Blocked
It’s no secret that the Triple-A
gaming industry has really ramped up their usual scumbagginess to the 10th
degree this year. We’ve had a rogue’s gallery of games notorious for extreme
shadiness in backdoor loot box and microtransaction policies emerge in just the
past few months, and it looks like things won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
Recently those slimy scoundrels over
at GameStop were tasked with encouraging pre-orders for Assassin’s Creed Origins. As usual with these types of games,
pre-ordering will unlock you a bonus mission along with some other optional
stuff. How did GameStop decide to advertise this?
…Oof.
It’s become fairly obvious recently
that whoever GameStop’s got in charge of social media and advertising doesn’t
have a clue how to handle those things. What I can only hope were attempts to
ape the fun and sarcastic quips utilized by the Wendy’s Twitter account instead
came across as rude and patronizing, basically acting like the ultimate gamer
stereotype. Because that’s what we want our most prominent retailer coming
across as!
Anyways, back on track. I think I can
safely say that I’ve never quite seen an ad like this one for any form of
entertainment. Normally ads for pre-orders try to look all friendly, like “Hey,
if you buy the game now, look at all these cool extra goodies you’ll get!”
And on the other hand, there’s this
ad. “Sorry, the bonus mission is blocked unless you pre-order the game” in
bright red bold text on an all-black background certainly draws eyes, but it
doesn’t exactly breed excitement as it does worry and fear. See, what these ads
are always trying to accomplish regardless of their specific approaches is the
same thing: they want you to pre-order the game. But, as I said before, the
usual tactic is showing off the cool stuff you’ll get if you don’t pre-order,
and subtly encouraging you to put money down because of that.
Here, the tactic is blatant. They’re
not suggesting that there’s some cool stuff you’ll miss out on if you don’t
pre-order here. They’re full on telling you
that if you don’t put money down early for their game exclusively at GameStop,
there’s content that’ll be gated off to you in the final product.
Until it inevitably becomes available
to everyone else via DLC in a few months’ time, of course.
Honestly, the real kicker here is the
phrasing of the whole thing. I imagine that if GameStop had instead worded the
ad by saying “Pre-Order now and get a secret exclusive sidequest!” or whatever
people wouldn’t nearly be as up in arms about it. But the word “blocked” isn’t
exactly something gamers enjoy hearing. “Blocked” makes you think of something
held off unfairly, like you’re a baby and there’s a fence cutting you off from
entering the room where Mom keeps her fine china. “Blocked” also brings thoughts
of censorship, region locking and all that other stuff people don’t like
infesting their games.
And the ad doesn’t even say what the
mission is. Normally with stuff like this you get a fair idea of what you’ll be
getting if you pre-order, like a special gun or character costume. But not
here. For all we know the ultra-exclusive “blocked bonus mission” is one where
you trek across the world gathering apples for some random lady running a fruit
stand.
It’s unclear whether this is GameStop’s
fault or yet another misstep as Ubisoft desperately claws at the chance to
redeem their sins of the past, but personally I think it’s the former. My guess
is that Ubisoft told GameStop about the exclusive pre-order mission and told
them to build an ad around it, and GameStop created the worst possible thing they
could.
I have to agree with Jim Sterling when
he said that this ad is essentially the gaming equivalent of an infomercial
that says “Order now while stocks last for this limited edition product! If you
miss out it’ll never come back!” That doesn’t drive customer interest in a
product nearly as much as it drives fear into a consumer’s mind. When we buy
something, we want the complete package, especially when it comes to video
games that often cost upwards of $60. And when you think about casual customers who buy a few games a year
from names they recognize, that is when this ad’s true insidiousness comes into
play.
Assassin’s
Creed is one of those series that a lot of casual gamers buy annually
thanks to a new game being released nearly every year. Thanks to that, GameStop
knows that they can count on those who don’t pay too much attention to the
industry as a whole to take one look at this ad and think “Oh, that’s for Assassin’s Creed! I’d better pre-order
it now to make sure I don’t miss out on that blocked mission!”, therefore
putting money in the hands of GameStop and Ubisoft before any reviews appear. That’s
what’s up with the red and black colour scheme here. This isn’t an ad gently
encouraging you to pre-order a game because if you do it’ll net you a few fun
bonuses. This is an ad saying that if you don’t blindly throw money at one of
gaming’s most untrustworthy developers, they’ll block you from experiencing
content.
And that just makes me sick. Game
industry, you’re better than this.
Song of the Week
Main Theme – Metal Gear Solid 2
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