Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries

Well that's a disappointment. I can't say I'm surprised. Over the past year I have come to the conclusion that I am done with preorders, Alphas, Betas, Early Access, Exclusives, and all that other bullshit that has been going on lately. "Live Services" are on my shit list right now too.

 

In the end the epic vs steam et. all ends up being a greed issue, once upon a time (namely every MechWarrior game that has come before) developers had to make physical products that cost money to make, they used these things called brick and mortar stores for customers to receive the product which took a cut of the revenue, then there were the distributors to get the physical products to those stores that also took a cut.

When you look back at it the Steam 30% isn't all that bad compared to the old days of physical copies.

Now am I saying that Steam's once really attractive pricing structure should remain the same years later, not really, but that is a fight for the developers to make and not the responsibility of the customers. If Steam were suddenly taking 70%, then there would some level of responsibility in getting more favorable terms for the developers but when Steam isn't jacking up their cut it is hard to say as a customer that Steam is at fault for anything. If anything the developers need to be more efficient and effective with their use of funds rather than making the customers a bargaining chip in their quest to make more money.

 

Also I have double standards because I pre-ordered Cyberpunk. Suck it chomba

 

Just in case anyone missed it.

I posted some VERY IMPORTANT information regarding the MW5/Epic deal:
http://www.theskjaldborg.com/index....-for-mechwarrior-5-epic-exclusive-deal.12512/

Please spread the word. Everyone needs to know.

 

From the AMA
MWO had 70,000 backers to make $5m
MW5 had 20,000 backers for an unknown amount, if all were at the base $50 level then it would have had $1m in preorders, it is safe to assume that it is more than that given that there are people who have taken the $80 and $120 but also safe to assume that it wouldn't be as much as $1.6m if all had been $80 preorders as the $80 and $120 would be smaller numbers than then $50 level.
As of the start of the AMA there were over 700 refunds requested in only the first day with more expected. I'm going to expect it to reach close to 5,000 or 25% in the end unless there is a change to allow for Steam keys a year after launch.

 

They weren't planning on announcing it yet but were forced to after they accidentally updated the FAQ and it came out.

 

My understanding from the AMA is that the refunds are not covered by Epic as it was done as preorders and not as a crowdfunding campaign.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Battletech...inda_related_mechwarrior_5_is_going_to_be_an/

It's reddit, so grain of SALT. Top comment:

 

It sure seemed like that was what was happening with how it was worded. Even if they do fold before the year is out, there is still hope if it makes it to the Epic store that you could buy it down the road when Epic is less evil. Part of me is also wondering why they were unable to acquire outside investment for the game. Surely they could paint a beautiful picture of MWO to sell to investment groups to show how they have already handled a very similar game and that this is just a new way to package a lot of the old assets with a new fresh engine to sell to customers a second time.

I really wish PGI would just be honest and upfront with their customers.

 

Maybe using CryEngine to build a game isn't a 100% pro genius move (ooooh MWO AND Star Citizen burn!)