Punch Club - "Release day" drama

[Alienman]

I know Codex love drama, and this is a good one.

Punch Club, a Boxing RPG is supposed to be out, or well, at least Steam told me it was. But on their page you can read:

"Available: Everything is in your hands"

http://store.steampowered.com/app/394310/

What does that mean? Well it means, that the "community" will have to complete the game first on Twitch before it is released, basically holding those who pre-order hostage. It's like that Pokemon thing, where people vote for the input on Twitch.

http://www.twitch.tv/TwitchPlaysPunchClub

People are not happy, and of course the devs are going through with it. What I also find odd, that if you want it released faster you will have to help out on Twitch, but that means you get the game spoiled. Who thought this was a good idea?

Edit:

Here is a response on the forum from the devs:

"Lazy Bear Games [developer] 3 hours ago
Guys, we're not forcing anybody to pre-order.

If you don't like this idea, just don't pre-order the game"

 

[Spectacle]

Viral marketing at it's finest. Who cares if people are unhappy as long as they spread the word.

 

[Alienman]

Sure, but at the same time you are dragging your name in the mud. From what I have noticed it is pretty important nowadays to maintain a good rep, well at least if you are indie or niche. Interesting to see by the comments how many are getting refunds.

 

[Alienman]

Haha, now Total Biscuit has entered the scene, and well, he is promoting it, thinking it is a nice idea. He is telling those who still don't like it to stop pre-ordering. First promoting the idea, then telling people to not pre-order. Completely missing the fact that the game came up as available on Steam.



Now the fanboys have arrived on Steam and a few skirmishes have already taken place now before the war.



One more thing that makes the whole thing stupid, is that now the game has a set release date. 25th of Jan. If it is not completed before that...

 

[Alienman]

Oh man it gets worse. This was posted by the devs(not my pic):

&

So this Twitch stream thingy is also some kind of live beta test... since the game apparently isn't 100% done. Man, gaming has become such a shit show.

Am I the only one that thinks this is fun?

Ps. The all time favorite word "entitlement" is being thrown around like it's candy

 

[Excidium II]

pre-ordering games in 2015 -> deserve everything bad

 

[pippin]

If you preorder anything you deserve punishment.

 

[Excidium II]

Besides can't you just ask for pre-order refund anytime? If they're so butthurt about the developer decision then fucking dew it.

 

[Alienman]

Of course they can. Think you are missing the point though. This is now another mark on gaming. Devs can do whatever the fuck they want apparently, people will always defend it, and like season pass, dlcs and the likes this could become a thing for future releases. This industry is a minefield, almost without consumer rights.

Anyway *Popcorn time*

 

[Excidium II]

Can't boycott when u HYPE AS FUCK!!! Everyone gets butthrut but anger at anti-consumer practices can't beat the immense craving for whatever vidyagame you have been religiously following since announcement.

 

[Alienman]

Not 100% correct.

It was announced as available on Steam, that is why I checked it out as many others, only to discover this weird ass release system. Another thing. I thought Valve had a system in place that you can't manipulate. But seeing custom- text as the release date is a bit perplexing. That would mean that you can basically do whatever you want.

"Will not release game until 10000000 likes on Facebook" and what not.

 

[Excidium II]

It was announced as available on Steam, that is why I checked it out as many others, only to discover this weird ass release system. Another thing. I thought Valve had a system in place that you can't manipulate. But seeing custom- text as the release date is a bit perplexing. That would mean that you can basically do whatever you want.

"Will not release game until 10000000 likes on Facebook" and what not.

Many games had custom release dates before, nothing new in that regard.

 

[Black]

Twitch is cancer and so is everything that makes deals with it.


Looked up one of dev's steam account.
60 hours in fo4.
Degeneracy at its finest.

 

[Durandal]

People who pre-order game deserve what's coming to them, although in this case the game is technically done and could be released any time provided someone fulfills the conditions.
One thing I dislike more is that unless Valve steps in, many other devs could get away with doing the same shit by postponing their release until they've garnered enough attention. Sure, it's not going to earn you alot of positive reputation, but for developers who just want to earn some cash (i.e. 80% of Steam Greenlight) this can be a great example of a PR stunt to copy.

 

[Modron]

If you preorder anything you deserve punishment.

Hey I purchased Battle Brothers Early Access and Underrail as well first day and have been greatly rewarded. Even though I avoid early access like the plague these guys had good demos demonstrating their games and years of information about development here before they ever put said games up for purchase. Generally speaking preordering is better than day 1 morgothing as well, quite often they throw in extra crap and a discount. I rarely preorder or d1p a game but times I have, I have not been disappointed in the last 2 decades, all of troika's catalog, mount and blade series, silent storm, ftl, primordia, et cetera.

I don't think anyone could have guessed they would be jerked around like this when pre-purchasing a game, besides people ordering grimoire, and I would be interested in seeing data on cancellations if it ever saw the light of day. Time will tell if this was a viable strategy for them, since Vince has clearly pointed out about how visibility is a very strong component of steam success perhaps the garnered attention will outweigh the customers they turn away who knows.

 

[sullynathan]

looks like valve is back to its usual antics

 

[funkadelik]

Girls who wear skirts deserve what's coming to....










Oh shit this isn't a thread in General Discussion..............

 

[Turjan]

Hey I purchased Battle Brothers Early Access and Underrail as well first day...

At least with Underrail, it was clear what you get. That was already quite obvious when I got the game more than three years ago.

 

[Excidium II]

At least in the case of underrail you got a p. decent discount.

 

[Somberlain]

Pre-ordering is shit, Twitch is shit and modern gamers who defend shitty publishers are shit.

 

[Haba]

Twitch is great. Every time I get the feeling "man, it would be nice to play some tanks", I open up WoT twitch stream and watch some super unicum rage and weep as they get one shot by arty. Saves me from the trouble of actually playing those games.

Isn't that the whole point? It lets you save the time and money you'd invest in the actual games.

 

[Outlander]

Clarification on the release date for Punch Club
7 JANUARY - ALEX@TINYBUILD
Hey guys! We wanted to offer a clarification on the release date for Punch Club, as a number of users appear to have been confused by how we've worded it. Apologies for that! Here's the situation in a nutshell:

- You can currently pre-order Punch Club if you wish on the Steam page
- Those pre-orders will unlock when "Twitch Plays Punch Club" manages to beat the game, as found here: http://www.twitch.tv/twitchplayspunchclub
- At the latest, the game will launch on January 25 if Twitch hasn't beaten the game by then (but we're pretty sure they will have)
- When Twitch beats Punch Club (or by January 25), the game will become available to purchase and play on Steam.

If anyone has pre-ordered the game, and didn't understand any of this, we're sorry about that! Feel free to ask for a refund. This is all for a bit of fun, so we obviously don't want people getting upset about something that's meant to be fun.

[And apologies for the convoluted post before this one. We're so tired. When can we sleep. Please let us sleep.]

As a bonus, we will add ourselves as enemies in the game. So you can beat us up.

http://steamcommunity.com/games/394310/announcements/detail/809886384326337327

 

[Jarpie]

"Desperate damage control mode on"

 

[SerratedBiz]

What should you expect from a game that you can play 1) relatively randomly and 2) blind (unlike Twitch plays Pokemon) and that can be beat in two weeks that way?

 

[Alienman]

Seems the famous youtubers and fanboys won. Can't wait for this to become a standard release thing. Congrats gaming!

This game is beyond tainted now though. I would feel dirty by buying it.