I mean, I like to think Sony made it perfectly clear this time around. There's really no excuse this time. People were warning other people, Sony had it on the system requirements sheet, and Steam had it listed as soon as the page went up. So if you still picked up the game and then decided to bitch about the PlayStation Network requirement because you didn't know, that's on you.
Flipside, if you bought the game just to bitch about the PlayStation network requirement, knowing full well this would be a requirement, you're way more privileged than me. When I don't like how someone does something, I typically don't give them money unless I don't have a choice.
Honestly I appreciate them buying it and expressing the disappointment in Steam reviews. It is the best way to get attention to it since people aren't going to refrain from buying it. Boycotts don't work so people expressing their thoughts is the best we got.
The gaming community is incapable of executing an effective boycott because they cannot go 5 minutes without the thing they like. So they'll pre-order garbage, never learn their lesson, and complain the whole time while paying a premium, instead of exercising restraint and playing something else - like one of their 4,000 unplayed games in their bought library.
It’s less about most gamers caring and more about people failing to advertise the boycott and act effectively. I just think the gaming community is much larger than people realize and even if everyone in a subreddit about the game agrees to boycott it, that’s nothing compared to the number of people who play that game and aren’t in the subreddit and don’t know to boycott.
Yeah, they left off the rest of that lesson, which is "boycotts don't work if you don't fucking do them". Boycotts work when they happen, and it's still a good thing to personally boycott a game you feel isn't up to your standards even if the broader community isn't, but it's been consistently shown nonetheless that gamers are horrible at wide-scale boycotts.
What do you think I meant by people won't refrain from buying. People not buying products they weren't going to buy anyways isn't a boycott. Do you trust the gaming community to actually not buy something they want?
People are misunderstanding that boycotts won't work in this case means a boycott isn't going to happen.
If people don't refrain from buying then boycotts won't work. Gaming community is more effective at creating noise than not buying a product they want.
Steam refunds are easy and convenient. I wouldn't personally bother doing that just to post a "protest review" either, but it's definitely possible to do without losing any money.
This is my exact reaction. The issue with HD2 was the bait and switch of adding the requirement at a later date, particularly since they had already sold copies in places where people literally could not make PSN accounts.
Not that I agree with Sony's decision to require the account for GOW, but at least they're being up front about it this time. If you don't want the account, there are 500 billion other quality games you can buy that don't require one.
It was also perfectly clear the first time, the CEO of Arrowhead chose to not make the information as readily available as HE should have. Sonys always had the same stance, but one CEO decided to try and stick it to them, and unfortunately, it worked, but they likely won’t get more work.
He chose to turn the requirement off to fix a glitch on their system. It was a requirement, it was listed, Arrowhead is wholefully to blame
They also willfully broke their contract obligations, the game was only made because of the investment by Sony as well. So they took their money and gave them the middle finger and got their fan bases to bash Sony when it was their doing. But sure make fun of an account I guess?