MonsterHunter
Member
An award for their exceptional ignorance
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Which publishers or devs are in your black book?
- Thread starter ShinMaruku
- Start date
An award for their exceptional ignorance
I am not sure I would call it black list, here is what I mean:
EA : I will never buy an EA PC game as long as I am forced to use their service. As far as their sports titles, I will never pay $60 for a roster update. If I want to play madden, I buy whichever one I can get for 15 bucks at most.
MS: GFWL = deal breaker.
Ubisoft: meh, haven't felt the need to purchase a game in forever from them.
Oh an anyone who forces an "always online" requirement into a game that historically never had one (SimCity, Diablo 3, Elite) looses my business on that title.
So I guess I don't really blacklist at all, I am quick to say no to a game though. There are only about 5 publishers that have enough of my trust for a day 1 purchase though.
EA : I will never buy an EA PC game as long as I am forced to use their service. As far as their sports titles, I will never pay $60 for a roster update. If I want to play madden, I buy whichever one I can get for 15 bucks at most.
MS: GFWL = deal breaker.
Ubisoft: meh, haven't felt the need to purchase a game in forever from them.
Oh an anyone who forces an "always online" requirement into a game that historically never had one (SimCity, Diablo 3, Elite) looses my business on that title.
So I guess I don't really blacklist at all, I am quick to say no to a game though. There are only about 5 publishers that have enough of my trust for a day 1 purchase though.
Activision.
I still love Blizzard games and support them, but I wont buy a game from the Activision side because of how they do business, treat their employees, etc. I know by buying Blizzard games, I am supporting Activisions bottom line as well. I hope not supporting Activision games will make them change how they do things. It is doubtful they will change at this point because they are still making a ton of money on a handful of franchises and they have very few incentives to change or mess with their cash cows.
Bioware isnt in my black book, but I havent bought one of their games in a long while. Lately it seems like they are putting out the same game with a few changes here and there. Until they make something unique and original again, I doubt I will buy their games. Ive heard the new Dragon Age game is good, but it feels like I have played that game several times already.
I still love Blizzard games and support them, but I wont buy a game from the Activision side because of how they do business, treat their employees, etc. I know by buying Blizzard games, I am supporting Activisions bottom line as well. I hope not supporting Activision games will make them change how they do things. It is doubtful they will change at this point because they are still making a ton of money on a handful of franchises and they have very few incentives to change or mess with their cash cows.
Bioware isnt in my black book, but I havent bought one of their games in a long while. Lately it seems like they are putting out the same game with a few changes here and there. Until they make something unique and original again, I doubt I will buy their games. Ive heard the new Dragon Age game is good, but it feels like I have played that game several times already.
The big three publishers. Ea, Ubisoft and Activision.
I'll still buy stuff from them now and the but mostly smaller stuff. like I want to pick up Geometry Wars. AAA though.. nope always regret it so I've just stopped. Everything they use to do that I loved has just turned to shit.
But for the most part I've fallen out of love with all AAA devs. Indies and niche pc focused stuff only seems to scratch my itch today.
I'll still buy stuff from them now and the but mostly smaller stuff. like I want to pick up Geometry Wars. AAA though.. nope always regret it so I've just stopped. Everything they use to do that I loved has just turned to shit.
But for the most part I've fallen out of love with all AAA devs. Indies and niche pc focused stuff only seems to scratch my itch today.
Doctoglethorpe
Member
Ubisoft. First I just started ignoring them on PC cause they only seemed to care about consoles, but now they don't seem to care about either, so fuck em. Luckily for me, I have no interest in most of their games anymore anyways, regardless of all the technical issues that anyone but the insane should come to expect from every Ubisoft game now.
But the point is if I wanted to buy Skyrim on PS3 I'd look up for impressions of that version before buying and know to avoid it from those. I wouldn't end up buying a piece of crap. I'd be more likely to end up with crap if I just blindly went by a publishers previously good record. I always research before I buy anything expensive, I don't look at past history I only look at whats happening now and its never served me wrong.
hydrophilic attack
Member
I don't buy anything from the big three (EA, Ubisoft and Activision) but not because they are in my black book because of their business practices (although at least EA and Ubisoft have done enough stuff to earn themselves places there) but because I genuinely don't think they offer any games that are of interest to me.
The only company whose products I'm interested in, but still will not buy from because of their business practices is Atlus, because of how they mistreat the European market, even going so far as to region lock Persona 4 Arena on PS3. As we Europeans used to be screwed over in every generation prior to the PS3 we must stand on guard and vote with our wallets to prevent gaming going back to that dark era where we missed out on a lot of games, and got shitty versions of those we got. The only thing Atlus can do that would make me start buying their games again is to demonstrate through action that they take the European market seriously, for example by opening offices here, to prevent P4A-like debacles from happening in the future.
The only company whose products I'm interested in, but still will not buy from because of their business practices is Atlus, because of how they mistreat the European market, even going so far as to region lock Persona 4 Arena on PS3. As we Europeans used to be screwed over in every generation prior to the PS3 we must stand on guard and vote with our wallets to prevent gaming going back to that dark era where we missed out on a lot of games, and got shitty versions of those we got. The only thing Atlus can do that would make me start buying their games again is to demonstrate through action that they take the European market seriously, for example by opening offices here, to prevent P4A-like debacles from happening in the future.
Gilly
Member
THESE DAYS, RIGHT GUYS?!
Not to mention newer games have far more content and online capabilities as well you can beat some of those games like Sonic 2 in about an hour.
Vipershark
Member
Double Fine and Gearbox
Atlus, of course.
I'll stop being negative about them when they start releasing games here in a timely fashion. This year or more bullshit delay just isn't going to cut it anymore, especially with digital distribution becoming as big as it has. Get global or get out.
As far as I see it, the long wait people are complaining about with Fire Emblem X that thing that never comes out is just par for the course for Atlus.
I'll stop being negative about them when they start releasing games here in a timely fashion. This year or more bullshit delay just isn't going to cut it anymore, especially with digital distribution becoming as big as it has. Get global or get out.
As far as I see it, the long wait people are complaining about with Fire Emblem X that thing that never comes out is just par for the course for Atlus.
THESE DAYS, RIGHT GUYS?!
I wonder how old pa22word is.
If you bought early, impressions would have betrayed you. Reviewers were only given the 360 version and user reviews wouldn't give a clear indication that it was a disaster since the game only implodes after your file gets to a certain size. So if you bought Skyrim without considering Fallout 3 or New Vegas, you would have been burnt like so many were.
I'm not saying you need to boycott anyone, I'm just saying that there are certain pubishers or developers that have earned suspicion, and acting with that in mind doesn't make you irrational.
Ubisoft, especially lately. But lately I've been getting wary of anything that (over) promises to be the best thing since sliced bread. I won't pre-order anything unless it's from a dev on the other side of the coin.. the ones that, based on their history, I trust to put out a good product.
Owning just a PS3 I was well aware that it was usually the 360 version reviewed so I'd wait for proper impressions of the version I wanted anyway. And I rarely buy early because I know its a mugs game whether you trust the publisher or not, things go wrong and I'll wait to find out about them. I don't trust anybody but also don't write off anyone either.
As an aside, I got Skyrim for £3 on PC and even that didn't feel worth it, I hate that game. So I guess I am soured on future Elder Scrolls games but purely for gameplay issues.
Cave Johnson
Member
EA, Ubi & Activision. Pretty self-explanatory. I'm a consumer of video games, not a charity giver.
Yeah but Sonic 2 doesn't need 40GB+ of patches before it works.
And you're never blocked from playing it because the fucking servers are down.
Dragonborn
Member
I wouldn't call it a blacklist, but I'd say certain devs are on a sort of guilty until proven innocent type thing, where the game has to be proven good, and I won't buy their games anywhere near day 1.
Top of the list this days, for me, is 343. I'll be buying Halo 5 used, later down the line. They've consistently failed and seem hellbent on completely killing the franchise. DICE is also up there.
On the opposite site are Devs whose games I'll purchase day 1, no question asked, like ND.
Top of the list this days, for me, is 343. I'll be buying Halo 5 used, later down the line. They've consistently failed and seem hellbent on completely killing the franchise. DICE is also up there.
On the opposite site are Devs whose games I'll purchase day 1, no question asked, like ND.
Prototype Viktor
Member
Ubisoft
So says Prototype Viktor the anti-Yves
ShinMaruku
Member
Nothing blind about putting certain actors in the black book. Somethings will never change.
ShinMaruku
Member
machemachete
Banned
Actually is one of the best
I dunno. I don't think I'm a child or holding a grudge for being burned too many times and getting frustrated by directions and business decisions that have been made and still being made. I just have trust issues and seeing a lack of change to change my mind. I'm not out hoping a company burns to the ground, just genuinely frustrated that companies I once liked just keep doing terrible things and continue to burn people over and over.
I think there are many who feel that way. Some may have petty reasons, but I've seen quite a few who have legitimate concerns and criticisms to why they feel they can no longer trust some companies.
Sure, if you think being wise with your money is childish.
ShinMaruku
Member
I find holding out hope that a company will change after years of bad behavoir childish in it's own way.
I don't hold out hope for a company wide change. At the very least I would like to have some decent games that aren't so buggy or getting filled with microtransactions, but that's where trends are headed. I'll listen to word of mouth at least to tell if a game is good however, I'm not totally blind and ignoring these companies entirely. I'm always keeping my eyes and ears open to good and bad.
Nope, first post nails it. If a game is good and I want to play it I buy it, if it's not I don't. I don't care who made it or why and I don't care what happened in the past.
Who said anything about buying shit games over and over again? A past bad game doesn't guarantee the next one will suck, and it's not like you have to run out and buy it day one.
It's stupid because good companies make bad games all the time, and vice versa, and blocking a company entirely because you have some sort of grudge makes no sense.
Take Gearbox for instance, they've put out a few shit games, but they've also done two excellent HL expansions, the Borderlands series, and the upcoming Homeworld. What kind of person boycotts Homeworld because Colonial Marines sucked? A crazy person, that's who. The same thing applies to Activision, Ubisoft, EA, and the rest of them.
OrlanisWorks
Banned
crazyrabbits
Banned
There are only two publishers I will never buy from, regardless of whether they change their stances or not.
EA - terrible business practices with respect to parsing out content for DLC/exorbitant special editions, stories of fucked-up development cycles and a culture that can be described as "the snake that ate itself".
Ubisoft - broken games, broken customer support, games featuring the worst vices of triple-AAA development, silly DRM schemes.
EA - terrible business practices with respect to parsing out content for DLC/exorbitant special editions, stories of fucked-up development cycles and a culture that can be described as "the snake that ate itself".
Ubisoft - broken games, broken customer support, games featuring the worst vices of triple-AAA development, silly DRM schemes.
Later Alligator
Member
dead rising 3 is great if you own an xbone. and have 12 hours to kill waiting for the damn thing to install :/
Kirye
Member
I don't necessarily hold publishers or devs in contempt, just certain series' I refuse to buy any more. Not a big fan of releasing essentially the same title every year, so i've moved on from Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Madden and so forth.
Not a huge fan of Ubisoft's glitchy AAA games, but that's not gonna stop me from enjoying Child of Light.
Not a huge fan of Ubisoft's glitchy AAA games, but that's not gonna stop me from enjoying Child of Light.
ShinMaruku
Member
I blacklist companies that have a history not just one or two games. If they follow a trend I have no interest in I move on. There are many other games.
Doctor Ironic
Member
Stardock, Running With Scissors*, Gearbox (despite having a friend who works there).
*I don't buy their "oh we outsourced Postal 3 to a Russian studio who totally shit the bed on it" story one bit, and even if it was true, why the fuck would you outsource the decade-long return of your biggest series to another developer? And then they revealed themselves as pro-Gamergate.
*I don't buy their "oh we outsourced Postal 3 to a Russian studio who totally shit the bed on it" story one bit, and even if it was true, why the fuck would you outsource the decade-long return of your biggest series to another developer? And then they revealed themselves as pro-Gamergate.
Disney Interactive. because of this
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=23855969&postcount=47
Didn't bought any game from them since that.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=23855969&postcount=47
Didn't bought any game from them since that.
Children don't typically hold grudges. Adults do.
But your other point is fine. It's video games. If the game looking interesting, I'll buy it regardless.
kanamechan
Member
None.
There are some I won't buy games from on day one (such as EA, Ubisoft or SquareEnix) and wait till I hear second opinions, but if the game seems good, I'll still buy it.
There are some I won't buy games from on day one (such as EA, Ubisoft or SquareEnix) and wait till I hear second opinions, but if the game seems good, I'll still buy it.
motherxwolf
Member
every time I splurge and buy vintage games bundles I go through all the cartridges and take out all the LJN games and donate them to the thrift store hoping some hipster runs into them and buys them