How Publishers Exploit Your Confusion And Your FOMO (The Jimquisition)
Added 2019-02-04 14:52:11 +0000 UTCAs Electronic Arts produces a spreadsheet to let customers when they can play Anthem, The Jimquisition takes a look at the concept of the confusopoly, where companies try to befuddle their customers on purpose.
We also look at how they're exploiting FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out - in order to guarantee those confusing sales.
Comments
Among the other depraved sins of this kind of pre-order pressure, it's also a kind of stealth pay-to-win. "You don't want to be one of those 'newbs' who doesn't know where to go or what to do or the optimum loadout for maxed DPS when you start playing, do you? Good luck finding a team that's willing to put up with the burden of your inexperience if you go the 'peasant' route, loser" is the not-entirely-subtle message of most multiplayer games that go this route- even ones that forsake the PvP aspect entirely. Or, given the increasingly crowded release schedule and possibility that the game you bought will turn out to be a flop because you were pressured into buying it before seeing a review, you could just get to it right when the population of the servers is starting to ebb, which is always fun. Barely have they got your $50 ($60... $75... Do I hear $100?) before they're telling you you should have put your money away for the next "unmissable" experience.
Kraken
2019-02-06 19:30:07 +0000 UTCAnother reason I've bought something like 3 games in the past 8 years.... too many shell games.
Trevor Bond
2019-02-05 11:45:55 +0000 UTCYou got the right one, at least. xD... But yeah, it's getting silly.
Anthony Blanker
2019-02-05 01:59:50 +0000 UTCI don't know if it was intentionally confusing to boost sales or just a mark of how convoluted Kingdom Hearts (and the naming scheme) is, but I had some FOMO trying to buy Kingdom Hearts 3 this past week. It's been a looong time since I played 1 or 2 on my PS2, and I've never played any of the other games, so I wanted to re-play all the games available on the PS4. There's a "Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far" disk and a "Kingdom Hearts: All In One Package" digital version and there's also Final Mix and 1.5 Remix and 2.5 Remix and 1.5+2.5 and I got so fucking confused that I just closed my eyes, bought "All in One Package" and am now hoping that I'm not missing out on any story. Not that the story is possible to follow, but I'd like to give it a try, at least. And I consider myself pretty good at untangling things and making logical decisions, but I just couldn't follow this one at all.
Rachel Sandler
2019-02-04 22:04:11 +0000 UTCI feel like Anthem is going to bomb. Hard. And Bioware will suffer for it while EA learns nothing.
Dr. Judge, Private Eye
2019-02-04 21:58:07 +0000 UTCAll this BS is one of the reasons I almost exclusively play single player games.
Aaron Hatton
2019-02-04 21:22:43 +0000 UTCGood lord. So there's only one way to play Anthem on February 15th. 2 ways to play 10 hours on Feb. 15th. And everyone gets to play on the 22nd. What a freaking stupid mess. There's more clarity with Kickstarter campaigns. Also, congrats on the title belts. And I loved that ending. :D Someone throw Jim a life preserver! Save the belts! ;)
Perpetual Noob
2019-02-04 18:06:18 +0000 UTCAnd I'm already drunk.
Perpetual Noob
2019-02-04 18:04:01 +0000 UTC^ As the marvelous Mrs. Krabappel would say... "Ha!"
Freakish Uproar
2019-02-04 17:20:19 +0000 UTCMy two takeaways from this video:<br>That is too much effort to obfuscate a consumer.<br>Do not participate in a drinking game where you take a shot for the number of gold editions a Ubisoft game has.
noxamillion
2019-02-04 16:44:35 +0000 UTC
