Game News Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory Released

[Infinitron]

Tags: Black Shamrock; Cyanide Studio; Nacon; Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory

Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory was supposed to have been out on October 3rd. The game looked decent and that date would have put it right between Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones and Disco Elysium, making for a very exciting month for RPGs. But then Bigben announced that the game was going Epic-exclusive for a year, and then it got delayed - twice! Today the game was finally quietly pushed out with no promotion whatsoever. There isn't even a launch trailer.

You can grab Paranoia from the Epic Games Store for $30 (or $35 for the Ultraviolet Edition which includes some cosmetic DLC and an "experimental weapon"). But honestly, if the publisher has so little confidence in their product, I don't see how they can expect gamers to have any. I wonder what the hell happened here.

 

[Alpan]

Infinitron with the bro-newspost, standing up for a beleaguered game launched without so much as a trailer.

RPG Codex: We take care of our own.

 

[MicoSelva]

Looks like it might be a misfire, although I would love to be wrong. I was hoping for a charming smaller Shadowrun-esque RPG, but...
Any reviews out there?

 

[Infinitron]

Any reviews out there?

When I said no promotion, I meant no promotion.

It's totally bizarre. Obviously there are lots of shovelware games that come out like this without anybody caring or noticing, but this game was promoted normally until August with trailers, dev diaries, previews at IGN and RPS etc...and then just fell off the face of the earth. Never seen anything like it.

 

[Tigranes]

From the publisher side, it's almost as if the game was cancelled ... but someone just uploaded the code onto the Steam repository.

 

[Ismaul]

The publisher doesn't even have to try to sell the game. It's already sold to their main customer: Epic. And to see that sweet money, they needed to release. Any additional promotion would only cut into their revenue.

Epic: where publishers dump their shit games for guaranteed returns.

 

[Saduj]

Wouldn't Epic understand that they've incented publishers not to advertise and take over that function themselves?

 

[calgary.alberta]

So anyone play it lol?

 

[Junmarko]

When I said no promotion, I meant no promotion. It's totally bizarre.

Odd to disregard promotion prior to release, even for a PC-only title, unless it's in an "early access" state...

Could just be taking the cash bag and 1 year exclusivity to polish the game for another year, before the real release?

Insomnia: The Ark should've done this lol.

 

[calgary.alberta]

so many poor releases lately

 

[The_Mask]

[...] if the publisher has so little confidence in their product, I don't see how they can expect gamers to have any. I wonder what the hell happened here.

I think what they're trying to do is put it on Epic with as little fanfare as possible, raise money from the sales there - if any - for a real advert campaign when they'll be able to release it on Steam, etc.

This tactic might actually work, provided they get decent reviews now.

This, however a solid business tactic it may seem, feels a bit unethical, in my humble opinion.

 

[hexer]

I'm actually glad there's no Launch trailer - never liked those.
The game gets released, I either liked it before that and will buy it or I didn't. A sometimes spoiler-heavy launch trailer won't change my mind at the last moment.
Far more useful than that are those "devs play their game" streams.

Anyway, I'm happy to see another PnP got adapted to a CRPG. Will check this out!

 

[Background Character]

THANK YOU FOR THIS GIFT FRIEND COMPUTER

 

[Tweed]

All I need now is for someone to confirm that it's terrible, then I can enjoy a smug sense of satisfaction!

 

[Van-d-all]

The game looked decent

It's totally bizarre. Obviously there are lots of shovelware games that come out like this without anybody caring or noticing, but this game was promoted normally until August with trailers, dev diaries, previews at IGN and RPS etc...and then just fell off the face of the earth. Never seen anything like it.

Except it isn't. They struck a deal with Epic exactly in august, so they have already covered a reimbursement deal. From there on, doing anything else would only cost them, so why bother.

 

[Optimist]

All the posts above are now classified INDIGO. Please, refrain from possessing information above your current security clearance. Possession of information above your security clearance is treason. Treason is punishable by death.

Spoiler

Honestly, it's somewhat amusing that it launched in total secrecy, what with the Paranoia-esque "that's classified" and "trust no one" memes. Still hope I'll find some time this year to give it a spin.

 

[Whisper]

Anyone playing this?

 

[oldmanpaco]

You can grab Paranoia from the Epic Games Store for $30 (or $35 for the Ultraviolet Edition which includes some cosmetic DLC and an "experimental weapon").

Day one DLC you say? Sounds enticing.

 

[thesheeep]

[...] if the publisher has so little confidence in their product, I don't see how they can expect gamers to have any. I wonder what the hell happened here.

I think what they're trying to do is put it on Epic with as little fanfare as possible, raise money from the sales there - if any - for a real advert campaign when they'll be able to release it on Steam, etc.

This tactic might actually work, provided they get decent reviews now.

This, however a solid business tactic it may seem, feels a bit unethical, in my humble opinion.

I actually think the same.
Why bother advertising a product if you already got paid for it?
I expect them to spend money on advertising once the game hits Steam.

Still weird. I would think you'd at least want some people to know about it to get reviews, etc.
Oh, well.
We live in interesting times.

 

[Jasede]

I'm not installing Chinese spyware. I'm too paranoid.

 

[luj1]

Decline is Mandatory

 

[Diggfinger]

Infinitron with the bro-newspost, standing up for a beleaguered game launched without so much as a trailer.

RPG Codex: We take care of our own.

Honestly, Infinitron could have made the effort to create a trailer himself! LAzy if you ask me...

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

It's totally bizarre. Obviously there are lots of shovelware games that come out like this without anybody caring or noticing, but this game was promoted normally until August with trailers, dev diaries, previews at IGN and RPS etc...and then just fell off the face of the earth. Never seen anything like it.

Maybe they are relying on Epic's program that rewards blatant shills content creators to promote the game for them on streaming and youtube.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

I think what they're trying to do is put it on Epic with as little fanfare as possible, raise money from the sales there - if any - for a real advert campaign when they'll be able to release it on Steam, etc.

This tactic might actually work, provided they get decent reviews now.

This, however a solid business tactic it may seem, feels a bit unethical, in my humble opinion.

The problem is that once the game is out, you lose any incentive to buy the game at another platform at full price. It feels kinda cheap. The first months of release are perceived as very important for most players. It shouldn't be from a logical point of view. It should be the opposite, but they are.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Epic is so fucking evil. They manage to create incentives so that developers can ignore the promotion of their own game, the interest of players, etc. It's total apathy engendered by a monopoly tactic. It feels soulless and rots into the core.