Warner Bros. Is Suspending Sales Of Batman Arkham Knight On PC

[PleaseHoldOn]

That doesn't surprise me based on the ammount of backslash they got on it. I'm not sure if I should feel bad for the MasterRace or not.

People don't put so many grands for an awesome pc spec only to run a game under 10 fps, do them?

 

The game runs at a solid 30fps on my mid-range PC.

 

The port is bad, there's no doubt about that... but this is definitely more of a PR move than anything.  The game works as-is though, and I refuse to feel bad for people who claim 30fps is "unplayable" and playing a game like they would on console is the worst thing that's ever happened to them.  Most publishers/developers would just phase patches in and deal with the complaining, Warner Bros wanted to give the impression that they deeply care about PC gamers unwavering need to jerk off to a game running at 60fps on ULTRA settings... so good for them I guess.

Edited June 25, 2015 by PleaseHoldOn

[mody94_Station]

I'm so glad I didn't pre-order this on steam...

I will wait till the goty edition (whenever that gets released) goes on sale...

Edited June 25, 2015 by mody94_Station

[Hailst0rm_2]

The game runs at a solid 30fps on my mid-range PC.

 

The port is bad, there's no doubt about that... but this is definitely more of a PR move than anything.  The game works as-is though, and I refuse to feel bad for people who claim 30fps is "unplayable" and playing a game like they would on console is the worst thing that's ever happened to them.  Most publishers/developers would just phase patches in and deal with the complaining, Warner Bros wanted to give the impression that they deeply care about PC gamers unwavering need to jerk off to a game running at 60fps on ULTRA settings... so good for them I guess.

Your mid range PC is likely much more powerful than consoles, you should be getting much higher FPS than that.

Here's it running on roughly PS4 equivalent hardware (slightly more powerful I think).

The FPS is all over the place, sometimes dropping to the single digits, It's really unacceptable. Its pure laziness on the developers end.

This isn't about graphics its about how your hardware is being utilized. 60fps is unachievable on all PC's regardless of graphics settings.

Edited June 26, 2015 by Hailst0rm_2

[PleaseHoldOn]

Your mid range PC is likely much more powerful than consoles, you should be getting much higher FPS than that.

Here's it running on roughly PS4 equivalent hardware (slightly more powerful I think).

The FPS is all over the place, sometimes dropping to the single digits, It's really unacceptable. Its pure laziness on the developers end.

This isn't about graphics its about how your hardware is being utilized. 60fps is unachievable on all PC's regardless of graphics settings.

 

If every game that the circle jerking PC gaming enthusiasts bitched about were pulled from the Steam store, I'd have nothing to play.

Edited June 26, 2015 by PleaseHoldOn

[Hailst0rm_2]

If every game that the circle jerking PC gaming enthusiasts bitched about were pulled from the Steam store, I'd have nothing to play.

What does that have to do with the current state of this game for the average player though? 

Also fanboys and enthusiasts are two different things. I'd consider myself an enthusiast but I don't do any of that.

[damon8r351]

I don't know why anyone would gloat over PC gamers getting their game pulled, it could happen to anyone, and there's a few console games where it should've happened. PC gamers are gamers just like everyone else, and put their pants on the same way as everybody does: very rarely and only when absolutely required.

[PleaseHoldOn]

What does that have to do with the current state of this game for the average player though? 

Also fanboys and enthusiasts are two different things. I'd consider myself an enthusiast but I don't do any of that.

 

It doesn't change the fact this is a bad port, however I care less about the poor abused PC gamers being exposed to "lazy, unacceptable" launches when they never pick their battles.  Everything is a sky is falling scenario, everything is the worst thing to happen to the industry.  As far as this gamers opinion is concerned, they've cried wolf one too many times.  Now they can deal with their occasional underperforming releases.  All of them.  Myself included.

 

I'm an enthusiast too.  Let's not play the semantics game.  Circle-jerking enthusiast was just a nice way of saying the "master race" types... kind of figured the circle-jerking part would gear you away from comparing yourself to it.

Edited June 26, 2015 by PleaseHoldOn

[Hailst0rm_2]

It doesn't change the fact this is a bad port, however I care less about the poor abused PC gamers being exposed to "lazy, unacceptable" launches when they never pick their battles.  Everything is a sky is falling scenario, everything is the worst thing to happen to the industry.  As far as this gamers opinion is concerned, they've cried wolf one too many times.  Now they can deal with their occasional underperforming releases.  All of them.  Myself included.

 

I'm an enthusiast too.  Let's not play the semantics game.  Circle-jerking enthusiast was just a nice way of saying the "master race" types... kind of figured the circle-jerking part would gear you away from comparing yourself to it.

I kind of feel that the gaming industry is taking advantage of gamers as a whole, consoles included. (Optimization, day one DLC, microtransactions, etc.) As annoying as it might be to see people complaining about it, people need to be vocal for it to stop. Keeping quiet and accepting it is exactly what these publishers/developers want us to do, it makes them money with minimum effort.

If you look at all the games that have come out in the past year or so this is not an occasional issue, its happening with quite a few games. Assasin's Creed Unity, Mortal Kombat X, The Evil Within, Dead Rising 3, and now we have Batman Arkham Knight which has hit a new all-time low for quality.

I think the reaction people had to this and the other games is exactly what needed to happen, the developers are going out of their way to correct their mistakes and the gamers are what made it possible. 

[Happy]

Hmmm, i suppose suspending sales is the best thing to do for Warner Bros to keep damage taken through negative PR at a minimum, but the rerelease taking until fall is a huge gamble. Knowing the PC community, we'll see a fanmade patch that fixes all the issues in a few weeks and then we'll have a completely functional game that you can't buy legally. The result is obvious.

[SkyMason]

Usually get the Batman games on PC, but opted for PS4 this time (mostly because my library was looking a little dry). Glad I did! This happened because WB obviously didn't put enough resources into the PC port, and it's because they sell nowhere near the same amount of copies as the console versions. They probably shouldn't have though, as they always advertise Nvidia cards with the new batman games, and all this nonsense is going to cost them that money from Nvidia too

Edited June 26, 2015 by SkyMason

[PleaseHoldOn]

I kind of feel that the gaming industry is taking advantage of gamers as a whole, consoles included. (Optimization, day one DLC, microtransactions, etc.) As annoying as it might be to see people complaining about it, people need to be vocal for it to stop. Keeping quiet and accepting it is exactly what these publishers/developers want us to do, it makes them money with minimum effort.

If you look at all the games that have come out in the past year or so this is not an occasional issue, its happening with quite a few games. Assasin's Creed Unity, Mortal Kombat X, The Evil Within, Dead Rising 3, and now we have Batman Arkham Knight which has hit a new all-time low for quality.

I think the reaction people had to this and the other games is exactly what needed to happen, the developers are going out of their way to correct their mistakes and the gamers are what made it possible.

I guess that makes sense, in an imperfect world where people gladly drop $60 on anything with a pretty screenshot unless legions of whiners online tell them not to.

Ideally people would protest with their wallets, and less with prepubescent screeching... and if there are truly problems, things figure themselves out. Somehow bad games didn't sell well before the days of the internet.

Edited June 26, 2015 by PleaseHoldOn

[Hailst0rm_2]

I guess that makes sense, in an imperfect world where people gladly drop $60 on anything with a pretty screenshot unless legions of whiners online tell them not to.

Ideally people would protest with their wallets, and less with prepubescent screeching... and if there are truly problems, things figure themselves out. Somehow bad games didn't sell well before the days of the internet.

Well I didn't know about the issues until I heard about the problems others were having, I'm sure I'm not the only one too. It probably wouldn't have gotten any attention from the media either since they've already reviewed other versions of the game. The review copies for the PC version were purposely not sent, and the videos of the PC build were sped up to look like a smooth 60FPS with graphical effects that aren't even present in the game. When you have that kind of dishonesty within the industry how are you supposed to know?

The game was being offered for $20 by a retailer and would have bought it if it wasn't for that.

We're in a new age of gaming where a product can be shipped broken with very little penalty and simply finished at a later date with patches and developers are taking full advantage. 

Edited June 26, 2015 by Hailst0rm_2

[PleaseHoldOn]

Well I didn't know about the issues until I heard about the problems others were having, I'm sure I'm not the only one too. It probably wouldn't have gotten any attention from the media either since they've already reviewed other versions of the game. The review copies for the PC version were purposely not sent, and the videos of the PC build were sped up to look like a smooth 60FPS with graphical effects that aren't even present in the game. When you have that kind of dishonesty within the industry how are you supposed to know?

The game was being offered for $20 by a retailer and would have bought it if it wasn't for that.

We're in a new age of gaming where a product can be shipped broken with very little penalty and simply finished at a later date with patches and developers are taking full advantage. 

 

I'll refer you back to my comment in the quote... "Somehow bad games didn't sell well before the days of the internet."

 

What changed?

[Galactic Hyper Balls]

PC master Race

[Hailst0rm_2]

I'll refer you back to my comment in the quote... "Somehow bad games didn't sell well before the days of the internet."

What changed?

Preorder incentives, exclusive DLC and season passes to encourage people to buy a product that isn't finished or isn't even what was shown before release.

The tolerance people have for post release patches on broken games (Battlefield 4 for example). The internet has changed gaming in a way that bad games can still sell.

There is now a refund policy in place to protect people from being mislead or scammed if they feel they were. Developers/publishers aren't going to get away with being dishonest like this anymore because its going to come back to bite them.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Hailst0rm_2

[PleaseHoldOn]

Preorder incentives, exclusive DLC and season passes to encourage people to buy a product that isn't finished or isn't even what was shown before release.

The tolerance people have for post release patches on broken games (Battlefield 4 for example). The internet has changed gaming in a way that bad games can still sell.

 

All of this sounds avoidable by gamers being smarter with their money upfront, not getting lured in by pretty screenshots, preorder bonuses and DLC... which was my original point.

 

I understand that it's easier to blame everyone else, the money hungry publishers that prey on the stupid and gullible, but ultimately their goal has been and always will be to make money.  That was the case back then, and will be the case going forward... even if the internet has made it easier to call them out.  Vilifying the companies won't accomplish as much as educating the consumers on why what they're doing is wrong.

Edited June 27, 2015 by PleaseHoldOn

[Hailst0rm_2]

All of this sounds avoidable by gamers being smarter with their money upfront, not getting lured in by pretty screenshots, preorder bonuses and DLC... which was my original point.

 

I understand that it's easier to blame everyone else, the money hungry publishers that prey on the stupid and gullible, but ultimately their goal has been and always will be to make money.  That was the case back then, and will be the case going forward... even if the internet has made it easier to call them out.  Vilifying the companies won't accomplish as much as educating the consumers on why what they're doing is wrong.

It is but in my opinion we shouldn't have to be so cautious. It would be nice too actually be able to trust what a developer is promising for once instead of trying to dig up a platform specific analysis to see whether or not the game turned out how it was supposed to. 

It's much easier to hold the developers responsible rather than educating the consumers, people keep preordering and they don't seem to learn from events like this. 

That being said, I don't think its going to be as much of a problem in the future thanks to the refunds. 

[PleaseHoldOn]

It's much easier to hold the developers responsible rather than educating the consumers, people keep preordering and they don't seem to learn from events like this.

 

Then my question to you... and maybe it's a dumb one... if the consequences here are so negligible that the large majority of consumers continue to do this without changing their spending habits/attitude... is it such a bad thing?

[Hailst0rm_2]

Then my question to you... and maybe it's a dumb one... if the consequences here are so negligible that the large majority of consumers continue to do this without changing their spending habits/attitude... is it such a bad thing?

To them no, but I believe in an honest market where people don't have to take a gamble from game to game because their platform happened to be the less popular one or were shown fake content.

I've been burned too many times before, even by companies I trust.

Like Ratchet and Clank FFA on the Vita was a huge surprise for me. The port was so lazily done it was nearly unplayable, not even the icon art was in the correct aspect ratio. It's not something I'd expect Sony to pull on me but it happened and there was no way to get my money back >_< Things like this are just unfair to consumers imo.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Hailst0rm_2

[Slipknot_rooney]

All of this sounds avoidable by gamers being smarter with their money upfront, not getting lured in by pretty screenshots, preorder bonuses and DLC... which was my original point.

 

Gamers shouldn't have to be smarter with money, gaming as a hobby is expensive, it's a big financial and time investment. Everyone that purchases an item, games or otherwise, should be given a working product, that works without fault. I've just about finished a game development course, hopefully have my degree come October, and I've learnt a lot about software, even had a class all about software quality. How a big company can port a game poorly is beyond me (I've heard Rocksteady got another company to port it, but even so), now I understand working to a deadline, it has to be released by X/X/X blah blah blah, but if it doesn't work, don't sell it, test, test test, and then test again. Is what I'd do, I wouldn't sell a game without thoroughly testing it. And big companies shouldn't either. But hey, the guys sitting at the top just want out money, and they will get it in most cases. A bad PC port, and having to cancel the Batmobile edition, is terrible. Hopefully people are more careful with the next game WB are involved with. I don't often buy games on day one, but being a Batman fan, I had to have this. I'll definitely be checking up on games WB are involved with before buying though.

 

I understand your point completely though, sadly we do have to be careful, but we shouldn't have to be. 

 

Then my question to you... and maybe it's a dumb one... if the consequences here are so negligible that the large majority of consumers continue to do this without changing their spending habits/attitude... is it such a bad thing?

Yes, it is. If companies can sell a half arsed game/port without being bit on the ass afterwards, big companies will think 'Hey, that last game we sold wasn't even finished, yet we made a profit, let's do it again and tell people we will patch it later!'. I don't like starting up a game and then seeing a patch being added to my download list. I'm just sick as f*ck downloading patches day one, if I had super fast broadband I wouldn't mind, but I don't, it takes an hour for 1GB! Anyway, rambling lol

[PleaseHoldOn]

Gamers shouldn't have to be smarter with money, gaming as a hobby is expensive, it's a big financial and time investment. Everyone that purchases an item, games or otherwise, should be given a working product, that works without fault. I've just about finished a game development course

 

1. If gaming is expensive, that's all the more reason for gamers to be smarter with their investment.  There are no guarantees in this world.

 

2. If you're taking game development courses, like learning programming languages and real coding, then you more than anyone should understand that making something that "works without fault" is not realistic.  No matter how many hours/days/weeks/months of testing goes into it.

 

I don't mean to reduce your post to one or two lines, I just don't feel like getting into an essay war.

Edited June 28, 2015 by PleaseHoldOn

[Slipknot_rooney]

I don't mean to reduce your post to one or two lines, I just don't feel like getting into an essay war.

 lol it's fine man. I'm not trying to get into a war

 

The way I see it, if I pay 60 quid for a game, be it on PS4, Xbox, PC or the Wii, or whatever else we have, I expect the game to work. Maybe I'm weird like that

[PleaseHoldOn]

The way I see it, if I pay 60 quid for a game, be it on PS4, Xbox, PC or the Wii, or whatever else we have, I expect the game to work. Maybe I'm weird like that

 

You're free to expect whatever you like, but this is the real world.  Things aren't perfect, and sometimes people aren't nice.  Sometimes, companies get greedy.  And lazy.  If consumers aren't willing to educate themselves (which seems to be the case based on this brief conversation), use just an iota of their brainpower before paying a premium on the first pretty screenshot they see... and just expect these dime a dozen publishers to put you before the almighty dollar because "that's how it should be"... well, then it's no wonder there's outrage every time something like this happens.

Edited June 28, 2015 by PleaseHoldOn

[Kubanga]

Meh its what the master race elitist douchebags deserve. All I see are them crying about consoles being for "peasants". Quite honestly if I was a game developer I wouldn't put shit on pc. They dont deserve it. All they do is start flame wars with the shit they pull BUT then cry when a game isint master race material and blah blah blah blah. Although to be fair I do feel bad for a select few.

Edited June 28, 2015 by Kubanga

[Hailst0rm_2]

If you guys don't mind the PC Master Race meme. (Their reddit is actually a wonderful community full of helpful people and not all are PC elitist trolls.) The people there have come together to form an open source site where they rate the quality of PC games based on their features , optimization and bugs.

http://www.pcmrating.com

Thought it was a very useful tool.

Also there was an apparently a patch today that has made performance much better but I don't believe they're finished with the game.

Edited June 28, 2015 by Hailst0rm_2