It wouldn't be a major videogame release without a furious boycott these days, and you can bet your arse that Battlefield 3 is no exception. DICE's highly anticipated military shooter is getting the cold shoulder from a number of gamers over its downloadable content plans, which will give pre-ordering consumers a multiplayer advantage.
The rage stems from the Back to Karkand expansion pack, which will have to be purchased separately by those who choose to buy the game without reserving it. Unfortunately, even if you buy the DLC post-launch, you won't get the extra guns and ammo that come with the "Physical Warfare" pre-order version of the game, meaning you'll be paying out for less content and are essentially "punished" for wanting to commit to a game before it's released.
Electronic Arts attempted a similar scheme with Battlefield: Bad Company. Sarcastic Gamer organized a boycott of the game and it actually succeeded, so it's funny to see EA attempt to sneak the same bullshit under our noses again.
In an age where more games are shipped with major bugs and expect $60 for the privilege, I dislike the sheer gall of punishing those gamers wise enough to wait until reviews are in or their friends have played something before spending their cash. Being a smart consumer shouldn't put one at a gameplay disadvantage, especially when publishers are adopting a "Release now, patch later" mentality. With that in mind, I hope this boycott works a second time.
Battlefield 3 pre-order DLC BOYCOTT coordination [Reddit]
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Contest:
9:20 AM on 06.13.2011
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(wasn't going to get it anyway, but it's the thought that counts)
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/615/6801802.page
This is downright disgusting.
I'm boycotting this. There are games out there that deserve money more then EA does in any case.
"...meaning you'll be paying out for less content and are essentially "punished" for NOT wanting to commit to a game before it's released."
The online pass system is the evil side of gaming, and should be abolished ASAP. these pre orders are just little things not worth getting upset about.
Also, complaining about the online pass system? Hilarious. Get used to it, folks, I imagine every developer who enjoys money will adopt it, or a similar system, in the time to come. They feel like they have to get some of their money back from used game sales, and it's far, far simpler for them to just go with an online pass system and recoup $5-$10 per used game sale than it would be to pay off enough politicians to make used game sales illegal/more difficult. Does it suck? I'm of mixed feelings on that. On one hand, the internet tough guy in me want to go HEY F YOU GUYS STOP TRYING TO TAKE MY MONEY. On another hand, the used retailers could fairly easily maintain their sales in used games by adjusting their pricing models accordingly in regards to titles that require online passes to play.
Who knows how that's going to shake out? I won't be THAT surprised if EA caves and makes the Physical Warfare pack available for purchase, which would basically quash this attempted boycott (which is bound for failure anyway. It worked with Bad Company because nobody gave a f*ck about it, and people have been anticipating BF3 for a long time now). Sign a petition against it if you feel better about yourself afterwards, but from what we've all seen from BF3 so far, you're hurting yourself far more than you'll ever hurt EA by skipping out on it.
When they don't do it with a game, I have no issue with them.
And keeping content exclusive as a pre-order bonus - it just shows they have no long term concept of game balance in the long run and have no intention of making this game anything other than another cash grab.
I remember inFamous tried something similar with Gigawatt Blades and other games doing that as well - eventually they made the content available and the smart ones did so far free.
So as nice as Battlefield does look, I seriously hope it fails. Not that I wish success for CoD MW3 or anything because that CoD Elite stuff his absolute bullshit as well. Both games can take a flying leap for all I care.
Ugh.
I do like the maps as a pre-order bonus though.
But in my country, retailers will not carry the PC version of BF3, and even if they did, they would most likely sell it for over $68. So I always resort to DD versions, which apparently aren't getting the extra weapons treatment.
but yeah, dlc like that is bull.
WHATEVER SHALL EVERYONE ELSE DO.
I'd boycott this game, but I'm not gonna lie...this is a day one purchase for me. I can't resist. I'll be curious to see if Gamestop, Target and Best Buy all have different preorder bonuses (bet they will).
http://www.battlefield.com/uk/battlefield3/blog/battlefield-3-limited-edition-physical-warfare-pack-available
Early supporters are rewarded. Nothing to see here, move along.
Absolutely false. 5 bucks down at GameStop entitles you to ALL preorder bonuses. If you're going to lie, at least lie about something people can't call you out on.
Seriously guys if you want to boycott one of the best looking games of our generation go ahead....but it's not that big a deal.
If it was a vendor exclusive bonus then get angry, because those are contactual agreements. The bonus' are spread out and are most likely never to be released as individual dlc available to the rest of us.
I'm not pre-ordering, purchase it days later and I bet you money I will get the same limited edition bonus.
It worked exactly like this for the game's VIP pack.
You are right, it is not a big deal, AT THE MOMENT! But supporting this kind of shit just makes them think it's OK to cut content out of a game for the sake of promised sales. How long before whole levels, or other actually decent content, are locked out to users that decide to buy their games from places not sanctioned by EA?
Right now it's just a gun and some ammo. But it will lead to bigger things being removed for the sake of a dollar.
You guys are retarded. You'll miss out on a few guns - get over it.
Also, why not talk about the pre-order incentive as a reward for pre-orderers, rather than punishment for those who aren't? The publisher is entitled to incent customers to pre-order, settle the fuck down.
Get over it people. I love how people are saying " we are being punished". Really. Punished? Really? How about some perspective people..it's a damn video game. Get over it. They want people to pre-order it, so the people who are are being rewarded. You don't like that I will have a gun that is just a tiny bit better then the gun you will get at lvl 1...then you probably suck at FPS's anyway.
I pre-ordered, will be getting it for 360. Probably getting it for PC as well so I can play with my PC games....i will pre-order that as well.
Exactly. This happened last go-round on a game that was universally applauded for supremely balanced multiplayer.
Mountains out of mole hills, this.
If its that big of a deal to people then they can pay for it :P