We’ve already named our biggest surprise of 2013 — what are our biggest disappointments?
Reader’s Choice
Microtransactions in full priced games
Wow. Great choice. I have nothing more to say. Good call everyone.
2nd Place: Sim City
3rd Place: Aliens: Colonial Marines
Editor’s Choice
Digital Pricing In Australia
And, specifically, the pricing of full-priced games on both the PS4 and Xbox One. The fact that, in this day and age, we’re still paying up to $100 for games delivered digitally is just ridiculous. Especially considering the great strides we’ve seen at retail. The fact that we’re expected to pay more for a game with no packaging, no delivery costs, and no retailer mark-up — and bear the brunt of that cost with our limited Australian internet caps? That’s a bitter pill to swallow.
There are no excuses now. And any excuse publishers are likely to have are not consumer driven. That’s unfortunate. Hopefully we will all vote with our wallet and we’ll see a similar change to the ones we’ve seen at retail.
Comments
56 responses to “Kotaku Awards 2013: Biggest Disappointment Of The Year”
You clearly weren’t sucked into the whole Survivor2299 saga like I was.
I went from utter enjoyment in what could have been the best marketing ploy since the whole letters in bottles and surrounding sister stories of Bioshock, to a bitter low like the feeling you get playing a new CoD game every 12 months hoping it to be a game changer like CoD4.
Well in all fairness survivor2299 wasn’t revealed as a hoax until after the nominations were made and the poll was finalised.
But yeah, the lack of Fallout 4 being announced was definitely my #1 letdown for the year.
That is true, but I would have made a special consideration.
It felt like my heart was ripped out, jumped up and down and then “Tunnel Snakes Rule” was yelled at it until the end of time.
Over-exaggeration? Probably.
In Kotaku’s defense, they did run an article early on saying it’s probably a hoax.
In Kotaku’s not defence that was a pretty poorly reasoned article.
“The fact that, in this day and age, we’re still paying up to $100 for games delivered digitally is just ridiculous” It does say $59.99 which I guess is not too bad… But I only say that after being used to the Aussie rip off digital prices. However look at angry birds star wars on the PS4 Store. $52.99…. for angry birds… not even the set, just one game of angry birds >_>
That’s probably a US account.
bingo @stickman US account for sure.
Almost all major PS4 titles are $89.95 on the Playstation Store (KZ:SF, CoD Ghosts, BF4, etc) – with the exception of Knack and one or two others, I think. Pretty piss poor, really.
Pretty piss poor indeed considering that I can jump on the bus, pay the fare to get to my nearest EB Games (I go there because they price match & I can return it within 7 days if I feel like it), pick up the game price matched to JB HiFi’s pricing & buy myself a drink at the shopping centre then go back home & still not have spent $89.95. The inconvenience of digital titles makes owning one less than worthless to me unless they’re cheaper than I what can buy a physical copy for, it’s as simple as that. People need to vote with their wallets & refuse to spend a cent on digital titles that cost more for the inconvenience of no physical copy than they can get a physical copy for at the nearest store.
I was tempted by Angry Birds Star Wars but I wouldn’t pay $60 for it. I mean those games are what, two bucks on iOS/Android? Does the Xbone version come with a handjob from a washed-up former child star or something? No, just twenty additional levels. So really an extra 30 cents of value. Not $58.
$2 when they were released. Pretty much all have them have been made available for free by now. I know I never paid for any of them, yet I have quite a few on my phone.
This^ so much, Im so annoyed at the prices right now I could scream. I have a large sum on my account from Ms point deals that I would have used eventually, but the prices right now are so insulting it defies belief.
I can walk into an EB store and find better launch prices for games than the Digital nonsense we have here.
Its the reason I have 2 PSN accounts, One aussie which i play on the other a US with a cheaper PS+ that can purchase games at least 50% less than the aussie store.
re: high prices for digital downloads – its also important to consider that we can’t go and trade in a digital download once we’re done with it either…
Wasn’t there an article on here yesterday saying that we now can with Origin…?
Wow really Forza? Not aliens? GT6 is even worse and people are fine with it
Edit: Oh I see what they did
I haven’t played GT6 and Forza 5 is my first Forza so I have no real basic for comparison (nor do I have real complaints), but the in-game microtransactioning is pretty obnoxious – and apparently F5 has 200 less cars than F4 did, making it a step backwards in terms of quality and value. I can see how that would be a tremendous disappontment to fans of the franchise, whereas fans of Gran Turismo probably had much lower expectations after GT5.
GT6 has cars for like $189 that is way worse than XP boost, the lack of cars didn’t bother me too much only gonna use like maybe 50 of them, but the lack of tracks is bad. Doing the same tracks over and over
spoken like a true non-player.
no car in GT costs any real money.
you can, if you wish, spend real money to get in game credits to buy a car.
if you’re a moron.
your comment sounds like something a Sony Rep would say still have to use money to buy the cars if you want to get them quicker
mate you obviously have NOT played the game.
i can admit i have not played Forza5, hence, i dont comment on it.
GT has always had grind, this is the first time they have made purchasing in game credits available. this is a shortcut at best. you do not ‘unlock’ anything, you do not accelerate anything, there is no push to purchase credits, i have played for roughly 4 hours and have not even thought about how im going to get credits for the next car i require, they just come thick and fast from completing events and races. they even give you credits for coming last.
can you just admit you have not played gt6 and dont know what you are talking about..
Well “mate” if you scroll down you will see I have already said I haven’t played the new one but have played the other, I know they grind the point was that they are charging a disgusting amount for cars abusing the fact that not everyone has the time or skill to do that
*sigh* so somehow you playing gt5 gave you insight into…. oh fuck it.
I could only choose one screenshot. But I think both were implied.
Aren’t the GT6 micros basically shortcuts? As in, you’re just buying in-game currency you can earn by just playing the game? Correct me if I’m wrong, though. Not familiar with Forza micros, but I know people were far more irritated about that one.
Forza micros are for tokens, an alternate currency you can use to buy the same cars (you normally earn “credits”. Some of the top tier cars go from $1 – $3 million credits but can be bought for a few thousand tokens. However it’s been noted that if you went this route and bought tokens to buy cars, the most expensive car in the game would cost you more than the game itself.
On top of that you are encouraged to buy car packs, which give you access to additional vehicles. Of course, you don’t get the vehicles. You just have the option of buying them, once you have saved up enough credits or tokens.
You can also use tokens to “accelerate” your progress, i.e.: earning extra XP so you level up your driver and manufacturer affinity levels faster, meaning you earn credits faster.
They have responded to the feedback though, and I believe they plan to overhaul the economy so the incentive/push to buy tokens isn’t quite so blatant.
Still a good game though.
Ah OK – that explains the Forza blowback. As far as GT6 goes, I don’t see a huge issue with shortcut packs, which is essentially what they are.
It’s like people referring to an EVE ship or virtual goods being worth thousands and thousands of dollars. It’s not really an accurate comparison. Most people earned these things by playing the game and putting in the time. If you or I were to walk in and want one on day one, then yeah – it’s going to cost you big bucks. But that’s what you’re paying for. The privilege of not having to grind or work your ass off for it.
Its pretty bad for the industry when games are pushing the frustration limit on the people who support them simply to try and find the most money they can get out of your average player before they quit.
I still remember when games were made because developers thought it would be a lovely thing for people to play.
People are fine with GT6? I’m boycotting it, and I love that series.
i think you missed the point… the winner was micro-transactions not Forza5, the photo is a bit misleading… and having actually played GT6 (based on your comment you have not) the micro-transactions are in no way intrusive to the game, they are simply a way to buy cars if you’re the type to want to rush a game, an injection of in game credits.
Yeah I see that now could of gone with a better pic
Well actually the economy in forza was built to encourage Microtransactions. GT6 has the same grind GT5 had.
Gran Turismo was always grindtastic though. I think some people have either forgotten or are unaware. I remember doing enduros in GT3, I think it was that were hours long, just to get a car at the end that I could sell for a lot of money. Just to buy another car or do up another.
But now they devalue the reward from those grinds buy selling you cheats.
Imagine if 20 years ago you typed IDDQD and it prompted you for your credit card…
I don’t think it’s the same thing at all. Games like Gran Turismo are designed for you to do the hard yards to earn your cars. It takes time, it takes effort. A game/save file on GT6 could potentially involve thousands of hours of work. Doom is essentially a home arcade game which only requires you to have the bullets to survive a full playthrough, which would be, what – 5-10 hours at most? Aside from that, you have save files, which you can revert to if you do something wrong, or you find yourself in trouble – it’s all temporary. GT6 is a simulator, and usually a long-term investment. Far more permanent.
If you don’t have the time or the energy for GT6, you can buy shortcuts. I don’t think having the option there diminishes the game at all. It’s more about the target audience – most people I know who play Gran Turismo are purists who would die if you suggested shortcutting or cheating your way to cars.
As for the money aspect, if you wanted to play Doom online, even back in the 90’s – you had to pay for a subscription service like Dwango (Only in the US, of course) to do it. It wasn’t even the internet – it was a pure dialup multiplayer gaming service. A subscription service is not the same as paying for in-game currency in GT6 – but it’s comparable in the fact it’s an additional cost to that shiny new game you just bought.
It’s not really as bad as people are making it out to be.
EDIT: To clarify – I’m purely talking about GT6’s optional in-game currency purchases – not Forza. I don’t know much about Forza, but it sounds far more intrusive and dubious than a simple shortcut pack.
GT6 has simply taken the path that started in Forza 4. In Forza 4 you could buy cars with cash but the game was pretty well balanced around you not needing to pay real money.
Once they had gotten away with that they took the next logical step by taking away reward cars, drastically increasing the amount of time it takes to progress before selling you the option to make it the way it was in the previous game.
Mark my words if nobody complains about GT6 then GT7 will be like Forza 5.
We’re not talking about what could be in GT7 – fairly certain we’re discussing GT6/Forza which are all only weeks old. Can’t form an opinion on what might be in order to judge what is here, right now.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got the energy for.
As for nobody complaining – it’s the internet. People will complain about anything and everything, ad nauseum – justified or not.
Its not a “shortcut pack”, Its a paid cheat.
Don’t you think this is a bad thing for the games industry?
Do you think it would be fine for me to exploit my GT6 save game for 70 million credits or do you think If I did that I should owe Sony 500 dollars?
Uhh.. if by “aliens” you mean the Aliens: Colonial Marines game, then you didn’t read the article. Forza wasn’t the biggest disappointment; the pic is there because Forza has microtransactions in it.
Edit: This was meant to be a reply to @wintersoldier.
Did read it I meant to be specific out the mircos not games differences. but there was much worse things than optional mircos
Yeah, I was disappointed to find that I could buy GTA 5 at Harvey Norman cheaper than I could buy it online.
I didn’t buy it from them (in the end), I bought it from MightyApe. Pretty pleased, as it was cheaper than most other places around.
it seems to me the only shop that is sticking to the inflated prices is EB Games. i dont have a local JBhi-fi so i cant compare them. BigW, KMart, HN etc now all seem to get games at a similar price to the US once adjusted to our currently lower dollar. i have not payed more than $68 for a new release in recent times.
For the record, my Biggest Disappointment of 2013 was the transition of Overstrike (Insomniac! co-op shooter! cool Pixar-esque style!) to Fuse (don’t know! wasn’t going to spend 60 bucks! on another crappy brown shooter!).
I’m a bit fearful that Sunset Overdrive will have changed to something else by the time they next show it!
GT6’s micro-transactions are to purchase in-game currency (mainly for people who don’t want to grind) Forza 5’s micro-transactions is like Forza 4’s – buy car tokens and use them to purchase cars.
Micro-transactions sucks because it’s too damn expensive (here in Australia) and either promotes “pay to win” and/or “pay to advance”…one such example I think is GTA Online – everything is way too overpriced in terms of in game currency (10k to put a crew logo on your car or your clothing)…rewards for missions have reduced and people will either a) purchase micro-transactions or most likely b) use glitches to gain money
In GTAs defence, you’re not really buying anything of value. You can easily play the game without any of that stuff.
But it’s much more fun in a tank!
No, what was fun was me picking up a guy in a tank with a Cargobob and then dumping him into the ocean.
LOL. I tried to do that in the army base, but I promptly got a shell through my face. 🙁
By guy I meant another player.
yes but the prices for items (in game currency) are ridiculously high…even buying weapons is high
Can I still say Halo 4? Technically they did re-release it so as not to lose their one-Halo-each-year strategy.
Digital Pricing *On Consoles* In Australia.
Digital pricing on PC is for the most part fine (with a few exceptions – COD for example).
It’s not really fine – plenty of publishers (Activision / EA / SEGA / 2K Games etc) are still pushing the Australia Tax.
Luckily those in the know take advantage of US Steam accounts / Amazon / GMG (though not so much anymore) to bypass the worse of it.
Those in the know need to be careful. Using foreign accounts (for Steam) can circumvent local release dates, and potentially get your Steam account banned.
+1 for the pricing model of digital games. Steam is really good however. Although some games stay on premium for awhile, there is always a special of some kind running 🙂
My biggest disappointment was the last of us. Completely personal reason, but it set off my simulator sickness which made it very difficult to play. I was looking forward to it and ended up being really glad I didn’t buy it (@sernobulus thanks) I liked the uncharted games so yeah, it was disappointing.