• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Warner Brothers suspends [new] purchases for PC version of Batman Arkham Knight

noshten

Member
Lets get real in an age before Steam Refund this would not have happened.
Also looking at the Metacritic it's possible it would effect the legs of Batman long term if the issue is not addressed.
HUGE A** companies need to realize this is the Age of Internet and these type of practices will have a huge blowback
 

Ibuki

Banned
I love how this went from 'some users are having issues' to straight up pulling the game. You can't bullshit forever WB.
 

diaspora

Member
I wonder if they don't plan on actually fixing the game, just discontinuing sales and refunding those who purchased it.
 

Tagyhag

Member
Good! Take control of your own mess, and it helps those poor souls who don't even look at reviews (Although I doubt the number of PC gamers who do that is noticeable).
 

iNvid02

Member
I think this rules out a quick fix, if that were possible why not weather the shit storm for a few more days and commence with the patches, but suspending sales... Jesus.

They broke him, they broke the batman :(
 
Botched collector's edition, botched PC release. Arkham Knight is on fire.

Seems unprofitable.

Maybe AAA publishers will think twice before publishing on PC platform.

Or releasing broken games. If they keep releasing broken shit on PC they deserve the backlash.

They also brought Arkham Origins to PC and that was a great port, which is more telling about the story for this game.

First time I heard somebody call Arkham Origins a "good port".
 
That's the first thing they've done that wasn't insulting. Hmm.

Even still, a last minute delay would have been the best option, they had to have known how busted and janky as shit this is.
 

alstein

Member
Hope next time they hire a competent PC port dev.

Iron Galaxy was considered competent before this. They did good work with Divekick, and with KI Season 2.

This wasn't a HVS situation.

Good studios do occasionally pump out complete garbage- both Stardock and Paradox have done that in the past.
 
Absolutely fantastic news. I don't think they could've sent a clearer message that they're taking this very, very seriously. Gotta give props to WB on this one.
 

Mononoke

Banned
I think in this particular case, Valve still would have actually given people refunds for it. Steam refunds existed before the recent update to them. They were just made more accessible and less strict. For an essentially broken game, people likely would have been refunded, had they asked.

That's the important part, though. I think that a lot less people would have actually asked for refunds if this hadn't occurred so closely to the new easier Steam refunds being revealed.

Ah, that's a great point. Thanks for fleshing that out. You are right, people could have gotten refunds for a broken game. But it does worry me, when companies think they can get away with treating consumers poorly. I just think consumers should have more back up insurance. Because some games might pass the "not broken" line, and still be unacceptable (for instance, missing textures might not count as broken). But you are right, Valve would probably refund regardless on this (I think?) even if the new refund policy wasn't in effect.

Either way, I'm just glad people really used their voices, and WB folded quickly over the matter. Let's just hope they actually make this right.
 

The Llama

Member
The real MVP here is steam refunds, this is the first AAA release since they were implemented and it's already sent a publisher a clear message.

Long overdue, ubi must be sweating a little

Edit; ashes was recalled, Arkham knight has been suspended so it's not really the same thing, plus it's fun to say UNPRECEDENTED

tbh they could just choose not to publish on Steam anymore. I doubt they would, but it's certainly a possibility.
 

Giever

Member
They also brought Arkham Origins to PC and that was a great port, which is more telling about the story for this game.

I wouldn't say it was a "great" port. It had (and continues to have?) some issues. I also recall them forgoing fixing the game anymore to work on releasing the upcoming DLC at the time.
 
They also brought Arkham Origins to PC and that was a great port, which is more telling about the story for this game.

I remember lots of complaints about bugs when it released. I know I ran into a couple.

There were substantially more graphics options though, which was nice.
 

QFNS

Unconfirmed Member
People throwing shade at IG are probably misdirecting their anger. Signs suggest this was a rush job of epic proportions which means that almost certainly the blame lies with WB and not Lang's group.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Maybe Rockstar was on to something when they delayed the PC version so much >_>
 
And with that I'm happy but also put in a request for a refund from GMG since there is no way there is a quick fix for this. If I get one I'll just buy this for PS4 (and email WB to bitch about getting the pre-order DLC).
 

viveks86

Member
You know what the worst part of this news is? We will never know how the Nvidia 60 fps trailer with rain effects came to be. Nvidia will have nothing to explain if there is no game on sale anymore. I won't be surprised if everyone goes dark on this game until a substantial fix is out. Unanswered questions will eat me alive! Ugh!
 
I just hope the conclusion they draw from this is that they have to put more effort into PC versions of their games.
I fear that the conclusion they draw from this is to not bother with PC versions anymore.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
Hopefully with Steam refunds being a real thing now, this will mean for more substantial QA on PC going forward. Because holy shit, this is the right thing to do, but man does it look bad lol
 

mbmonk

Member
I have no idea why these people couldn't have seen how obviously terrible this PC port was. How the fuck could they be so obtuse as to actually release the damn thing?

They knew. Released it anyway... I am sick of this industry at times.
 
People throwing shade at IG are probably misdirecting their anger. Signs suggest this was a rush job of epic proportions which means that almost certainly the blame lies with WB and not Lang's group.

I guess regardless of how at fault Iron Galaxy was, it's ultimately WB who should have done a better job making sure things were in order.
 
Publishers will probably get the "bright idea" to start releasing AAA games under Steam Early Access. They have been doing it unofficially now for awhile. They might as well throw in a 30% discount while they are at it.

At this point, I wonder if Publishers will just go back to delaying the PC version for a couple of weeks for optimization.
 

KingBroly

Banned
I just hope the conclusion they draw from this is that they have to put more effort into PC versions of their games.
I fear that the conclusion they draw from this is to not bother with PC versions anymore.

If that Steam Spy site is any indication for Batman games, they'd be missing out on a lot of sales.
 
You know what the worst part of this news is? We will never know how the Nvidia 60 fps trailer with rain effects came to be. Nvidia will have nothing to explain if there is no game on sale anymore. I won't be surprised if everyone goes dark on this game until a substantial fix is out. Unanswered questions will eat me alive! Ugh!

Viveks is the hero Neogaf deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark gaffer.

The video makes me curious too. Just from like a technical perspective mostly though. Wondering if it's off a different build or something.
 
Top Bottom