froghawk on 6/11/2016 at 03:20
You do realize that most major games for a while have had that, right? Including DXMD
Nameless Voice on 6/11/2016 at 04:07
Really? I see no mention of it on the Steam page.
Sulphur on 6/11/2016 at 04:23
Yeah, most recent Square Enix games have Denuvo. Lots of publishers have jumped onto it as a copy-protection solution because it's notoriously hard to crack. For the end user, it's sort of seamless -- until it can't communicate with the server at game launch and asks you to do a stupid crypto key copy paste from a website to verify you're not a filthy pirate.
Nameless Voice on 6/11/2016 at 10:41
Still sounds like reason to at least not buy the game at launch in case it doesn't work right.
Sulphur on 6/11/2016 at 10:45
Denuvo doesn't break a game as such, and to its credit it has been seamless for the most part. It's an anti-tamper system that encrypts and decrypts game files on the fly with a crypto key; I'm not sure how often it needs to regenerate the key, but the process intermittently required server connectivity for Rise of the Tomb Raider and Mad Max, because I got the error message for those a couple of times. Hasn't happened since, but if that's a deal breaker, you'll want to stay clear. You'll almost certainly need to be connected to the internet for the first time you launch a game with it.
Nameless Voice on 6/11/2016 at 11:30
Apparently it's already been used in three games that I've played and I never had any issues with, so I guess it's harmless enough.
Still, extra DRM is always a red flag for me and makes me at least need to read up exactly what the thing does and if people have had issues with it before purchase.
Beleg Cúthalion on 6/11/2016 at 19:05
Quote Posted by Yakoob
The problem with pre-orders is they really serve no purpose.
I was told by an SE employee that they are a means to ensure first week sales. Apparently no one bothers how well a game sells after two or three weeks and pre-orders guarantee an immediately high (well, hopefully) sales figure.
Pyrian on 7/11/2016 at 03:08
Wouldn't they technically reduce first week sales? Since they're "week -x" sales? :P
It's an interesting bit of circular logic. First week sales are usually the bulk of a big-budget game's sales. Therefore, executives make decisions about how well a game did after just a couple weeks. Therefore, only the first week matters. Therefore, offer a discount to get more people to pre-order! You might get less money, but if you get it at the right time, your sequel can go forward...
I actually suspect that pre-orders increase revenue, because some portion of people who pre-order would've either missed the release date by accident (when was that coming out again?) or happenstance (too busy - new baby). Once they've missed the release date, maybe they'll buy it at full price later... Or maybe they won't buy it all (terrible reviews/friend's experiences - the most frequent criticism of pre-orders), or just buy it when it's discounted.
faetal on 7/11/2016 at 13:46
I think a lot of opening week sales are listed as "first week plus pre-orders".
Tony_Tarantula on 7/11/2016 at 15:37
Quote Posted by Pyrian
Wouldn't they technically reduce first week sales? Since they're "week -x" sales? :P
It's an interesting bit of circular logic. First week sales are usually the bulk of a big-budget game's sales. Therefore, executives make decisions about how well a game did after just a couple weeks. Therefore, only the first week matters. Therefore, offer a discount to get more people to pre-order! You might get less money, but if you get it at the right time, your sequel can go forward...
I actually suspect that pre-orders increase revenue, because some portion of people who pre-order would've either missed the release date by accident (when was that coming out again?) or happenstance (too busy - new baby). Once they've missed the release date, maybe they'll buy it at full price later... Or maybe they won't buy it all (terrible reviews/friend's experiences - the most frequent criticism of pre-orders), or just buy it when it's discounted.
Technically. In reality the revenue matching principle means you get to recognize the sale for the period in which you deliver the product, hence it gets recognized under week 1 sales.
