On Tuesday, Bethesda formally announced a new policy regarding the distribution of review units. Reactions were quick and varied. The medium’s least-mature fans attributed the ensuing outcry to games journalists wanting special privileges while their counterparts on the other side of the aisle acted like it was the most anti-consumer decision in industry history. More measured responses included concerns that smaller preview windows will force some outlets to publish lower quality coverage of Bethesda games. Giant Bomb co-founder Jeff Gerstmann suggested Bethesda’s willingness to make games available for preview coverage is what makes their abandonment of the review process sit poorly with so many. The company’s decision has even been compared to Donald Trump’s intentional stoking of anti-media sentiments.
But Bethesda’s new policy shouldn’t come as surprise. As Jim Sterling recently pointed out, the industry has been headed this way for years. The only question now is whether or not consumers are unhappy enough to take a stand. I’d even go as far as suggesting that, while the ripple effects of Bethesda’s new policy will be felt for several months, the final outcome of the company’s decision will be determined by the public’s response.
Before we take a deep dive, it’s important to remember Bethesda didn’t abandon all forms of potentially critical coverage prior to the launch of new games. The studio will still distribute free copies of new games to YouTubers, Twitch streamers, traditional press, etc. And those recipients will still be allowed to cover the game in whatever form(s) they choose. The only thing changing is the amount of pre-launch time we’ll have to write reviews, record Let’s Plays and/or create other launch day content for new Bethesda titles. In most cases, that means the coverage gamers use to help with purchasing decisions won’t be ready until several days after launch. But that delay shouldn’t impact Bethesda fans the same way it might affect other AAA communities.
You could argue that a fan of multiplayer shooters or sports games could find themselves at a disadvantage if they’re forced to wait longer for proper reviews of new Bethesda games. Such a delay might put Call of Duty or Titanfall 2 players at a slight disadvantage, because of a growing experience gap in the community, but it’s hard to make the same argument for solo experiences like Dishonored 2, Fallout 4 or Skyrim. In most cases, the only impact it would have on the player would be a need to avoid reddit, and other popular web forums, to steer clear of spoilers. It’s inconvenient, but the company still isn’t asking you to make an uninformed purchase. It’s asking for patience.
And it’s not like we don’t have other opportunities to see upcoming games before launch. Streamers and traditional games press are still frequently invited to pre-launch events, some of which use near-final builds of the game, and substantial problems can certainly make themselves known in these situations. PewDiePie even made headlines a few weeks ago after he published footage from an exclusive build of The Last Guardian provided by Sony. And most studios run their own pre-launch live streams these days. Bethesda has also returned to the convention circuit with force. Even if the company decided to retreat back into the shadows, Bethesda would probably maintain a significant presence at QuakeCon, giving thousands of players (and some press) a chance to see/play their games before launch.
To be fair, hands-on coverage and live streams aren’t the same as a proper review. Smooth performance during a demo doesn’t ensure the same experience at launch. And it’s not like we have to look far for evidence of Bethesda disappointing paying customers. The PS3 port of The Elders Scrolls V: Skyrim was broken for months after launch thanks to a memory leak that left the game unplayable for many fans. Last year, Bethesda promised mod support for the console builds of Fallout 4 during the game’s unveiling. The feature was ready for Xbox One at launch. Meanwhile, PS4 owners are still waiting and, for a brief period, it looked like mod support would be cancelled. So it’s hard to blame anyone, particularly Sony fans, who are skeptical of this week’s announcement.
So why is it happening?
This is happening because development studios and (and their publishers) are not your friends. Some employees might seem like nice people. They might even be nice people. But the corporate entity whose logo appears on the box of your favorite game doesn’t give one single fuck about you once your transaction is complete. Despite what some gamers have convinced themselves, the corporate side of the games industry is not the secret ally of the Everyman in some absurd (and entirely fictitious) war between games media and gamers. They are businesses. Bethesda is a business. Your happiness is, at very most, a pleasant side-effect of normal business operations that executives hope will convince you to give them even more of your money.
Pete Hines & Co. aren’t shortening the review window because of a sudden and newfound hatred of consumers. Bethesda just stands to lose more than it can gain from long review windows. And there are several causes, from an increased reliance on Day One patches to the fact Bethesda controls some of the industry’s biggest franchises. Fallout 4 only needed four months of marketing to dominate the gaming landscape last holiday season and the first half of 2016. And that was in spite of reviewers confirming FO4 was rife with the sort of bugs we’ve seen in Bethesda games for years. Visible shortcomings weren’t enough to dissuade Fallout fans but they might have been enough to peel away a few casual observers or franchise newcomers.
So, if Bethesda knows many fans will buy its games no matter what, and many of those fans will broadcast themselves excitedly playing the game, what business incentive does the company have to give less enthusiastic audiences a chance to ruin that enthusiasm?
Some have suggested better refund policies might help smooth things over with those critical of Bethesda’s new policy. It would certainly be a start. I’ve lost track of how many games I’ve played over the last four years that become increasingly unstable as I get further into the campaign. One of the most egregious examples would be XCOM 2, which shipped with a final mission so broken that beating the game was next to impossible for most of those reviewing the game. But the better solution is to stop pre-ordering Bethesda games. The best solution is to stop pre-ordering entirely.
It’s a response that makes sense for multiple reasons. The industry’s emphasis on pre-order numbers is arguably its most anti-consumer practice. None of the existing console manufacturers offer refunds for pre-orders from their respective online stores and Steam’s refund window only covers your first two hours of game time. Refusing to pre-order also puts Bethesda in a similar situation to the one it’s asking consumers to accept. If the publisher doesn’t mind reducing the amount of information available to early adopters, how can Bethesda reasonably protest when those same consumers ask it to make manufacturing decisions with less data on potential sales?
Clogging up the pre-order pipeline would also send a message to other developers and publishers thinking about following the examples of Activision, Bethesda, Electronic Arts and the growing list of companies waiting until the last minute to distribute review units. There are reasons to withhold games like Destiny or The Division, which theoretically need full servers for reviewers to get the full experience, but those arguments don’t hold up for solo experiences. It’s also worth pointing out that pre-orders are largely a relic of a bygone era, when pre-ordering was the only way to ensure you’d get a copy of a new game you wanted. But digital downloads have eliminated that problem.
There’s no guarantee that a refusal to pre-order will bring the change some fans want. Bethesda’s global content lead, Gary Steinman, was upfront with those who still read reviews, telling fans that the publisher “[encourages] you to wait for your favorite reviewers to share their thoughts.” But it’s possible that such a refusal would at least convince Bethesda to produce better content for those willing to buy their games before launch. And you never know what might happen. It was just last year that the uproar over Skyrim add-ons forced Valve to scrap plans for paid mods.
At the end of the day, regardless of whether or not you agree with the decision, it should be easy to see how this was a no-brainer for the folks at Bethesda. The company didn’t discover some newfound hatred for its fans. It just stands to lose more than it gains from the process. Conversely, gamers have never had less incentive to give the publisher money it has yet to earn. Most would agree that pre-order DLC is usually garbage, generally amounting to little more than new skins for existing game content. It’s also getting harder for fans to get their money back, if they have doubts about an unreleased game, and the rising popularity of digital games makes the pre-order process increasingly irrelevant. Bethesda’s decision may be a no-brainer. But I can’t imagine a better argument for waiting until launch (maybe even a few days after) to spend money on a game.
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