In the olden days (Read: Circa 1995-2005), when you bought a video game and it didn't work, it was the fault of the retailer or the fault of the developer and you’d get your money back because you had been sold a faulty product. Somewhere along the line, the games industry collectively decided that this didn’t make any sense. I mean, why should you be held accountable for making and selling a faulty product and asking full retail value? Come on, be fair, it’s hardly a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act of 1969. Oh wait, it is.
So, why exactly have developers and retailers alike decided to place themselves above accountability when it comes to aftercare with their products? And more importantly…
Will the shitty practice and poor customer service of these developers bring about...
So, why exactly have developers and retailers alike decided to place themselves above accountability when it comes to aftercare with their products? And more importantly…
Will the shitty practice and poor customer service of these developers bring about...
To start, I should clarify the difference between a bad game and a broken game.
A bad game is something like Brink or Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. Whilst they technically do live up to everything that their marketing is showing, the end result isn’t satisfying. For the most part, that isn’t a fault of the devs. They most likely tried as best they could, but were stuck with tough deadlines in publisher deals or found that it was a genre they were not best suited to. The games were completed, but they were underwhelming or disappointing. That is a bad game.
A broken game is something like the latest SimCity or Assassin’s Creed Unity. Whilst it is entirely possible that these games were pushed out in a high-pressure development cycle, the dev teams promised the world to fans of the series and then delivered unplayable garbage. SimCity was unplayable on the day if it’s release, but still cost full price regardless. And because EA had decided to make it online only, the game was in an unplayable state for many weeks and months after the launch of the game. But the money had been traded and EA were rolling in several millions of dollars for about a dozen of actual gameplay hours worldwide. Similarly, Assassin’s Creed Unity shipped for full price and was a broke and buggy mess, where textures, mechanics and cutscenes could all lead to game-breaking bugs making it impossible to progress in the game. However, Ubisoft were still asking full price for the base game, as well as still charging for DLC packs. They did wane slightly when they offered the first pack for free, but reviews of the pack showed that turned out to not be the greatest of consolation prizes.
A bad game is something like Brink or Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. Whilst they technically do live up to everything that their marketing is showing, the end result isn’t satisfying. For the most part, that isn’t a fault of the devs. They most likely tried as best they could, but were stuck with tough deadlines in publisher deals or found that it was a genre they were not best suited to. The games were completed, but they were underwhelming or disappointing. That is a bad game.
A broken game is something like the latest SimCity or Assassin’s Creed Unity. Whilst it is entirely possible that these games were pushed out in a high-pressure development cycle, the dev teams promised the world to fans of the series and then delivered unplayable garbage. SimCity was unplayable on the day if it’s release, but still cost full price regardless. And because EA had decided to make it online only, the game was in an unplayable state for many weeks and months after the launch of the game. But the money had been traded and EA were rolling in several millions of dollars for about a dozen of actual gameplay hours worldwide. Similarly, Assassin’s Creed Unity shipped for full price and was a broke and buggy mess, where textures, mechanics and cutscenes could all lead to game-breaking bugs making it impossible to progress in the game. However, Ubisoft were still asking full price for the base game, as well as still charging for DLC packs. They did wane slightly when they offered the first pack for free, but reviews of the pack showed that turned out to not be the greatest of consolation prizes.
Image Credit: kotaku.com
Pictured: Ubisoft's idea of a fully finished game
The distinction is small but definite. Most would argue that they’d rather have the better game and wait for it to be patched to a playable state, but I say that’s talking bollocks. The way I see it, if you drop 40 or 50 quid on a game and you then can’t play that game for another month after its launch, then you have been ripped off. Absolutely no question.
More importantly, advertised mechanics or features that find their way onto box art that then are not functional or even included in the game at the price you pay for is similarly a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act. At the end of the day, I would not try and sell you an Iceberg Lettuce on the premise that it can play Commodore 64 games. That would be a flat-out lie.
So now we come to today’s case study: Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto Online.
More importantly, advertised mechanics or features that find their way onto box art that then are not functional or even included in the game at the price you pay for is similarly a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act. At the end of the day, I would not try and sell you an Iceberg Lettuce on the premise that it can play Commodore 64 games. That would be a flat-out lie.
So now we come to today’s case study: Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto Online.
Image Credit: forbes.com
I managed to pick up GTA5 on the next gen consoles for cheap the other day, which I was pleased about. Having already played it on the previous generation of consoles, I was pretty excited to pick it up and try out the new mechanics and see if the graphical update was worth the added price tag.
To quickly answer the latter question: No. It looks alright. Nothing special. But at the end of the day, the game was not sold on the graphics. No, this edition of the game was sold on two things: the first person camera mechanic and the ability to transfer your previous GTA Online save file onto the new system in time for the Heists Update.
Okay, firstly about that Heists update. Take a look at the original official trailer for Grand Theft Auto Online, which premiered before the service launched, and you tell me whether or not Rockstar should have been held more accountable for the update coming a full year after it was said to have been included in the service at launch. Only a fool would say no.
To quickly answer the latter question: No. It looks alright. Nothing special. But at the end of the day, the game was not sold on the graphics. No, this edition of the game was sold on two things: the first person camera mechanic and the ability to transfer your previous GTA Online save file onto the new system in time for the Heists Update.
Okay, firstly about that Heists update. Take a look at the original official trailer for Grand Theft Auto Online, which premiered before the service launched, and you tell me whether or not Rockstar should have been held more accountable for the update coming a full year after it was said to have been included in the service at launch. Only a fool would say no.
Now we come to the transferring data thing. A lot of games have used this feature, allowing loyal players to keep their progress across systems. It’s a smart move, however, I have a first hand example of Rockstar shirking their responsibilities as developers and failing to provide adequate aftercare for their games when it comes to this back-of-box advertised feature.
After booting the game up and installing the fucking huge update files to actually play the goddamn thing, I booted up GTA Online and went about transferring my character. Seamlessly, the game pulled up my previous character, with all the weapons, money and clothes I’d gotten for him, so I went about navigating my way back to my apartment to go and pick up one of my modified cars and…
Gone. All of them. Every single vehicle I had in my garage online had disappeared. This included my starter car, everything I had bought, stolen and modified up to my last play point, to the cars and boats I’d received for free as part of the Beach Bum pack. Just disappeared into the aether. Needless to say, I was a little shocked.
Unsure what had happened, I contacted the Rockstar Support service for answers. With this message:
After booting the game up and installing the fucking huge update files to actually play the goddamn thing, I booted up GTA Online and went about transferring my character. Seamlessly, the game pulled up my previous character, with all the weapons, money and clothes I’d gotten for him, so I went about navigating my way back to my apartment to go and pick up one of my modified cars and…
Gone. All of them. Every single vehicle I had in my garage online had disappeared. This included my starter car, everything I had bought, stolen and modified up to my last play point, to the cars and boats I’d received for free as part of the Beach Bum pack. Just disappeared into the aether. Needless to say, I was a little shocked.
Unsure what had happened, I contacted the Rockstar Support service for answers. With this message:
Transferred my online chracter from PS3 to PS4, and whilst all of the experience, wardrobe, abilities and money were correctly carried over, my entire garage was deleted, including the very first free car you get in the game and all the free vehicles from the PS3 updates. When I try to go to reclaim them on the respective car dealer websites, it asks to charge me again, even for the free vehicles.
Not sure which vehicles I had to begin with as I hadn't played for a while, but The Hexer was one I definitely owned, and I'm being asked to pay for it again.
Obviously, this is a bit disappointing, when everything else was carried over. Anyway to fix this/reimburse cash to re-buy the cars?
A simple, request right? Money in GTA Online is fairly easy to come by, but once you count up how much you spend on car modifications and all-inclusive insurance (I'm not shitting you), the figure soon mounts up. I knew it would be quite hard to get all my specific mods and such completely re-instated, so I suggested a small cash amount to re-buy the vehicles that I owned. 24 hours later, I get this response:
Hello Mike,
We are sorry to hear that you are facing an issue with missing cars. We have gone through your account and unable to verify the cars missing. Please provide us the following details, so our Claims Department can follow up:
-Which Character Slot (1 or 2):
-An inventory of any vehicles missing:
-How many garage slots are currently open if any:
Once we are provided this information, we will gladly investigate this.
Best regards,
Todd W.
Rockstar Support
Seems friendly enough, I thought. So, I gathered up this information for good old Todd W. After poking around on the GTA Wiki and asking my friend in game and IRL, RavenDW, which vehicles he remembered me trundling around in, we were able to come up with a pretty good idea as to what had gone missing.
The cars and boat from the Beach Bum pack were pretty easy to find, and of course, they were free at the time, so a logical person would find it safe to assume that even just re-instating these vehicles should be easy. Next was my personal cars, which took a little longer, but I remember tearing up the roads of Los Santos in a Schyster Fusilade (My starter car), A Vapid Dominator (which was free to steal), an Elegy R8 (which remains a free car in the game), and an LCC Hexer (which I purchased in game).
So, I sent off my response:
The cars and boat from the Beach Bum pack were pretty easy to find, and of course, they were free at the time, so a logical person would find it safe to assume that even just re-instating these vehicles should be easy. Next was my personal cars, which took a little longer, but I remember tearing up the roads of Los Santos in a Schyster Fusilade (My starter car), A Vapid Dominator (which was free to steal), an Elegy R8 (which remains a free car in the game), and an LCC Hexer (which I purchased in game).
So, I sent off my response:
Hi,
The character slot should be number 1, as I've only got one character.
To my knowledge, the cars that were missing were an LCC Hexer, a BF Bifta, a Canis Kalahari, a Bravado Paradise, a Pegassi Speeder boat, a Vapid Dominator, an Elegy RH8 and a Schyster Fusilade. I know there was one more car missing, but I can't remember it nor find it's name online.
I currently have 8 garage spaces left on my transferred character.
Hope that helps you with my query.
I thought that was pretty detailed. Again, I didn’t try and name the mods, cause that would have taken forever, and quite honestly, I couldn’t name them off the top of my head if I tried. However, this was the response I got:
Hello Mike,
We are sorry for the issue you are facing with the missing cars. However, we have gone through your account and unable to verify the purchase or any mods done on the missing cars. Unfortunately, we are unable to help you with the refund. Apologies in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to respond.
Best regards,
Todd W.
Rockstar Support
Wait, what? It doesn't seem like dear old Todd W. even attempted to try and find anything out. The reason he cites for us supplying the information in the first places is the reason he then cites again to tell us he ain't doing jack shit!
Firstly, on the off chance that the Rockstar Support team read this (I'm totally tweeting this article to them once it’s posted. Hi, Rockstar Support! You guys are cunts. Especially you, Todd W.), I just wanted to show you that I'm not leaving a stone unturned to prove that these guys have failed and then further denied the service they've advertised on the back of the box. So, here’s the back of my boxed copy of GTA5 for PS4.
Firstly, on the off chance that the Rockstar Support team read this (I'm totally tweeting this article to them once it’s posted. Hi, Rockstar Support! You guys are cunts. Especially you, Todd W.), I just wanted to show you that I'm not leaving a stone unturned to prove that these guys have failed and then further denied the service they've advertised on the back of the box. So, here’s the back of my boxed copy of GTA5 for PS4.
For those that can’t see it in the photo, here’s a direct quote:
Transfer your existing Grand Theft Auto Online character and progression to Playstation 4.*
Notice the asterix? Well, on the back of the box it’s this quaint little crucifix deely, but I couldn't find religious image on my keyboard, so I substituted it for an asterix. Anyway, here’s another photo with what the crucifix denotes:
Again, for those who can’t see:
Player data transfer subject to certain limits and requirements, see rockstargames.com/gtaonline/charactertransfer for details.
Let’s visit that page shall we? Clear as day, here is a list of the items that will be transferred from one save to another:
What will be transferred:
Money – Earned in-game money will transfer. Purchased in-game money that has not yet been spent will only transfer within a console family (e.g. PlayStation®3 to PlayStation®4).
Rank and RP – You will have the same Rank and RP after transfer.
Game Progress – GTA Online progression will transfer including all unlocks, Contacts, Jobs, Trophies and stats.
Items and Property – Weapons/attachments, vehicles/modifications, properties, clothing and all aspects of character appearance will be transferred. Character-owned items (e.g. clothing, weapons, etc.) will remain in the character’s inventory and will not need to be repurchased in-game. Vehicles will appear in the same garage they were left in before the transfer.
Creator – Jobs made within the Creator will be transferred.
Crews – Existing Crew information will available.
Achievements and Trophies – Achievements and trophies will transfer. Additional overall Gamerscore will not be awarded for transferring achievement progress.
There you have it. Rockstar is undeniably not living up to the service terms they have laid out themselves. The vehicles I lost were insured, modified and sitting in my garage. In the event they did go missing, Rockstar has said that they will be in my inventory and will not need to be repurchased. Wrong. I faced that exact issue and Rockstar are refusing to do dick about it.
This is problem I'm facing. Rockstar COULD forgo all the nonsense and take a look at the purchase history of my character, or boot up my character on the PS3 and still see all of these vehicles there. But that would be work. That would be a hassle to the aftercare team. No, instead, I get a denial of contracted service. It’s a shame, really.
Rockstar would prefer to, in the paraphrased words of The Jacksons, ‘blame it on the buggy’.
This is problem I'm facing. Rockstar COULD forgo all the nonsense and take a look at the purchase history of my character, or boot up my character on the PS3 and still see all of these vehicles there. But that would be work. That would be a hassle to the aftercare team. No, instead, I get a denial of contracted service. It’s a shame, really.
Rockstar would prefer to, in the paraphrased words of The Jacksons, ‘blame it on the buggy’.
Image Credit: boomerang.nl
Pictured: The Jackson Blame Indicator
So, again, if I may speak directly to the Rockstar: You guys are talented, no doubt, and GTA5 is a great game for either system. But this kind of poor customer service should not be tolerated from any game developers, less so the best of the best.
If the Rockstar Support team do see this, it should be known that I tried to get in touch with you guys SEVERAL times, but you quite conveniently ignored me and gave me the automated response treatment over Twitter. The messages between me and Rockstar support over Twitter are here, here, here and here.
And for good measure, here is the email I sent Rockstar whilst writing this article.
If the Rockstar Support team do see this, it should be known that I tried to get in touch with you guys SEVERAL times, but you quite conveniently ignored me and gave me the automated response treatment over Twitter. The messages between me and Rockstar support over Twitter are here, here, here and here.
And for good measure, here is the email I sent Rockstar whilst writing this article.
Okay, I have tried to explain to your Twitter team multiple times now that I am unhappy with the service that has gone down here. I am not asking the impossible. I have given you all the information needed to right the situation, but it seems you are not interested in doing so.
I'm sending you a link to one of your support articles:
https://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/articles/202892778-Grand-Theft-Auto-Online-Characters-and-Progression-Transfer-from-Xbox-360-or-PlayStation-3-to-PlayStation-4-Xbox-One-and-PC
In it, you'll see this quote:
"What will be transferred:
Money – Earned in-game money will transfer. Purchased in-game money that has not yet been spent will only transfer within a console family (e.g. PlayStation®3 to PlayStation®4).
Rank and RP – You will have the same Rank and RP after transfer.
Game Progress – GTA Online progression will transfer including all unlocks, Contacts, Jobs, Trophies and stats.
Items and Property – Weapons/attachments, vehicles/modifications, properties, clothing and all aspects of character appearance will be transferred. Character-owned items (e.g. clothing, weapons, etc.) will remain in the character’s inventory and will not need to be repurchased in-game. Vehicles will appear in the same garage they were left in before the transfer..."
So, according to the terms and limits that you set out on your own website, and as advertised on the back of your own game box, you haven't actually lived up to service that was advertised.
It's not an unreasonable request. The vehicles that went missing are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. All I want is for shit like this to stop to paying customers. Imagine being sold a box of Cadbury Creme Eggs, then opening them to find that the gooey centre had been taken out. You'd understandably want your money back: it's a missing part of product you were sold on the box.
That's all I want. The service I was promised. That's not a lot to ask, right?
As I expected, there has been no response, but I’ll keep you updated should they get back to me.
In our new world of DLC, patches and updates, where a game can’t be a singular contained experience that you play from start to finish, publishers and developers alike have to adapt their aftercare accordingly. Shit like this gets right up my piss pipes. It’s all very well and good having the single most successful video game of all time, but it’s worth nout if you treat those customers like inconsequential cogs in an immeasurably large and complicated mechanism. As artists, you should be held accountable for your art. Like this article, if it turns out I've been a dumb twat and I fucked up somewhere, you can bet your ass that an apology blog would soon follow, because I am responsible for the words you’re reading right now.
As it stands, in this state of the industry, buggy games and poor aftercare will bring the Death of Video Games if it continues like this. How could it not? For you see, what good is a game if it is unplayable, and how good is an experience if it’s incomplete?
In our new world of DLC, patches and updates, where a game can’t be a singular contained experience that you play from start to finish, publishers and developers alike have to adapt their aftercare accordingly. Shit like this gets right up my piss pipes. It’s all very well and good having the single most successful video game of all time, but it’s worth nout if you treat those customers like inconsequential cogs in an immeasurably large and complicated mechanism. As artists, you should be held accountable for your art. Like this article, if it turns out I've been a dumb twat and I fucked up somewhere, you can bet your ass that an apology blog would soon follow, because I am responsible for the words you’re reading right now.
As it stands, in this state of the industry, buggy games and poor aftercare will bring the Death of Video Games if it continues like this. How could it not? For you see, what good is a game if it is unplayable, and how good is an experience if it’s incomplete?
UPDATE - 3/4/15
I totally didn't expect for this method to do any good, seeing as I directly called out Rockstar Support and called them cunts, but apparently that was the kick that they needed to actually do something about my situation.
Shortly after this was posted, I received the following message.
Shortly after this was posted, I received the following message.
Hello Thatmikeowen,
Thank you for your patience as we worked to resolve your issue.
We have investigated your loss and have issued you a sum of GTA$3,500,000 to your Shared Bank as an accomodation for this loss.
Please accept this as resolution of your issue in full.
If you have any additional concerns, please feel free to reach out to us again.
Best regards,
Stephen S.
Rockstar Support
I booted up the game this morning and, sure enough, I was greeted with this.
So about that email. Firstly, nice sarcasm there, Stephen. We all know you didn't work on resolving shit. But yes, I totally have the patience of a saint.
But the big thing here to note is that $3.5 Million is far more than the cars and their mods were worth. This has got to be the first example of when this website has actually impacted anything. Holy shit.
This is some expert damage control on behalf of Rockstar. I'd like to think they saw this article yesterday and wanted to resolve it quickly, and the amount of people who read it certainly made that a possibility. It also probably had something to do with me and Jary sending it to them directly.
But the big thing here to note is that $3.5 Million is far more than the cars and their mods were worth. This has got to be the first example of when this website has actually impacted anything. Holy shit.
This is some expert damage control on behalf of Rockstar. I'd like to think they saw this article yesterday and wanted to resolve it quickly, and the amount of people who read it certainly made that a possibility. It also probably had something to do with me and Jary sending it to them directly.
@RockstarGames you guys rock, but your customer service leaves a lot to be desired http://t.co/jwbUFTTJ9J #GamersUnite
— Jary (@JaryFoulFantasy) April 2, 2015
Or maybe it was the fact that there was no automated response to my Creme Egg analogy built into the tech support robots, so they actually had to get a human to sort it out. Either way, this issue has been resolved. But what does it say to you, as a consumer?
What this experience says to the average gamer is that you had better be ready to fight your corner in order to get the service you paid for, because these companies will more often than not expect you to lie down and take their shit.
So, to conclude this lesson, know your shit, stand your ground and if you can, post a damning blog about it and have it read by a couple hundred people and you'll be fine.
Because that makes sense, right?
What this experience says to the average gamer is that you had better be ready to fight your corner in order to get the service you paid for, because these companies will more often than not expect you to lie down and take their shit.
So, to conclude this lesson, know your shit, stand your ground and if you can, post a damning blog about it and have it read by a couple hundred people and you'll be fine.
Because that makes sense, right?
By Mike Owen
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games.
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games.