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Shadow of War: WB games profiting from a dead developer?

BuccaneerBuccaneer Member UncommonPosts: 654
edited September 2017 in General Gaming
I've never agreed with the idea of micro-transaction loot boxes in single player games and would always avoid these type of games until they end up in the bargain bin.  WB games have been leading the charge for micro-transactions in single player games usually found in FTP games.

It's just came to light that one of the Monolith devs working on Shadow of War died of cancer and WB Games would have some day one DLC as a tribute to this dev, with some of the profits going to his family.  At first this looked like a great gesture from WB until you look at the small print.

$3.50 of the $5 DLC would initially go to the devs family and in the small print it states unfortunately some states of the USA all of the money would be going direct to WB, but what the small print or WB games have not stated publicly is if the DLC is brought outside the USA all of the proceeds go to WB Games and none to the family.

I never thought in my life time I would see a game company trying to profit from the death of one of their employees.  Something to think about if your were thinking to support this game.

The Official Trailer




TotalBicuit's response




SidAlpha's response 




Edit: Just wanted to add since I've calmed down a bit since my initial reaction that it's important to remember that there is a family in mourning over a lost loved one (thanks to SidAlpha's video).




Post edited by Buccaneer on
Gdemami

Comments

  • lahnmirlahnmir Member LegendaryPosts: 5,041
    Surprised it took someone over here this long to start a thread on it. My jaw hit the floor when I read this, I am all for charity and tributes but this one REALLY leaves a bad taste, even the 3.50 out of 5 dollars gave me a nasty feeling. Bungie and their fund rising doesn't seem so bad now.

    Then again, like I've said before when discussing the Bungie fund raising, they could also have done nothing, that would have been less effort. Still, no, not good.

    /Cheers,
    Lahnmir
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    It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.

    It is just huge resource waste....'

    Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer

  • adam_noxadam_nox Member UncommonPosts: 2,148
    Valve takes 1.50 of the money.  Some states disallow such setups, so I don't see how they could have done it differently.  Get outraged over something real or give directly to the family.
    SBFord[Deleted User]ConstantineMerusGdemami
  • AlbatroesAlbatroes Member LegendaryPosts: 7,671
    adam_nox said:
    Valve takes 1.50 of the money.  Some states disallow such setups, so I don't see how they could have done it differently.  Get outraged over something real or give directly to the family.
    States sure, but the point is more to a global. The family only gets that much within certain areas, namely US connected territories, but globally, that's a lot of money going strictly to WB on this DLC. They could've easily donated the 3.50 equivalent on each purchase to compensate for that but there's no mention that they will.
    laseritBuccaneerGdemamiPhry
  • MightyUncleanMightyUnclean Member EpicPosts: 3,531
    I mean, they could have done nothing at all.  How much are you guys sending to his family?
    SBFordSpottyGekkoaliven[Deleted User]GorweConstantineMerusGdemamijimmywolf
  • BuccaneerBuccaneer Member UncommonPosts: 654
    WB should have been honest and upfront about the sales outside of the USA.  Nowhere in the promotional material for the DLC was this info mentioned.  They only admitted to it when called out on Twitter.   

    I have to agree with @Albatroes and TotalBiscuit that WB could have doused any fires before they're started by stating they would match the $3.50 donation on any purchase outside the US.
    laseritMrMelGibsonGdemami
  • BuccaneerBuccaneer Member UncommonPosts: 654
    edited September 2017
    I mean, they could have done nothing at all.  How much are you guys sending to his family?
    Like I stated in my original post it was a great gesture until it was found out it was limited to most of the states in the US, but this was hidden initially.  So people buying the DLC outside the US with the expectation of some of the proceeds going to the family were misinformed. If WB was upfront with this info I wouldn't have made this thread.

    Edit: Just wanted to add watch the above official trailer.  Nowhere in the trailer you got the impression that outside of the US was excluded.  Even the small print at the end of the trailer  didn't mention this fact.  The more cynical person could conclude this was an intentional act to gain the company more profit from the goodwill of their costumers.
    Post edited by Buccaneer on
    Gdemami
  • laseritlaserit Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
    IMHO

    If you profit from something it's not charity, It's just another angle to make a buck.


    Give the guys family 100% of the proceeds.

    Buccaneer[Deleted User]MrMelGibsonIselinvito11GdemamiPhry

    "Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

  • MrMelGibsonMrMelGibson Member EpicPosts: 3,033
    edited September 2017
    Rhoklaw said:
    LOL! If game developers didn't care about profit, they wouldn't be using F2P microtransactions in every aspect of their games. While one would expect them to be honorable in regards to a fundraiser for a recently deceased employee, I don't know the intricacies of how this fund raiser is setup to state whether WB is profiting from this DLC or not. 
    Considering they are making 100% profit from all sales outside the USA.  I'd say it's fair to agree they are profiting from his death.  Of course, this is only my opinion. 
    vito11Gdemami
  • BruceYeeBruceYee Member EpicPosts: 2,556
    Not unexpected behavior from WB Games.
  • AlbatroesAlbatroes Member LegendaryPosts: 7,671
    BruceYee said:
    Not unexpected behavior from WB Games.
    I will agree. The whole PC Arkham Knight situation was so disgusting. They didn't bother fixing it for pc and still tried to make a profit off of a broken product that they admit they will never fix. So something like this I guess isn't surprising.
  • IselinIselin Member LegendaryPosts: 18,719
    DMKano said:
    laserit said:
    IMHO

    If you profit from something it's not charity, It's just another angle to make a buck.


    Give the guys family 100% of the proceeds.



    Or better yet in addition to 100% - match all the proceeds with a direct donation from the company - this was your employee, take care of his family.


    Or better yet do it quietly without any fanfare instead of using it to get a positive PR hit. You know? Sort of like the way the rest of us do our charitable donations.
    SBFordAlbatroesMrMelGibsonlaseritimmodiumConstantineMerus
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  • ConstantineMerusConstantineMerus Member EpicPosts: 3,338
    Monetizing the dead, profiting from a tragedy. If they could, they would've took the %100, since that won't work, they are just taking a cut. 

    Of course this would help the family as well. But it's not a noble act by WB, it's just business. 

    MrMelGibson
    Constantine, The Console Poster

    • "One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves." - Carl Jung
  • MaurgrimMaurgrim Member RarePosts: 1,324
    Would be much nicer if they donated the full DLC price to the family for the first month of the DLC release.
    ConstantineMerusMrMelGibsonGdemami
  • HellscreamHellscream Member UncommonPosts: 98
    all the money should go to the family WB should not get a dime trying to profit off of someones death is complete BS imo
  • jimmywolfjimmywolf Member UncommonPosts: 292
    everyone got a opinion, everyone believe they know what "best"  truthfully the guys dead, it don't mater if we agree disagree with anything so your options are simple.

    A) buy the game, ignore all dlc.

    B) buy the game dlc an know that your helping his family even if just a little.

    C) do nothing since that what 99% of random rants are.

    D) make a difference an donate whatever you want to whoever you want but don't white knight go on about it.



  • PhryPhry Member LegendaryPosts: 11,004
    I think i would have had far more respect for WB for doing this, if they made it for all sales, not just the NA ones, as NA sales are just a fraction of those made globally, that global sales go 100% to WB and not even 1% to the charity in this case, it makes it very very misleading, how many people have bought this thinking they were helping do something good who might not otherwise have bought it, how cheated they must feel that their generosity is being abused in such a manner, its no different to the various chuggers with their collection boxes after a day of collecting, emptying the contents into their own pockets rather than giving them to the charities they supposedly represent. So not cool with this.  :#
    Gdemami
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