24 Jan, 2011
It’s official, ladies and gentlemen. Bobby Kotick is mere moments away from being snapped on the front page of the National Enquirer with no make-up on as Activision find themselves at the epicentre of yet another industry row.
The news rocks the publisher in the wake of the on-going Modern Warfare 2 scandal, after hackers cracked the supposedly-impenetrable defences of the PlayStation 3 and destroyed the popular shooter’s online multiplayer, wiping the stats of some players while others were randomly awarded perks and bonuses they hadn’t earned.
However, this particular furore revolves around the latest Call of Duty release. Treyarch’s Black Ops has been dogged by controversy since its release. Following a catastrophic consumer backlash, PlayStation 3 and PC users have reported a remarkable level of bugs and glitches rendering the game “unplayable”. Patches issued by Treyarch have fixed a number of issues, but significantly worsened others. On December 22nd UK-based, Facebook-founded consumer rights group Gamers’ Voice wrote an open letter to Activision.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Gamers’ Voice is a consumer advice and lobbyist group that represents the video game consumer in the UK. As part of our remit we are tasked to ensure that the purchasers of video games are given a fair hearing when they have a particular issue with a game they have bought. It is for this reason we are contacting you now as we have been inundated with complaints from people who have bought copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops. They all concern the Playstation 3 console and PC versions of the game.
The complaints range from freezing when a new map is being loaded, locking up of PS3′s and PC’s while running the game, inability to log into multiplayer matches and connection drops mid game. None of this apparently applies to the Xbox 360 version, which is clearly the lead platform for the title.
It is quite obvious that you have focussed a majority of your QA on the Xbox 360 version with the assumption that the majority of people who play the game will do so on that system. Despite this, you have chosen to release it on multiple formats to maximise the revenue from sales of the game. By doing so evidence suggests that little attention was paid to the platforms with a smaller install base and hence a reduction in QA being employed for these versions.
It is now that your valuable customer base is bearing the brunt of this short sighted act of crass profiteering on your part, for that is exactly what this is. You have pushed out a game that is broken to the point of it not fulfilling its function as a piece of entertainment. Reading from the back of the game’s box, we quote:
“Epic single-player, acclaimed multiplayer and 4 player co-op Zombies”
What this tag line fails to have is the caveat that this only applies if you are playing the Xbox 360 version. None of this will be experienced by the purchaser of the PS3 and PC ports for they do not actually function as intended.
We therefore request that you offer by way of explanation to us why this has occurred and, more importantly, what are you going to do to recompense your customer base? You have one calendar month to respond to this letter. If no response is received or your retort fails to treat this issue with the gravity it deserves, we will be forced to take matters further.
However, Gamers’ Voice have this week made the decision to report Activision to the Office of Fair Trading, as they confirmed their letter has been ignored. In a statement on their website they said, “Clearly, CODBLOPS was the one of the biggest, if not the biggest releases of last year, which obviously leads to more people playing and more chances for bugs to be found.”
“Our view is that it doesn’t matter how big a game is, it should not be released ‘unfinished’ or with bugs that make the game unplayable, which are words we have seen in a lot of emails to us recently. Problems arise when, in the case with CODBLOPS, entire sections of the PS3 and PC gaming community are apparently being used as game testers for an extended period after a game’s release, yet being asked to pay for the privilege. This is not a tenable way to treat us as consumers of videogames and it will not be tolerated.”
Following its release in November, Call of Duty: Black Ops went on to become the biggest-selling game of 2010. Gamers’ Voice are currently preparing to submit their complaint to the Office of Fair Trading later this week. Click here to visit their website.
I would just like to say that, as an Xbox 360 player I have (fortunately) had no troubles such as this and think it’s terrible that PC and PS3 users were obviously slighted. Not cool at all, but with the cash cow that this series is, it pains me to say that I’m not terribly surprised? What I mean to say is, it’s not that I expected it to happen, but now that it has…well, it’s not like it’s something that I just could never imagine happening. If that makes sense.
However, I think the best thing I’m taking away from this is the acronym CODBLOPS. New favorite word.
While I agree with everything you just said, wizardlizard, I have to say your final point rang true the most. CODBLOPS. xD