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[SplitYourInfinities]

this is why sony didnt want ea access. bless sony

Why specify early access as if origin access isn't a thing ?

I think you are onto something here.

 

[Intheflorsh]

Even Pewdiepie???

I only mentioned that because some people like to act like the negative attention was a niche forum thing.

 

[nillapuddin]

The trial confirmed a purchase for 2 people I know (I am a third but we game share)

So thats 3 people that are going to play the game that for sure were not going to last week.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Why specify early access as if origin access isn't a thing ?

Because I can't keep up with all the different names for the different services on different platforms. Of course Origin Access is included. They're all basically the same service to me

 

[ISee]

I understand where you are coming from OP. The trial made me and two friends not buy the game and we are for sure not the only ones. I also expect the game to sell worse because of it but you really can't say that they were trying to hide it.
1.) There is a public trial before lunch. Granted it is not free but there were enough people giving impression.
2.) There were enough videos out there before the trial. Even stuff like 'first 90 mins' (or so).

 

[Renekton]

The early access gave fans a chance to try for themselves instead of relying on the lukewarm reviews.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

The most incredible thing is trying to spin EA Access as anti consumer. Ridiculous.

no, i'm saying one specific part of the program is bad for consumers, not all of it

 

[KingSnake]

I really enjoyed the well structured data backing up OP's analysis. Especially the data set proving the correlation between number of players in early access and number of lost sales. Nice chart too.

 

[Leyasu]

I have a distinct feeling the OP is a bit anti-EA. Other then that let's wait and see how it sells.

I got that too. Also, attacking EA access. It's a great service. It's normally the people that can't get it that don't like it.


This just seems like a stealth ea access attack thread imho

 

[Vintage]

Maybe it will hurt ME:A sales, but I give huge props to EA for giving a preview before release, even though they knew the game isn't top-notch. Honesty will give EA more customers than a quick cash-in.

 

[TBiddy]

no, i'm saying one specific part of the program is bad for consumers, not all of it

Early Access for anyone willing to pay for it is not bad for consumers.

 

[moai]

But in this particular case, this approach seems to have backfired. See, EA has gone all-in on their EA/Origin access service where they want you to pay a subscription fee every month to access their back library of mediocre games.

what?

 

[GLAMr]

I went from being hyped since last E3 to losing interest in this game over the last two weeks.

I might give it a go on the cheap down the line, but I lost all interest in getting it day 1.

 

[hidys]

We really don't know to what extent the early impressions affected sales but I'm really curious how this game sells. I can't see this game selling 3 million in its first week like they said it would.

 

[zelas]

Thanks for the morning laugh OP.

 

[BeforeU]

The most incredible thing is trying to spin EA Access as anti consumer. Ridiculous.

hahaha yup

 

[hydrophilic attack]

I really enjoyed the well structured data backing up OP's analysis. Especially the data set proving the correlation between number of players in early access and number of lost sales. Nice chart too.

i heard polygon and arstechnica are hiring

seriously though, publishers do everything in their might to hide disappointing sales numbers from their shareholders so i don't see us getting any numbers until the game has seen a few good discounts/sales

should we allow publishers hiding sales data to get their intended effect of stifling all discussion?

 

[Doug Heffernan]

OP, you lost me at Fallout 4. It was a great game and I enjoyed it alot.

 

[NippleViking]

The most incredible thing is trying to spin EA Access as anti consumer. Ridiculous.

Yeah, personally I think EA Access is the most pro-consumer thing they've ever done. It has saved me from making regrettable purchasing decisions on middling games in Andromeda and Battlefront, and emboldens me to purchase if they're genuinely good games (such as Battlefield One).

 

[Jrs3000]

Oh man that level of salt in the op. Give it some time like everyone else is saying.

 

[TVexperto]

EA Access made me actually order the game. Without it I would have waited for a deep sale

 

[Bod]

Pointless thread. This ME-A bashing is getting tedious

 

[Tarahiro]

The ea access trial just made me want it more. Thursday can't get here fast enough.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

And, by the way:


Really? All mediocre? All of them?

i guess unravel looks cool?

otherwise it's just a bunch of shooters and sports games 😴

 

[justsomeguy]

Couldn't the OP have gone in the EA Early Access thread?

 

[SomedayTheFire]

i mean, EA Access helped me decide to not buy the game so in this one anecdotal instance, yeah.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

You just can't beat a reactionary thread on here, they're the best.

 

[franklyshankly]

If your thesis is true then it sounds like EA did consumers a favor that was against their own interests. I'm not sure how that could be a negative thing for the consumer.

 

[danowat]

If your thesis is true then it sounds like EA did consumers a favor that was against their own interests. I'm not sure how that could be a negative thing for the consumer.

It isn't, OP's post is just hugely contradictory.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

EA has gone all-in on their EA/Origin access service where they want you to pay a subscription fee every month to access their back library of mediocre games

i mean really???

mediocre???

dead space? mass effect 1-3? titanfall? dragon age?

really???

 

[Reineldinho]

i guess unravel looks cool?

otherwise it's just a bunch of shooters and sports games 😴

Well... I guess that among those 42 games, including yes a bunch of shooters and sport games, there are also games like ME1-3, Mirror's Edge, NFS games, Bejeweled, Zuma, Dead Space, Dragon Age. And yes, Unravel too.
Games in the Vault for Xbox One

 

[hydrophilic attack]

if you can launch a game for subscribers on early access you can launch it for everyone

in effect they are holding the game back one week for non-subscribers, and that, specifically, is the shitty part of the program

otherwise, it's probably a good service service for the kind of people who enjoy ea games

 

[AusRoachman]

Nothing to lose for ea. they would get more burnt if they suddenly pulled the 10 hr access deal.

They make a ton of money from non subscribers who paid just to try the trial (probably Millions from that alone)

They would have got low sales probably after reviews hit.

Having said that I still think it will sell well, I think a lot of people can look past some of these issues just to play a scifi rpg (I know that's what I am doing )

 

[excaliburps]

So based on reviews and player impressions, Mass Effect Andromeda seems to be a bit of a dud. It seems to me as if Bioware/EA was aware of this fact and wanted to cover it by employing the Fallout 4 launch strategy: give almost no information pre-launch so that pre-orders and pre-release hype give you good sales before people realize that your game isn’t great. It is a bit shitty and anti-consumer, but it does give nice financial numbers for the closest financial report, and may give any executives involved a nice little bonus. It may do long-term damage to the brand, but I guess gamers are sheep with the memory of a goldfish, and four years from now you will probably have moved on in your career anyway, so notmyproblem.jpg

But in this particular case, this approach seems to have backfired. See, EA has gone all-in on their EA/Origin access service where they want you to pay a subscription fee every month to access their back library of mediocre games. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all, and it’s probably really good value if you like their games, but for whatever reason it seems the people in charge of the service thought they needed something more to increase the perceived value of the service. The solution they came up with was the preview program where they delay all of their games for everyone who is not a subscriber, which is a bit anti-consumer, but I guess it brings in the dough, so it’s all good from their perspective. Also, if your game is good, it can help increase the hype, see Battlefield 1. But not in this case apparently. Impressions from the EA early access period were really bad and quickly took the wind out of the sales of the pre-release hype. Normally, a AAA game getting so many reviews below 8, would lead to a lot of angry comments from fans who haven’t yet played the game. But not this time, when everyone had already seen the game for what it was.

So it seems EA wanting to combine two anti-consumer practices at once (hide your game from consumers before launch and hold back games for non-subscribers for a week) backfired badly. I guess the conclusion to draw is that you need to choose one anti-consumer strategy to employ at a time. Seems like in trying to do both they bit off a bit more than they could chew.

So how do you think EA will react to this to prevent similar events in the future? Will they start polishing their games properly before release? Or perhaps revamp the Early Access program to prevent stuff like this from happening again? Double down on pre-order incentives? What do you think?

You angry at EA? Seems like you're angry at EA. I think you're angry at EA, right? Yep, you might be angry, irritated, annoyed, etc. at EA.

Too early to tell given the game hasn't been out worldwide yet. Although, a AAA game averaging less than 80 (or hell, 85) on Metacritic is super terrible. That said, I admit that reviews are becoming less and less relevant given early access, YouTuber influence, the need to own and play the latest game, etc.

I predict that if BioWare patches all the technical stuff, Andromeda will be the Alpha Protocol of this gen; the game that was almost universally panned by critics, but will find it's own cult following.

Then again, it might just end the Mass Effect saga, which I hope it won't.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Well... I guess that among those 42 games, including yes a bunch of shooters and sport games, there are also games like ME1-3, Mirror's Edge, NFS games, Bejeweled, Zuma, Dead Space, Dragon Age. And yes, Unravel too.
Games in the Vault for Xbox One

aside from unravel, dead space is cool

i'll pass on the rest

You angry at EA? Seems like you're angry at EA. I think you're angry at EA, right? Yep, you might be angry, irritated, annoyed, etc. at EA.

lol

not really, i just don't like their games much

or those of any large western publisher tbqh

 

[danowat]

if you can launch a game for subscribers on early access you can launch it for everyone

in effect they are holding the game back one week for non-subscribers, and that, specifically, is the shitty part of the program

otherwise, it's probably a good service service for the kind of people who enjoy ea games

One week early or one week late.

Glass half empty, glass half full.

 

[Rellik]

I got that too. Also, attacking EA access. It's a great service. It's normally the people that can't get it that don't like it.


This just seems like a stealth ea access attack thread imho

Yeah, as someone who can't get it, I'm super jealous of you Xbox owners who can. It's a great service and Sony can suck it for denying me the option.

 

[cleveridea]

On the one hand it did backfire in terms of getting negative impressions and all the gifs, like Tired Face Lady.

OTOH I was surprised how cheap the service is, at $30 thats pretty good value. I originally planned to sub only for a month for the Mass Effect trial and to try mirrors edge (heh both abbrev to ME) but will likely pay yearly especially since it will discount DLC by 10% (I'll buy all Mass Effect Andromeda DLC for example)

 

[oneils]

I signed up for origin access on pc (already had it on Xbox) just for this game. Haven't cancelled my preorder. I don't see how this is all "anti-consumer." Anectdotal, for sure, but I'm not following your argument. Also, still way too early to tell if it affected anything.

If it did, it means that lots of people signed up for ea/origin access which makes that a success at the least. You would need big numbers there to affect sales of the game. Or are you arguing that the negative press received during early access depresses sales? If so, why wouldn't the reviews do that anyway?

 

[alexanderftw]

Backfired? Its the opposite, the amount of subscriptions they received for access even for a month must be huge.

 

[ReplacementPelican]

But in this particular case, this approach seems to have backfired. See, EA has gone all-in on their EA/Origin access service where they want you to pay a subscription fee every month to access their back library of mediocre games.

I swear the amount of threads I've seen recently when people seem to have put effort or maybe even just thought about something for a few minutes and then just slot in some horseshit. I really wanted to purely enjoy your ideas and reply but c'mon dude, seriously. The service is £20 a year (which is basically nothing) and offers a wide variety of very well reviewed games. I get that maybe you feel like your point was added to with the put-down - because a lot of people seem to think that makes you look smart - but it really ruins your broader thrust because of how transparent it is. You can see in this thread its backfired a discussion you want to have. I'm only replying to this because I do actually have something to add rather than thus 'EA Access is good'.

On the topic at hand. Lots of people here seem to reference 'bad press' but for this assumption to be true you actually need to attribute that bad press to EA Access. This damage could also have been done by an early embargo, leaked copies, extensive hands-on impressions. You need to prove a loss in customer from the standpoint of EA Access and right now you can't even begin to do that because we have no solid sales figures, HW split for those figures, etc... you've kind of jumped the gun on this thread.

We're looking at hypothetical sales here so let's assume it sells worse and move on with that, you then have to look at how a wide variety of things may have damaged potential sales rather than just saying 'it was EA Access' fault'.

 

[Gurish]

What?? there were plenty of videos including gameplay and everything before release, they didn't hide the game or used the FO4 strategy like you suggest here.

 

[killatopak]

EA early access is not a backfire to EA but a backfire to the mass effect ip.

Money gotten from the early access might be good but comes at a cost of copies of the game being sold.

We can't really tell right now since the game haven't released yet and we have no concrete data to follow.

 

[GinoFelino]

I don't get the backlash to this thread. Early word of mouth is bad, and way worse than it would have been based on reviews alone.

The early access on Origin made me cancel my preorder, whereas before I probably would have taken the gamble based on mixed reviews. I often love games with a mixed reception; they tend to at least be interesting. Here though, I genuinely don't understand why it would score above a 6 at most.

But I'm sidetracking. My point is that yeah, early access is having a big impact and no doubt about it. A lot of these gifs wouldn't even be around if the game was in reviewers' hands only.

 

[HvySky]

The game came out like 8 hours ago. Chill.

 

[danowat]

I don't get the backlash to this thread. Early word of mouth is bad, and way worse than it would have been based on reviews alone.

Bad for whom?

OP's point is that EA is anti-consumer because subscribers get chance to find out how shit something is a week for those who buy it.

The OP is a jumbled mess, it's hard to figure out at who, and why, OP is angry.

 

[Slaythe]

Agreed on this being too early. Besides, 75 meta is perfectly acceptable for a BBB collecting RPG from a niche Japanese publishing house like Nippon ichi.

75 is a good grade.

But it's not getting 75 because "it's too short" "it gets too convoluted" or "the pacing is off" or whatever else valid reason would make it a 75 game usually.

For somebody that cares about combat and mp etc... I'm sure they'd enjoy this.

If you care about immersion(which includes the presentation and visual fidelity) + characters (writing and portrayal) and have some standards, you're basically in for a rough moment.

The game is polarizing, so that 75 isn't exactly meaningful, as depending on what you like, it's either much better than that, or basically unplayable.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

If it did, it means that lots of people signed up for ea/origin access which makes that a success at the least. You would need big numbers there to affect sales of the game. Or are you arguing that the negative press received during early access depresses sales? If so, why wouldn't the reviews do that anyway?

yes, that's what i'm saying

by the time reviews land, minds tend to be already made up. especially when the embargo lifts so close to release

normally, bad reviews can't penetrate the mental shields set up by pre-order culture and fanboyism. fans prefer to rage at the reviewers rather than at the game (see: review thread for the order 1886). but thanks to all the gifs, streams and bad impressions from the early access, these shields had already been torn down

 

[Hammer24]

For me it had the opposite effect. Didn't consider the game until I played the trial, now I'm getting it for sure.

 

[diaspora]

Yeah, personally I think EA Access is the most pro-consumer thing they've ever done. It has saved me from making regrettable purchasing decisions on middling games in Andromeda and Battlefront, and emboldens me to purchase if they're genuinely good games (such as Battlefield One).

IMO it's still second to offering refunds ages before steam.