Post by SaHD Gamer on Dec 21, 2013 20:26:12 GMT -5
Delisting Games
So I decided to try something new on my little section here on the X-Pound Proboards. I'm calling it "Game Rants", where I will just rant about games and things related to games. It's won't be very formal, or organized, but it will have rants about good and bad.
"Shouldn't a good rant be called a 'rave'?"
Sure, now shut up. Given the recent delisting of some of the Marvel vs. Capcom content and a few others, I figure now's as good a time as any to talk about games being delisted from online marketplaces.
First off, yeah, it sucks. Of course. Duh. I'm not going to talk much about that aspect since it's so obvious. However, companies really should give notice of that kind of shit happening. I'd call that 'step one' when dealing with it to the public. Send out a press release a week or two (ideally a month) before the content will be gone. Give an exact date (probably when a store updates). I'm sure there are plenty of sites that would talk about it, so word would get out. Remember that not everybody can buy everything at some convenient time, so some things get put into the 'buy later' category. Let people know so they can buy it if they want instead of it just disappearing on them. Like the Simpsons Arcade game or X-Men arcade. They just were gone from PSN after the last update. They are currently on sale on XBLA, and will likely disappear once the sale is over. I'm betting there are a fair amount of people who would have purchased them had they known they would be gone.
Second step is to put the thing on sale. If it's going to disappear anyway, might as well get some money for it, even though several game companies are somehow greedy and afraid of money at the same time (that's a different rant for a different day).
By sale, I mean 'fire sale'. 50% is nice, but if it's going to go away, get what you can for it. Slash the price around 75% and you will get lots of impulse buyers. I mean lots. I'm a member of a site where everyone tries to buy games at ridiculously low prices, but will easily buy a cheap game that they are never going to play. Deep discounts do things to your brain to convince you to buy stuff. Couple that with the fact that it won't be available after a few weeks, and there will be more than enough people to buy it "just in case". Look to the sale on the Xbox Live Marketplace. For the impending (at this time) delisting of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 2, 3 and the DLC for 3, they cut the price 75%. Hell yeah! Sadly, PSN only cut it 50%. Another good sale was just before Capcom lost the license to the Fate/Stay Night PSP fighting game. They cut it from $20 to $5, and I picked it up (they also let some people know the license was running out and they weren't going to renew it).
Now, the last step is more of an ideal situation. I'd like them to say why the game/content is being delisted. Even a simple "we lost the license" would suffice. Most people buying games are not children, we can understand stuff like that. The reason is somewhat important because it affects the content coming back. For example, Skullgirls is no longer going to be published by Konami. So, it is coming off of PSN and XBLA. However, they will self publish it after updating the game with one of the new characters from the successful Kickstarter they had. So, it will be back. Therefore, there is no reason to drop the price, because it will be back, and better than before (free DLC is always nice). Sometimes it is because a certain developer or publisher went out of business. While unfortunate, it should still be said what games will be affected by it, since not everyone jots down the giant web of who develops what, who publishes what, and who owns what licenses.
"But we don't need to know the inner working of a company and why a game is being delisted."
Bullcrap. It affects me, so I should be allowed to know. I don't want to or need to know every inner thing. I'm not asking them to tell me when they fire a receptionist or something, since that has no bearing on me. Unless that person is someone I know, and then I will find out about it. Anyway, try to let the public know what's going on with some things. If a license is expiring, say so. We don't need to know why you aren't renewing it, we don't need to know how much it was when you got it, just say that you are losing/ not renewing it. It can't possibly be that hard, you have PR people that do this thing for you already.
So why all this just to get rid of a game? Would I want this for physical releases? Not really (but a sale is always welcome). Games go out of print all the time, but there are inevitably used copies floating around, so most games aren't too hard to find long after they stop being produced. Yes, there is the occasional under-produced gem, but that is one problem digital is supposed to combat. When digital content is delisted, it's just gone. You'd have to buy an account or system with it on there or something else equally strange.
Oh, and earlier when I said delisting sucks? That's true for 99.99% of the stuff that disappears. Something like Totem Ball? Yeah, that shit can disappear without a trace, it was fucking horrible. But for the rest of the stuff, the good stuff, let us know ahead of time. And drop the price, you'll get a lot of last minute impulse buys and send it off with a bang.
-The Stay at Home Dad Gamer
12/21/13
So I decided to try something new on my little section here on the X-Pound Proboards. I'm calling it "Game Rants", where I will just rant about games and things related to games. It's won't be very formal, or organized, but it will have rants about good and bad.
"Shouldn't a good rant be called a 'rave'?"
Sure, now shut up. Given the recent delisting of some of the Marvel vs. Capcom content and a few others, I figure now's as good a time as any to talk about games being delisted from online marketplaces.
First off, yeah, it sucks. Of course. Duh. I'm not going to talk much about that aspect since it's so obvious. However, companies really should give notice of that kind of shit happening. I'd call that 'step one' when dealing with it to the public. Send out a press release a week or two (ideally a month) before the content will be gone. Give an exact date (probably when a store updates). I'm sure there are plenty of sites that would talk about it, so word would get out. Remember that not everybody can buy everything at some convenient time, so some things get put into the 'buy later' category. Let people know so they can buy it if they want instead of it just disappearing on them. Like the Simpsons Arcade game or X-Men arcade. They just were gone from PSN after the last update. They are currently on sale on XBLA, and will likely disappear once the sale is over. I'm betting there are a fair amount of people who would have purchased them had they known they would be gone.
Second step is to put the thing on sale. If it's going to disappear anyway, might as well get some money for it, even though several game companies are somehow greedy and afraid of money at the same time (that's a different rant for a different day).
By sale, I mean 'fire sale'. 50% is nice, but if it's going to go away, get what you can for it. Slash the price around 75% and you will get lots of impulse buyers. I mean lots. I'm a member of a site where everyone tries to buy games at ridiculously low prices, but will easily buy a cheap game that they are never going to play. Deep discounts do things to your brain to convince you to buy stuff. Couple that with the fact that it won't be available after a few weeks, and there will be more than enough people to buy it "just in case". Look to the sale on the Xbox Live Marketplace. For the impending (at this time) delisting of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 2, 3 and the DLC for 3, they cut the price 75%. Hell yeah! Sadly, PSN only cut it 50%. Another good sale was just before Capcom lost the license to the Fate/Stay Night PSP fighting game. They cut it from $20 to $5, and I picked it up (they also let some people know the license was running out and they weren't going to renew it).
Now, the last step is more of an ideal situation. I'd like them to say why the game/content is being delisted. Even a simple "we lost the license" would suffice. Most people buying games are not children, we can understand stuff like that. The reason is somewhat important because it affects the content coming back. For example, Skullgirls is no longer going to be published by Konami. So, it is coming off of PSN and XBLA. However, they will self publish it after updating the game with one of the new characters from the successful Kickstarter they had. So, it will be back. Therefore, there is no reason to drop the price, because it will be back, and better than before (free DLC is always nice). Sometimes it is because a certain developer or publisher went out of business. While unfortunate, it should still be said what games will be affected by it, since not everyone jots down the giant web of who develops what, who publishes what, and who owns what licenses.
"But we don't need to know the inner working of a company and why a game is being delisted."
Bullcrap. It affects me, so I should be allowed to know. I don't want to or need to know every inner thing. I'm not asking them to tell me when they fire a receptionist or something, since that has no bearing on me. Unless that person is someone I know, and then I will find out about it. Anyway, try to let the public know what's going on with some things. If a license is expiring, say so. We don't need to know why you aren't renewing it, we don't need to know how much it was when you got it, just say that you are losing/ not renewing it. It can't possibly be that hard, you have PR people that do this thing for you already.
So why all this just to get rid of a game? Would I want this for physical releases? Not really (but a sale is always welcome). Games go out of print all the time, but there are inevitably used copies floating around, so most games aren't too hard to find long after they stop being produced. Yes, there is the occasional under-produced gem, but that is one problem digital is supposed to combat. When digital content is delisted, it's just gone. You'd have to buy an account or system with it on there or something else equally strange.
Oh, and earlier when I said delisting sucks? That's true for 99.99% of the stuff that disappears. Something like Totem Ball? Yeah, that shit can disappear without a trace, it was fucking horrible. But for the rest of the stuff, the good stuff, let us know ahead of time. And drop the price, you'll get a lot of last minute impulse buys and send it off with a bang.
-The Stay at Home Dad Gamer
12/21/13