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Shadow of War developer who died of cancer immortalised as an in-game orc slayer

Phamit

Member
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https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit/status/903634273080672256

The Small print in the Trailer says:

Donation will be made on purchases from any 1 of the 50 U.S. or D.C. (but excluding purchases from AL, HI, IL, MA, MS and SC). Void where prohibited by law. Your purchase is not tax deductible

I didn't find a european version of the trailer yet, so I would wait with purchases.
 
Great gesture, but don't forget this game still has microtransactions and loot boxes.

The fact that you couldn't put aside for just a moment whatever quibble you may have about the financial side of the game in a thread about one of the developers for the game dying of cancer is pretty sad.
 
The fact that you couldn't put aside for just a moment whatever quibble you may have about the financial side of the game in a thread about one of the developers for the game dying of cancer is pretty sad.

No, if you read the rest of my posts I even attempted to buy the DLC to promote this.

I simply don't want WB getting some kind of pat on the back for this. They should've honestly just donated money to the guy's family rather than pin this on the consumer to support the guy's family.

But whatever, if this makes everyone happy to buy the game at launch suddenly it seems like WB's gambit worked.
 

CloudWolf

Member
This is a great initiative, but why would they limit the donation of the earnings to specific states in the US? That seems weird.
 
I don't understand why if i buy from the UK i won't donate to his family.
Will buy the dlc for Xbox from the US store i guess hope it works with the UK game.
 

mas8705

Member
Oh great... now I'm on the fence about Shadows of War now. While the "Microtransactions" is still going to bother me to no end, the fact that they went out of their way to make this tribute for their colleguge and will actually donate (almost) all proceeds to his family is really one of the kindest gestures I've seen in gaming (or at least in recent memory since I know you can probably point to better examples).
 

Dicktatorship

Junior Member
Do you think Jim Sterling will talk about this at all? Seems difficult to in his persona, given the subject of the DLC, but he's a man with an ax to grind.
 

CloudWolf

Member
Oh great... now I'm on the fence about Shadows of War now. While the "Microtransactions" is still going to bother me to no end, the fact that they went out of their way to make this tribute for their colleguge and will actually donate (almost) all proceeds to his family is really one of the kindest gestures I've seen in gaming (or at least in recent memory since I know you can probably point to better examples).
You could always buy the DLC and not buy the game. Nothing's stopping you.
 

Shifty

Member
A nice gesture, though it being DLC is so very Warner Brothers.

Donation will be made on purchases from any 1 of the 50 U.S. or D.C. (but excluding purchases from AL, HI, IL, MA, MS and SC). Void where prohibited by law. Your purchase is not tax deductible

WB need to be considerably more clear on this. I would be not be okay with it if I bought the DLC with the intent of donating to the family and it all ended up going into the publisher's coffers instead.
Granted this is probably a result of legal red tape and needing to hit a trailer deadline, and there may be more info to come on the rest-of-world versions.

However, it would probably have been a safer bet to immortalize the guy in the base game and donate a small percentage of sales to the family instead of tying it into the already-controversial DLC practices.

Which states are exempt?

AL, HI, IL, MA, MS and SC. And presumably all non-US territories until we hear otherwise.
 
Yeah, that's, uh, quite the small print there.

I approve of TB's suggestion that WB pledge to match all equivalent payments in the form of a donation to a known and relevant charitable organisation.
 

CloudWolf

Member
I'm sure this is related to legality and tax issues.
I don't buy it. In the past there have been donations like this that worked worldwide. When Bandcamp announced the their earnings for a full day would go to ACLU, the promotion was worldwide, when Humble Bundle donates their proceeds to charity, people from Europe aren't for some reason excluded. This makes sense because money is money. WB Games can track how much money the DLC made worldwide and just donate all of that to the family of the developer. It's not like the money goes directly from your bank account to the family.

WB Games excluding 90% of the world in this promotion is almost definitely not something that was out of their hands and them including it in the trailer in very small print is 100% a conscious decision by WB. It's pretty shady IMO.
 

holygeesus

Banned
I don't understand why if i buy from the UK i won't donate to his family.
Will buy the dlc for Xbox from the US store i guess hope it works with the UK game.

You know why. Because WB are detestable and have to at least take a cut. Otherwise you don't make it small print, also you donate all of the proceeds rather than a percentage.
 

Dynasty

Member
You know why. Because WB are detestable and have to at least take a cut. Otherwise you don't make it small print, also you donate all of the proceeds rather than a percentage.

I really dont want this to be the case, how WB responds to this situation will show their true intentions.
 

holygeesus

Banned
Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldnt this be due to the 30% store tax? 30% of $5 is $1.50. 5-1.50=3.50.

Taxes exist everywhere. Please don't try to defend this practice. If they explicitly stated that the funds from this DLC only applied when sent from certain areas then fair enough. They can control which countries buy DLC surely, so if their intention was purely charitable then only allow people from applicable states to buy.

If you can't apply this basic rule then state in big letters, not small print, that unless you live in a certain demographic that all the money you intended to send to the family of a dev who died of cancer, and has his persona featured in their game, then a big corporation will swallow your cash.

It is a disgrace.
 

Dynasty

Member
Taxes exist everywhere. Please don't try to defend this practice. If they explicitly stated that the funds from this DLC only applied when sent from certain areas then fair enough. They can control which countries buy DLC surely, so if their intention was purely charitable then only allow people from applicable states to buy.

If you can't apply this basic rule then state in big letters, not small print, that unless you live in a certain demographic that all the money you intended to send to the family of a dev who died of cancer, and has his persona featured in their game, then a big corporation will swallow your cash.

It is a disgrace.

I aint trying to defend the actions, just think the bigger problem is the lack of proper disclosure about who contributes to the family by buying the DLC.
 

holygeesus

Banned
I aint trying to defend the actions, just think the bigger problem is the lack of proper disclosure about who contributes to the family by buying the DLC.

Fair enough. But they are still taking all the proceeds from people donating from countries and even US states exempt so they don't deserve any benefit of the doubt.
 
I aint trying to defend the actions, just think the bigger problem is the lack of proper disclosure about who contributes to the family by buying the DLC.

The best thing they could've done was said that 10% of every copy sold would go to the family. But that would cut into their profits so of course not.
 

Gunblade47

Neo Member
I'd imagine that a piece of Charity DLC should disclose when said DLC is actually going to charity quite clearly. Making it as clear as day might cut into sales but the sales and profits should not be the reason for this DLC existing.

I hope they clear this up publicly soon and have every region included in the donation to the family that have lost someone extremely dear to them.

If they don't then this is a new low for DLC all together and an insult to the life of a man's legacy.
 
As a cancer sufferer (not that it matters) I can only echo the points raised in TB's vid.

I would be interested to see WB justify why the entire profit, in every territory, for this DLC isn't going directly to the family.
 

samn

Member
There is no good reason why they can't donate every penny of profit to charity. Really an awful look for WB

People are going to buy this DLC mistakenly thinking it's a donation after skimming some article online.
 
Probably some legal/tax reason. Like corporations cannot give money to a family while providing a good in some states or from foreign countries.
 
WTF at all the "this is nice gesture by the devs".

This is WB exploiting a dead employee for more revenue. It's fucking slimy and immoral as shit. How do people not know this??

Watch TB's video
 

ViciousDS

Banned
Donation will be made on purchases from any 1 of the 50 U.S. or D.C. (but excluding purchases from AL, HI, IL, MA, MS and SC). Void where prohibited by law. Your purchase is not tax deductible


fucking illinois.....i hate my state
 

Twookie

Member
WTF at all the "this is nice gesture by the devs".

This is WB exploiting a dead employee for more revenue. It's fucking slimy and immoral as shit. How do people not know this??

Watch TB's video

It's super slimy.

All of the newswebsites covering the dlc failed to mention that you don't donate to the family if you don't live in US(or if you live in the wrong states) AND it's only on a small print on the youtube video.

And yet, they still let you buy it - even if your money isn't going to the family. That really rubs me the wrong way.

Really disgusting
 
It's super slimy.

All of the newswebsites covering the dlc failed to mention that you don't donate to the family if you don't live in US(or if you live in the wrong states) AND it's only on a small print on the youtube video.

And yet, they still let you buy it - even if your money isn't going to the family. That really rubs me the wrong way.

Really disgusting

I have two thoughts now: I think the devs might have done this out of the goodness of their heart. But, WB is the entity who put the DLC on stores, limited the charitable donations (or failed to try and figure out a way to ensure charitable donations were made no matter where you live and purchase this), and then targeted the people who would surely go "oh my what a great gesture, I will definitely buy this."

In other news, I went back 14 pages of GAF threads - anything discussing the Shadow of War microtransactions is buried at this point.

Timing is everything.

EDIT2: For what it's worth, in a Reddit thread someone posted this link. I do not know if the donations would still go to the family, this seemed to have been to combat the illness: https://www.youcaring.com/michael-forgey-479259
 

GraveRobberX

Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
Going from Page 1 to Page 2 wow at the flip

I was like good on WB, not interested in the Game at all, so DLC didn't look to be worth it
Then all this fine print and WB shenanigans of certain proceeds looks bad now
 
Going from Page 1 to Page 2 wow at the flip

I was like good on WB, not interested in the Game at all, so DLC didn't look to be worth it
Then all this fine print and WB shenanigans of certain proceeds looks bad now

This thread was a mini roller coaster for me.

"Shadow of Mordor devs create character to honor dead dev..."

Oh that's sweet of them!

"... selling it for DLC..."

That's slimy as hell.

"...in which the proceeds go to the developer's family..."

Oh, well that makes it a lot more understandable.

"...except outside the US and in certain states, where WB will pocket the money."

u fokin wot
 
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