UK RELEASE

[blackcelica]

You've purchased it, you've pre-installed it, just unlock it same day worldwide for all legit purchasers. Why make people wait????? What actual harm is done????? None. It's a digital download non transferable.

[kbshadow]

I know it's a joke ain't it. So we gotta wait til fri then?

[Zotanium]

It's a stupid practise back from old days. Deal with it.

[blackcelica]

I know it's a joke ain't it. So we gotta wait til fri then?

Looks that way. Same thing happened with F1 2010.

[emperorzorn]

Its really stupid.
This is not Steam's fault though.

They receive the dates from the publisher of the game.
EA releases it earlier than Steam, because that means they get
100% profit on the sales in the EA store.
On Steam they have to pay a part of each sale to Valve.

I dont know whoever came up with the dumb idea not to treat all customers equally, but to release the game on different dates.

[Raeyn91]

It seems ludicrous and frankly irresponsible. How many customers are they going to loose to Europeans and British peepe pirating an uploaded American release?

(Also, I'm pretty sure this was the doing of EA.... but I still blame Steam for pushing back the Australian release! Bioware said MIDNIGHT! GIVE US IT AT MIDNIGHT STEAM!)

[surrealitycheck]

This is non-competition bull♥♥♥♥

basically digital retailers aren't allowed to destroy the physical shops by releasing when it's actually available because this would be "Unfair"

instead of being a reflection of the fact they have a ♥♥♥♥ing SUPERIOR BUSINESS MODEL

this ♥♥♥♥ is dumb and when physical shops die we will all be better off

[Kordac]

You can be playing it the UK today by fooling steam into thinking you live in the US. Just google it and I'm sure you'll find out how to do it as I imagine I'd get in trouble if I posted it here.

[emperorzorn]

What annoys me the most is that pirates are already playing DA2
in every region and they didnt have to spend their hard earned cash on it...

[WayTwoFast]

u cant fool steam into thinking ur somehwere elce, it locates ur ISP. im with aol and most games think im from the USA and still cant trick steam. bah!

[Misfitskid]

You can, but you can be banned for it apparently

[Wazgrel]

Yeah guys its pretty common. I used to ♥♥♥♥♥ about it all the time on forums... The last time was about Borderlands not being released worldwide on the same day. Got used to it now.

Anyways - off to play Dragon Age Awakening, good thing I bought it on release and didn't play for so long. I thought I wasted money, but apperantly it was better than I expected.

[JoxerNL]

You've purchased it, you've pre-installed it, just unlock it same day worldwide for all legit purchasers. Why make people wait????? What actual harm is done????? None. It's a digital download non transferable.

First of all, your a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ for not knowing the following :

YOUR COUNTRY, the UK, has a rule where only "NEW GAMES" will be done after thursday.

Why?! you might wonder, well every thursday evening the sales charts get released.
So they will release AFTER thursday, dont blame steam, dont blame EA, blame your country.

[sit_on_it]

First of all, your a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ for not knowing the following :

YOUR COUNTRY, the UK, has a rule where only "NEW GAMES" will be done after thursday.

Why?! you might wonder, well every thursday evening the sales charts get released.
So they will release AFTER thursday, dont blame steam, dont blame EA, blame your country.

YEH! what he said...

[drunkdragon]

First of all, your a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ for not knowing the following :

YOUR COUNTRY, the UK, has a rule where only "NEW GAMES" will be done after thursday.

Why?! you might wonder, well every thursday evening the sales charts get released.
So they will release AFTER thursday, dont blame steam, dont blame EA, blame your country.

actually if EA/STEAM cared about customers over sales figures they wouldn't worry about such things.

they would still get the same sales but they would just be published differently.

[JoxerNL]

actually if EA/STEAM cared about customers over sales figures they wouldn't worry about such things.

they would still get the same sales but they would just be published differently.

No, because then the UK stores, the physicall game stores would scream bloody murder.
Dont be ignorant.

[emperorzorn]

No, because then the UK stores, the physicall game stores would scream bloody murder.
Dont be ignorant.

Ha, so thats why they are called GameSTOP ..hahaha

[drunkdragon]

I am not ignorant, i am a programmer by profession and if someone pays for my services with money then i will gladly hand over code/software as soon as physically possible.

I believe that world wide releases are the way forward, take for instance the fact that many games developers/distributors complain about piracy, many people in the uk would NOT pirate the game if they could have access to it. at the moment gamers can wait till Friday for the uk release and pay money for the game or download/pirate it early FOR FREE.

I myself will wait for release day because i make a point of only using legal software, mostly due to the fact that if someone pirates what i make, i loose money so i know whats its like to be on the receiving end of piracy, but i know people that don't share my views when the companies are unfair.

[JoxerNL]

I am not ignorant, i am a programmer by profession and if someone pays for my services with money then i will gladly hand over code/software as soon as physically possible.

I believe that world wide releases are the way forward, take for instance the fact that many games developers/distributors complain about piracy, many people in the uk would NOT pirate the game if they could have access to it. at the moment gamers can wait till Friday for the uk release and pay money for the game or download/pirate it early FOR FREE.

I myself will wait for release day because i make a point of only using legal software, mostly due to the fact that if someone pirates what i make, i loose money so i know whats its like to be on the receiving end of piracy, but i know people that don't share my views when the companies are unfair.

Alot of yada yada yada, dont like it, blame the UK, not steam not EA.
They have set this ridiculous rule, not EA nor steam.

[drunkdragon]

Alot of yada yada yada, dont like it, blame the UK, not steam not EA.
They have set this ridiculous rule, not EA nor steam.

its not a rule, they are not required to follow the dates, its their software they can release it when they please.

EDIT "Alot of yada yada yada" are you like five years old?

[JamieKirby1981]

Well, they gotta make sure the US get to play the game first, otherwise they might have a hissy fit. :P lol

[jfunk825]

actually if EA/STEAM cared about customers over sales figures they wouldn't worry about such things.


You mean if EA wasn't a huge corporation whose purpose is to maximize revenue?

You know what would make companies stop behaving this way? If customers would stop rewarding them for the behavior by BEING the numbers that lead them to these decisions.

Wait until DA2 is on sale for $25 before you buy it. It's the only vote you have. If you pre-ordered it, you're part of the problem. As long as you behave as though these games actually ARE crack and you can't help yourself but jump through any hoops they place in front of you, and pay whatever they tell you to, then they have no incentive to treat you otherwise.

People whine all the time about how they won't support companies because of this type of behavior, but there the same people are again, in the forum for the next big game, making the same complaints after having already handed over their money.

[sfade]

I've never understood why the concept of unified global release is not a common practice by now. It reduces piracy, keeps customers happy, and really there is no excuse I can think of not to implement it - with communication being more global than ever due to the digital age.

Maybe there is some obscure management or technical reason I'm not familiar with.

[jfunk825]

I've never understood why the concept of unified global release is not a common practice by now. It reduces piracy, keeps customers happy, and really there is no excuse I can think of not to implement it - with communication being more global than ever due to the digital age.

Maybe there is some obscure management or technical reason I'm not familiar with.

There's a lot of reasons. They all boil down to money. For example, the above mentioned UK Thursday week rotation for sales figures. If you release the game on any other day, you're going to split your "first week sales" over two weeks, lowering the number you get to claim.

Unfortunately, retail shelf space is also still a big deal for major releases. That means they need to have deals with different companies in different regions to get the product onto store shelves and give it prime space. This involves different companies from the packing and shipping all the way to the retailers themselves. None of those companies would be willing to play nice with EA if they "stabbed them in the back" by making the product available elsewhere earlier than they can get it on those shelves, which would steal their thunder and reduce their sales of those physical copies.

[varkdm]

It is entirely up to the publisher when a game is released. For instance.. Shogun 2 is released on Tuesday next week.. because thats whent hey want to release it.

Mainyl because thats a pc only release and they probably couldnt give a ♥♥♥♥ about the retailers as they dont suppor tpc games properly anyway.

The release being on a friday for us is because of the console games are still sold in decent numbers in shops. That said, I would have thought digital distribution on the PC would be preferred over physical media distribution to a console - you cant trade in a pc game.

[Bonecrusher]

I've never understood why the concept of unified global release is not a common practice by now. It reduces piracy, keeps customers happy, and really there is no excuse I can think of not to implement it - with communication being more global than ever due to the digital age.

Maybe there is some obscure management or technical reason I'm not familiar with.

because companies need to whine about piracy...