Cognition Dissemination: An Alien World for Pre-Order Bonuses

It speaks volumes if we have to reminisce about a time when retailer-exclusive pre-order bonuses were annoying, but largely innocuous. We ventured through the experimental years, where the most publishers would give retailers were exclusive bonus weapons or outfits you didn’t need. Sometimes they were useful to the point that they’d break the game and ruin its fun; others were so bad that you’d wonder if the publisher had it out for the store. As time goes by, publishers are giving better bonuses to retailers, like exclusive missions, levels, and even characters. It’s annoying, because there’s no way for anyone to get everything with the already-expensive game they’re purchasing when the content is initially spread across multiple retailers.

And God forbid you purchase it from a retailer who isn’t participating in any of the offers. That means you’ll miss out on downloadable content that won’t be available for everyone who didn’t participate in this little game until much later, and when it finally arrives, the publisher will demand even more money.

If you weren’t concerned about this before, you’ll want to take notice now. Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, investment firm R.W. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian gave details of a meeting that occurred between them and Gamestop to Venture Beat. He mentioned that retailers like them want to increase the “value” they provide with pre-order bonuses, to the point that they plan on paying for exclusive sections in the biggest games (the so-called AAA games) in the future. They almost want to be involved in the game’s creative process, meaning sections originally given to consumers for free will only be available for anyone who pre-ordered at Gamestop stores — or any other retailer that will participate in an experiment like this. Basically, you’ll be paying the same price for games, but getting less depending on where you shop. This is, of course, assuming Gamestop gets their way. Their CEO commented that they’d be foolish to tell developers how to make their games, but didn’t deny the other aspects.

It’s an understandable move from a certain point of view. Retailers are aware of the slow-but-noticeable shift towards digital purchases with consumer habits, and they need to fight for their survival before it’s too late. And that goes double for Gamestop, who doesn’t deal with anything other than selling video games, and whose attempts to venture into other markets look haphazard at best. But they shouldn’t expect us to understand their plight when they’re stripping away options we took for granted. This is almost enough to make some people sorry they stuck up for Gamestop during Microsoft’s Xbox One DRM debacle last year, even though they were getting special deal for pre-owned games on the system.

As if on cue, we received a good example of how bad things have become in the retailer-exclusive pre-order bonus sector this past week. There’s a lot to look forward to with Creative Assembly and Sega’s Aliens: Isolation, despite the game having its work cut out for it thanks to both the stigma licensed games have and the title it has the unfortunate pleasure of following. From what we’ve seen, it’s the kind of Alien game the fanbase wanted — as in, it’s an Alien game. It’s a survival/horror title taking after the original movie instead of the actionized Aliens and Alien vs. Predator.

To further emphasize its roots, Sega announced some fantastic fanservice downloadable content for it. Isolation will have two missions reuniting the original Alien cast, called “Crew Expendable” and “Last Survivor.” It will include the option to play either Ellen Ripley, Dallas, or Parker, with their respective actors (Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and Yaphet Kotto) providing the voices. It’s purportedly a great addition to the main campaign, where you’ll play as Ellen’s daughter, Amanda Ripley.

However, the stipulations are different for getting both of them. You can get “Crew Expendable” easily enough after pre-ordering the game at any retailer, but “Last Survivor” will only be available to anyone who pre-orders at Gamestop. The content feels too important to be tied to only one retailer, and represents a slippery slope for what could happen in the future, when more content like this is restricted because you chose the wrong place to buy it.

That said, it’s difficult to think about solutions to this problem. Video games are becoming more expensive to create, and companies need to exploit as many potential money-making ventures as possible. Gamestop provides extra advertising for games with pre-order bonuses, and Isolation is a game that needs more exposure. But restricting access to a key piece of content isn’t OK. There’s more than enough cynicism to go around on the internet these days, sure, but situations like this deserve it. The content will be available for everyone in the future (probably not for free), but day-one buyers that purchase the game at any retailer should be treated with the most respect, considering they’re the ones taking a chance on it with their hard-earned money. Sega, sadly, is desperate to make it a hit at the expense of their dignity. Before you read that and say “So what? That doesn’t sound like a big deal,” think about how bad things could potentially get.

This is a small part of a larger picture, showing how the current gaming landscape isn’t sustainable for most publishers who release “AAA” games. Given how Sega has already mostly moved away from releasing (or trying to release) big blockbusters, this game not performing to their expectations would only shove them further into the corner. They’re determined to make this a success, and anyone who purchases it outside of Gamestop is a temporary victim.

I have no right to tell you how to spend your money. I’m only asking you to think about the repercussions of buying right into the hands of big publishers– assuming you are at all. Reeling in enough consumers for these kinds of marketing deals means they’ll only get bigger, and sooner or later, you’re going to wonder where your hobby went so wrong.