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[NotLiquid]

If it weren't for Steam Refunds being introduced fairly recently there's a good chance that Warner may have never tried to actually fix this. They have one hell of a history of not giving a shit but now they have to be held accountable for it lest they want people not buying their game.

So basically thanks Valve for implementing a feature that apart from it's intended purpose tells developers not to half ass their games.

 

[Clefargle]

Valve pretty much saved the day with Steam Refunds. Does that make Gaben the true Batman?

No but a well done hilarious photoshop would.

*hint

 

[Morts]

Isn't that gif in the OP from Origins?

 

[vinnygambini]

I keep reading this sentence thinking it is wrong:

Warner Bros. was aware of the many issues

Isn't it were aware?

I may be wrong though but I can't get it out of my head lol

On topic, shitty behavior if so.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Not surprised but sad anyway if true.

I mean, the people who came to run big publishers in the vein of Kotick are toaster and soap salesmen who don't give a shit about customers, only shareholders and cashing out before they run their company into the ground.

They have considered the average gaming customer a moron for a long time now, easily manipulated and easily placated by bullshit.

 

[DrArchon]

They almost certainly maid a pretty penny off of that busted-ass MKX port and thought they could just do it all over again. Maybe now they'll think twice about just taking the cheapest option for porting their games and not thinking about how the ports turn out.

 

[NeonBlack]

Steam Refund: The hero we deserve, but not the one we need right now.

 

[jimi_dini]

It would have been surprising, if they didn't know that it was a mess.

/shrug

 

[old manatee]

Yeah I'm never buying that game.

Thanks based Valve.

 

[OptimusLime]

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when those refunds started rolling.

 

[akidnamededdy]

Uh oh.

 

[Meia]

Valve pretty much saved the day with Steam Refunds. Does that make Gaben the true Batman?

Let's go one further and say that Valve had heard rumblings that this may be the case with PC Batman and that's why they released the refund system when they did.



Gabe confirmed for Prep-time Batman.

 

[spidye]

It's says alot about the publisher, developer and the state of the game if there's a dedicated button to call up the troubleshooting site of warner bros on the fucking menu

Seemed odd to me until I played the game
And I play this on ps4

 

[M.D]

Doesnt Arkham City have serious performance issues on PC when using DX11?

 

[Off-Kilter]

I don't doubt this for a second

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Let's go one further and say that Valve had heard rumblings that this may be the case with PC Batman and that's why they released the refund system when they did.



Gabe confirmed for Prep-time Batman.

Absolutely not. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming into refunds and it was mostly to comply with european laws.

It was really nice timing, but let's not pretend Valve was protecting us intentionally from the dastardly WB.

 

[PROh1bited]

I feel the pain for people that bought this on the PC. I had to deal with The Master Chief Collection being a broken mess for months, and still has problems to this day. Hugs all around.

 

[Nuke Soda]

WB trying to dethrone EA as the worst game publisher I see.

 

[SprachBrooks]

To be honest the only situation where I believe a developer –– having released a broken game –– say they didn't anticipate it being broken is if it included online components. During QA –– at least QA as it should be done –– you'll see the majority of these problems occurring, so when a developer/publisher releases a broken game, like AC Unity, Batman AK they did so knowing full well of the issues that people will encounter, but released it anyway because gamers are fucking stupid with their pre-order culture.

This will keep happening until peeople stop pre-ordering games, this is negated with the ability to refund on Steam, but those fuckers Sony and MS need to implement a refund system like Steam and uphold our consumer rights, whilst at the same time punishing those cunts like WB or Ubisoft for releasing broken software that they can just patch later on. I'm fucking sick of it.

 

[Ridley327]

Gaben: Nope.

He's the hero we deserve AND the one we need right now.

 

[Interfectum]

Absolutely not. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming into refunds and it was mostly to comply with european laws.

It was really nice timing, but let's not pretend Valve was protecting us intentionally from the dastardly WB.

So Europe is Batman and Gaben is.. Robin?

 

[Tagyhag]

No fucking shit, they would have had to actively avoid the PC version to not know it was bad.

 

[Xando]

Thank god GMG refunded me. Not gonna buy anything WB for more then 15€ anymore.

 

[duckroll]

One unexpected problem? The game’s secretive story. Rocksteady was deeply afraid of plot revelations being leaked ahead of release, said the same source, so traditional PC testing firms that are used to stress test games on different hardware configurations—one of the PC’s biggest hurdles—were avoided. From what I’m told, this is not an uncommon practice for major video games with story-heavy elements.

ROFLMAO. Dying of laughter here. Let's avoid testing the game properly to protect ourselves from spoiler leaks of the DEEP AND IMPORTANT PLOT in a fucking Batman game. Lol.

 

[jett]

I keep reading this sentence thinking it is wrong:



Isn't it were aware?

I may be wrong though but I can't get it out of my head lol

On topic, shitty behavior if so.

Brothers may be plural but Warner Brothers is a singular organization... I guess?

 

[Guri]

This just proves further Iron Galaxy isn't the only one that needs to be blamed. They were probably hired when Rocksteady realised every platform was in trouble and they needed help. And Warner didn't give the necessary resources for a better port.

In the end, all three are to be blamed for this mess.

 

[Funyarinpa]

How the hell could they not have known?

 

[RealityCheque]

To the surprise of nobody, publisher takes lazy, cheaper option.

 

[Wanderer5]

Not surprising. There no way a port this bad would have gone unnoticed before release, but course it was "good enough."

 

[ebullientprism]

That GIF in the OP is from Arkham origins. Isnt it?

 

[old manatee]

This just proves further Iron Galaxy isn't the only one that needs to be blamed. They were probably hired when Rocksteady realised every platform was in trouble and they needed help. And Warner didn't give the necessary resources for a better port.

In the end, all three are to be blamed for this mess.

All 3 definitely had a chance to warn consumers about what they were getting and decided to lie and pull a bait and switch instead.

 

[King_Moc]

that's despicable if true

It's despicable even if it isn't true.

 

[Xater]

If it weren't for Steam Refunds being introduced fairly recently there's a good chance that Warner may have never tried to actually fix this. They have one hell of a history of not giving a shit but now they have to be held accountable for it lest they want people not buying their game.

So basically thanks Valve for implementing a feature that apart from it's intended purpose tells developers not to half ass their games.

I hope refund policies like that get introduced everywhere, including consoles. Consumers need that safe net with exploitative companies like WB.

 

[Cels]

We don't need anonymous testers to tell us that they knew. There is no way they were surprised by any of this.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

If it weren't for Steam Refunds being introduced fairly recently there's a good chance that Warner may have never tried to actually fix this. They have one hell of a history of not giving a shit but now they have to be held accountable for it lest they want people not buying their game.

So basically thanks Valve for implementing a feature that apart from it's intended purpose tells developers not to half ass their games.

I have to agree. I'll bet other companies will be watching this situation closely because of the new refund policy. If Microsoft and Sony ever begin to offer refunds as well, it would change the entire industry IMO. You would see much longer development times, more delays but also better framerates and no tearing (customers hate that) at launch.

 

[Zakalwe]

ROFLMAO. Dying of laughter here. Let's avoid testing the game properly to protect ourselves from spoiler leaks of the DEEP AND IMPORTANT PLOT in a fucking Batman game. Lol.

Pretty much.

 

[DrGonzo615]

Eh...isnt this article kind of unnecessary? I mean, how could they not have been aware of the PC port problems?

 

[SapientWolf]

WB trying to dethrone EA as the worst game publisher I see.

EA's Origin has had refunds for awhile. Longer than Steam. I don't think EA deserves that reputation any more.

 

[stump sock]

ROFLMAO. Dying of laughter here. Let's avoid testing the game properly to protect ourselves from spoiler leaks of the DEEP AND IMPORTANT PLOT in a fucking Batman game. Lol.

ahha yeah this is the part I was going to bring up

brilliant plan, don't see how that could fail

 

[Slowdive]

Of course they knew.

One unexpected problem? The game’s secretive story. Rocksteady was deeply afraid of plot revelations being leaked ahead of release, said the same source, so traditional PC testing firms that are used to stress test games on different hardware configurations—one of the PC’s biggest hurdles—were avoided. From what I’m told, this is not an uncommon practice for major video games with story-heavy elements.

Hahaha.

 

[vinnygambini]

Brothers may be plural but Warner Brothers is a singular organization... I guess?

I guess, it just doesn't sound right to me

 

[mario_O]

Shocking news? Did anyone really think they didn't know?

 

[The Cowboy]

They released it anyway because, over the years its been done time and time again and nothing substantial was ever done about it afterwards due to the fact PC customers having very little options to show dissatisfaction with the products bar complaining on forums and customer reviews etc (and trying, usually in vain to get a refund if your lucky) - all of which don't really hit the bottom line all that much.

Due to it being ingrained into the publisher/s that releasing a broken ass game doesn't really affect the income all that much (if your a very big named title) they just didn't count on what Steam refunds would do, this is the big thing now - PC gamers have a legit recourse that DOES affect the bottom line, and it hurts the publishers big time.

They released this as is (broken ass mess of a thing) because they haven't experienced the backlash that actually hurts them financially before, now they have - hence why the game was pulled from sale.

 

[viveks86]

Our second source said Warner Bros. internal QA focused on bug-checking specifically at 720p resolutions. Most PC players with decent hardware expect to run games at 1080p or higher. If Warner Bros. was using 720p at as a benchmark, that helps explain the large performance gap.

One unexpected problem? The game’s secretive story. Rocksteady was deeply afraid of plot revelations being leaked ahead of release, said the same source, so traditional PC testing firms that are used to stress test games on different hardware configurations—one of the PC’s biggest hurdles—were avoided. From what I’m told, this is not an uncommon practice for major video games with story-heavy elements.

LMAO

 

[BaronMonstro]

Rocksteady was deeply afraid of plot revelations being leaked ahead of release, said the same source, so traditional PC testing firms that are used to stress test games on different hardware configurations—one of the PC’s biggest hurdles—were avoided.

I haven't played Knight yet, but from what I've heard the plot ain't nothing to write home about.

Did Rocksteady really value their plot so much as to jeopardize a version of their game in order to avoid leaks?

 

[SmokedMeat]

Of course they knew. Still surprised they released it in the state they did.

 

[TheMoon]

Well of course they knew. Every publisher knows their broken game is broken.

Why is this news? Ubisoft also knew AC Unity was a broken mess. The list goes on an on.

 

[Tizoc]

I mean it's kind of obvious, but it's nice to have sources stating it clearly and explicitly.

Publishers really need to be trained to just delay stuff. Delays are way, way better than a broken game.

tELL THAt to consumers.
You think GAF won't explode into an uproar and people taking up Pitchforks and torches if Atlus announced they delayed Persona 5 to 2016?

You are correct though; if a console/PC ver. of a game needs more time to work properly, then take all the time you need.

 

[Glitchesarecool]

All 3 definitely had a chance to warn consumers about what they were getting and decided to lie and pull a bait and switch instead.

Any of them doing that would have destroyed their business relations, especially Rocksteady and Iron Galaxy. Not to mention that it probably would have broken contract agreements.

 

[zoukka]

Of course they knew. Devs just don't notice that their game is broken one the release day