSUBSTANTIATED RUMOR DEFENCE. It's mildly effective!
Did Sega and Fox force Pitchford to lie??? They don't own Gearbox.
From all the absurd defenses of the Pitchford sheanigans, yours probably takes the cake. Consider me ironic clapping.
Randy Pitchford is a fucking jerk. What he did with Colonial Marines is why I will only rent their few good games namely the fluke that is the Borderlands series. The industry needs far less guys like him. The guy lies and thieves from customers and publishers like it's going out of style.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
I do frequently notice that publishers ostensibly provide marketing and PR for developers, but when the shit hits the fan and actual PR is needed they often pull a WB: "Whaaaat? The game is poor?!?"
But since I also perceive that's what Gearbox themselves pretty much did to Timegate, they receive no sympathy from me in that regard.
TheSadRanger
Banned
That doesn't make any sense what so ever. I would give gearbox some slack on the 360 and PS3, actually you know what fuck that. If monolith can make a good aliens game on the fucking half life 1 engine for PC than there's no excuse.
You also can't blame SEGA or Fox over creative control when CA made Alien:Isolation and were basically allowed to do whatever they want with the game. So get that shit out of here, Creative Assembly made a good game with none of the fucking drama of Colonial Marines and Gearbox is always making excuses and shit to cover for their incompetence.
Ah, so they release a game that has there 'name' on it, when it reality, they were stealing money from Sega to make the game they 'really' wanted to make (lets not forget they stole the visual style of Borderlands from someone to begin with and never gave that person credit X() and hired a random developer to finish up the mess they never bothered to make.....and they expect to go away scot free?
It isn't like the deal regarding Prey 2 where the publisher has legal right to mess with Human Head like they did (even though it was messed up what happened to them and the game :'(), they violated laws and contract they had with Sega regarding Aliens:CM.
They DESIRVE to get punished for what they did and the founder/head of Gearbox not holding up to his mistake? Sour move on his part when the reality is right in front of everyone.
Borderlands is a great series and I am glad people love it
....but its horrible that one great series is the only thing saving Gearbox from the 'hate' many have toward companies like EA or Ubisoft.
It isn't like the deal regarding Prey 2 where the publisher has legal right to mess with Human Head like they did (even though it was messed up what happened to them and the game :'(), they violated laws and contract they had with Sega regarding Aliens:CM.
They DESIRVE to get punished for what they did and the founder/head of Gearbox not holding up to his mistake? Sour move on his part when the reality is right in front of everyone.
Borderlands is a great series and I am glad people love it
....but its horrible that one great series is the only thing saving Gearbox from the 'hate' many have toward companies like EA or Ubisoft.old manatee
Banned
He makes it sound like they just made a bad, but honest, game, but ignores all of the deception they used to market it.
That's exactly the point though, CA got to do whatever they wanted with their game. Gearbox were told they would be able to do that too and then had to scrap years of work, twice when Fox kept changing their mind because of the production of Prometheus.
I can't believe people still believe the whole stealing money from ACM to make Borderlands 2 thing. Despite that not making sense it's been debunked repeatedly in the courts.
ShinMaruku
Member
Some Sonic games are pretty good. People forget Rush and perhaps coulours and generations. But People like to pretend that all their games are Sonic Boom and 06. That too is unfair.
Oh I totally agree. Randy's assholery and fucking over of fans almost without a doubt hurt the market for Alien: Isolation, which ended up being phenomenal but overlooked. The fact that it underperformed likely has a lot to do with the massive backlash and hate towards Colonial Marines and Sega. I know I went in weary.
Serpens007
Member
Consiering that Borderlands 2 is the highest selling game of 2K's history, I can picture that publisher giving them a shit ton of money to make BL3.
Also, it was ever confirmed the whole "stealing from SEGA" thing ? It seems pretty hard to believe.
After all said and done, Randy keeps wondering why everyone knows he did all this chizz with the company, and denies it that we have no proof. When in fact he keeps bringing this up do to guilt, and keeps leaking information himself that he has done all of this and more.
I want to see him get sued and lose multiple lawsuits more than any other company right now. That is including Monastro and Comcast.
I want to see him get sued and lose multiple lawsuits more than any other company right now. That is including Monastro and Comcast.
Delta Assault
Member
Randy Pitchford, shining beacon of integrity.
Of course it wasn't confirmed. I mean that's pretty much an impossible thing to prove. But considering the type of people running Gearbox, and no clear line of funding for BL1, along with the dragging on and secret outsourcing of Colonial Marines it really seems highly plausible.
DICKS AHOY
Banned
How many of those sales were from launch when people weren't aware just how much worse the game was then all of the pre-release material shown was?
SoulUnison
Banned
I feel like Gearbox is a B-tier developer that just happened to stumble onto a great formula with Borderlands and they're just hoping that nobody notices while they milk the brand name dry.
I've put more than 300 hours into Borderlands 2 but once you start looking behind the curtain, so to speak, especially on the DLCs, you start to wonder how the devs let a lot of things ship in the state they're in.
Especially on NEW Game+ and ++ playthroughs, you see that Gearbox has *no* idea how to balance a game besides "make the numbers bigger." Enemies feel like they have the AI of a game from a decade ago. They can snipe with shotguns and perfectly lead shots from half a mile away every single time. I listened to Pitchford at a PAX panel a few years back and I was super excited to go, but I left feeling like he didn't know much more about game design or running a company than how to spew buzzwords.
He's a PR man masquerading as a game developer, and he's not even a *good* PR guy.
I've put more than 300 hours into Borderlands 2 but once you start looking behind the curtain, so to speak, especially on the DLCs, you start to wonder how the devs let a lot of things ship in the state they're in.
Especially on NEW Game+ and ++ playthroughs, you see that Gearbox has *no* idea how to balance a game besides "make the numbers bigger." Enemies feel like they have the AI of a game from a decade ago. They can snipe with shotguns and perfectly lead shots from half a mile away every single time. I listened to Pitchford at a PAX panel a few years back and I was super excited to go, but I left feeling like he didn't know much more about game design or running a company than how to spew buzzwords.
He's a PR man masquerading as a game developer, and he's not even a *good* PR guy.