Ok, so what you're saying is that it doesn't work for you. But it certainly works as a principle, as all those people that bought games with the stuff you mentioned got what they wanted. The system works, the problem is that the consumer base as a whole doesn't agree with you
You'll need to prove that, not taking your word that all those people got what they wanted.
If they didn't, they weren't "voting with their wallets". They were begrudgingly accepting a game regardless of their own personal tastes
Is there any proof that this has ever worked?
In response to this, in some cases, it's hard to tell what are the right places to deliver feedback in which the companies will actually listen/care.
Like, I would absolutely love to tell the heads of Nintendo to deliver GBA/SNES VC support to the 3DS, but I have absolutely no idea who to email/tweet/etc that will make a difference.
you can vote a little, the same way as you can be a little pregnant or dead. You or vote or not, if you buy something against your better judgement or begrudgingly accepting or not caring enough you still vote with your wallet for anticonsumer policies. It's that simple.
you need to get a bunch of people to spam their facebook and twitter all at once
worked for xenoblade
Well it does work... Everyone just has to join in.
Right, so you are voting with your wallet. You're telling them it's ok. You can have strong enough convictions to actually vote with your wallet to match your desires saying "I don't like this aspect of your game, so you have lost a sale". I think you're misunderstanding things. You may have personally lost "votes" on certain games, but the people who didn't agree with you won. So voting does work for the majority, unfortunately you are in the minority
I don't think we would have gotten Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition if DmC didn't put up franchise low numbers. Voting with your wallet works.
Some gamers just don't care and buy anyway.
I feel like we are going in circles. Voting with the wallet doesn't work exactly because it's not decision to vote for bad things happening to gaming industry, it's or not caring enough, or not "voting" because it's stupid, or accepting you can't change things and list goes on. Some people are fine with how things are, I don't doubt it, what I'm saying that voting with your wallet doesn't work, because obviously it didn't work until now, not even on things most of us agree aren't good, not the way it's intended or why we talk about it at all.
Is there any proof that this has ever worked? Even the infamous Xbone reversal was something that happened before the console came out, so it wasn't something they reacted to because of poor sales, that was entirely down to them realising what it was offering wasn't something consumers wanted
I don't think we would have gotten Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition if DmC didn't put up franchise low numbers. Voting with your wallet works.
Voting with your wallet is just that: Voting with your wallet.
If you're in the majority, you win, if not, you lose.
Perfect example. I didn't buy DmC, and got more of what I originally wanted.
Look at what Capcom is doing with SF5 compared to what they did with SFxT.
Voting with your walet works if enough people cast thier votes.
I think you're missing the wood for the trees a little. As Silvermember said above, I think most people don't think it works because they aren't getting what they want. On a lot of practices, the majority has spoken and as much as you or I don't like them, enough people have bought into these practices or don't care enough have it effect their purchasing choices, thus they have continued or even flourished. Going deeper, I personally feel Capitalism has a finite existence in this world, which a lot of this is based off. I would prefer if a gaming governing body existed that could actually say to publishers "hey, no, you can't do that, that's exploiting people. charging them for things that they used to get as part of the deal". But that's a whole different matter entirely. Within capitalism, money talks. And if you are of a minority regarding your opinion you may have to make a protest elsewhere to reinforce that opinion.
I think you're missing the wood for the trees a little. As Silvermember said above, I think most people don't think it works because they aren't getting what they want. On a lot of practices, the majority has spoken and as much as you or I don't like them, enough people have bought into these practices or don't care enough have it effect their purchasing choices, thus they have continued or even flourished. Going deeper, I personally feel Capitalism has a finite existence in this world, which a lot of this is based off. I would prefer if a gaming governing body existed that could actually say to publishers "hey, no, you can't do that, that's exploiting people. charging them for things that they used to get as part of the deal". But that's a whole different matter entirely. Within capitalism, money talks. And if you are of a minority regarding your opinion you may have to make a protest elsewhere to reinforce that opinion.
Well if your voting based on a very specific issue, then your vote doesn't have any meaning behind it, most of those who own MGSV would probably have voted to not have the FOB stuff work as it does, but they still brought the game, and thats 100% fine
But if you don't buy the game because of the FOB stuff, then what can that possibly accomplish? No one will have accurate information on how many people didn't buy the game because of that specific issue, so it won't make it back to the publisher, and even if it does, the handful of whales will bring in way more than the indeterminate number of people that skipped the game by "voting with their wallet"
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
you are looking at it from totally wrong angle, let's forget games for once because it lets you to assume that people are OK with this, that's why it is as it is, and I can't prove you wrong as you can't prove you are right, let's get to pricing, my favourite topic.
Capitalism argument totally worked (as in nobody cares about poor, why are you poor in the first place?) while we had no regional pricing, not that I liked it, but it's one of those things "it's how system works", but now we have it, most of stores have it anyway, there are regions that pay less because they can't afford to pay more, very consumer friendly policy, isn't it? Not so friendly for richer regions, but they can live with paying more. What's not to like? I'll tell you what's not to like. For example, the poor part of Europe is excluded from it "because of reasons", nobody knows what those reasons are, but in fact they play more than the rest of the world, (except maybe Aussies), even publishers or devs from that region are OK with charging more because apparently nobody cares. Now try to prove me that people from that region are OK with this or that voting with your wallet works. Good luck with proving, btw
How? The game sold a bunch.
step 1: complain on the internet
step 2 (if it comes to it): vote with your wallet
nowadays, the first one works more often than the second
Some gamers just don't care and buy anyway.
This discussion is bollocks.
Voting with your wallet as a means to critique a singular aspect of a game (be it microtransactions, representation, game mechanics etc.) is utterly useless. Even if "enough" people vote the developer is unlikely to be able to figure out what they problem is, or have an idea of how many sales they lost. Voting with your wallet is an exceptionally shitty way to convey a message. It's utterly inefficient.
Unless it is accompanied by clear, focused criticism towards the aspect of the game you don't like, the developers are probably not going to change. But put that criticism somewhere where they might see it (official Facebook pages, major gaming forums, hijacking hashtags etc.), and they might start doing something about it.
Combine they two and you've got a good idea. But just opting not to buy the game is not going to change practices. Just complaining (loudly and publicly) but still buying the game might actually change something, but simply not buying it will just maintain the status quo.
you are looking at it from totally wrong angle, let's forget games for once because it lets you to assume that people are OK with this, that's why it is as it is, and I can't prove you wrong as you can't prove you are right, let's get to pricing, my favourite topic.
Capitalism argument totally worked (as in nobody cares about poor, why are you poor in the first place?) while we had no regional pricing, not that I liked it, but it's one of those things "it's how system works", but now we have it, most of stores have it anyway, there are regions that pay less because they can't afford to pay more, very consumer friendly policy, isn't it? Not so friendly for richer regions, but they can live with paying more. What's not to like? I'll tell you what's not to like. For example, the poor part of Europe is excluded from it "because of reasons", nobody knows what those reasons are, but in fact they play more than the rest of the world, (except maybe Aussies), even publishers or devs from that region are OK with charging more because apparently nobody cares. Now try to prove me that people from that region are OK with this or that voting with your wallet works. Good luck with proving, btw
I was kinda referring to the flaw you pointed out.Why do they have to join? It's called voting because everyone has an equal say. So if 10 million people bought a game you didn't like, you still voted with your wallet but so did they... why would they be denied a game that they want because you "voted" against them? It still works as intended in this case.
the problem with the entire concept of "vote with your wallet" is that many seem to think it means "get what I want by initiating a boycott" when it actually means you got your ONE vote. and in this case you saved money too which is bonus.
Arkham knight on PC, any game that doesn't do well. The reason many games continue to sell that many of gaf take issues with is simply because most everyday casual gamers just don't care.
It ONLY works if there's a majority.