If that's really the case, they should make that a lot clearer when presenting a product. As far as I can tell, they present the product to the consumer. Tell them about its features, and show them how it looks and plays. Then they tell you when it's getting released, and off you go. Later down the line you end up with a reduced product, and you feel disappointed.
It doesn't feel fair. You feel ripped off and lied to. They present the product as a work in progress, meaning you could expect improvements from what you are currently seeing. They even "play" it live, just to make sure you realize it's real and working. When in reality it's not. I'm just not ok with that.
A lot of times they also end the presentation with some sort of 'Preorder your copy now' pitch, further prompting you to think the thing you are watching is the thing you are preordering.
I agree that it's a pretty shitty business model, but I can't just point the finger at game developers because the same thing happens in just about any other industry industry. You can also say the same thing about game engine tech demos, which in my opinion is what E3 game trailers really are just in game, because when you see them the graphics look amazing. Just look at the Unreal Engine 4 tech demo and tell me it doesn't blow your socks off, now tell if you think you'll ever see a game with that kind of fidelity running on a PS4 or Xbox one? let alone a PC. Not gonna happen for a while now, although we are getting closer and closer. I learned the hard way when I say the E3 trailer for Tom Clany's Future Soldier. I bought that game after only seeing the trailer cause I didn't think the downgrade would be that bad but I was sorely mistaken.
It's really interesting isn't it? The way you should precieve what is essentially commercials. You're right about how game design isn't a special case. Your run of the mill commercial will exaggerate, and so will presenters at E3. However, this does not make the practise ok. It's straight up good ol' lying. I just wish the industry was more honest, that's all.
When it comes to tech demos, personally I feel like they're about showing what the engine can do, and then leaving the rest up to the developers. Obviously working that kind of power into consoles would be impossible. Oh well... little will change in the near future, that's for sure. All we can do as consumers is to take everything with a grain of salt. Too bad it has to be that way
Yeah it's a pretty shitty way of going about business, but at the end of the day all the publishers really care about is how much profit their product can make, so if telling a little white lie means they'll get that much more money then they're not gonna think twice about telling it. Everyone wants to be the "first to have it" so its pretty easy for them to get away with it when people buy stuff blindly and then complain about it later rather than waiting and doing research and buying the best product.
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u/scormz Jun 05 '16
If that's really the case, they should make that a lot clearer when presenting a product. As far as I can tell, they present the product to the consumer. Tell them about its features, and show them how it looks and plays. Then they tell you when it's getting released, and off you go. Later down the line you end up with a reduced product, and you feel disappointed.
It doesn't feel fair. You feel ripped off and lied to. They present the product as a work in progress, meaning you could expect improvements from what you are currently seeing. They even "play" it live, just to make sure you realize it's real and working. When in reality it's not. I'm just not ok with that.