The rather unexpected Activision / Call of Duty news splurge continues with the announcement that Independent U.K. gaming pressure group GamersVoice are to report Activision to the Office of Fair Trading regarding what they describe as the ‘buggy and unfinished’ PlayStation 3 and PC versions of Black Ops.
GamersVoice issued an open letter to Activision which explains that they have been ‘inundated with complaints from people who have bought copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops.’ The letter asked Activision to reply within a month, they have not so the pressure group is proceeding with further action. Chris O’Regan, Head of Industry Relations at Gamers’ Voice, has said:
“As a result of their inaction we will test the might of government agencies against Activision. We can only hope this brings about some litigious action. These agencies do exist to protect our rights as consumers, let us see if they can fullfill their remit on this pressing issue.”
“GV wish to set an example with Activision to ensure games are not released in an unfinished state. If litigation is initiated, then a precedent would be set. In other words, publishers will have to reconsider releasing unfinished code in the future, in the UK at least.”
The full letter of complaint to Activision is below:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Gamers’ Voice is a consumer advice and lobbyist group that represents the video game consumer in the UK. As part of our remit we are tasked to ensure that the purchasers of video games are given a fair hearing when they have a particular issue with a game they have bought. It is for this reason we are contacting you now as we have been inundated with complaints from people who have bought copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops. They all concern the Playstation 3 console and PC versions of the game.
The complaints range from freezing when a new map is being loaded, locking up of PS3’s and PC’s while running the game, inability to log into multiplayer matches and connection drops mid game. None of this apparently applies to the Xbox 360 version, which is clearly the lead platform for the title.
It is quite obvious that you have focussed a majority of your QA on the Xbox 360 version with the assumption that the majority of people who play the game will do so on that system. Despite this, you have chosen to release it on multiple formats to maximise the revenue from sales of the game. By doing so evidence suggests that little attention was paid to the platforms with a smaller install base and hence a reduction in QA being employed for these versions.
It is now that your valuable customer base is bearing the brunt of this short sighted act of crass profiteering on your part, for that is exactly what this is. You have pushed out a game that is broken to the point of it not fulfilling its function as a piece of entertainment. Reading from the back of the game’s box, we quote:
“Epic single-player, acclaimed multiplayer and 4 player co-op Zombies”
What this tag line fails to have is the caveat that this only applies if you are playing the Xbox 360 version. None of this will be experienced by the purchaser of the PS3 and PC ports for they do not actually function as intended.
We therefore request that you offer by way of explanation to us why this has occurred and, more importantly, what are you going to do to recompense your customer base? You have one calendar month to respond to this letter. If no response is received or your retort fails to treat this issue with the gravity it deserves, we will be forced to take matters further.
Source: Gamersvoice / IncGamers
colmshan1990
About time a stand is taken.
The worst thing about this generation is the level of bugs.
Not just a Call of Duty problem, but if you’re the biggest, you’re going to affect more people.
Hope the case suceeds…
quinkill
agreed, just look at Fallout: New Vegas. Some people found it unplayable.
4lf13
I don’t mind buggy games like Fallout (although I’ve never played it myself, I hear that it’s as buggy as others). I do think it is irresponsible of the developers to release code that is better on Xbox than on PS3 and vice versa, despite being promised to be equally as good.
The only bug in Blops that actually bothers me is the connection issues because my internet connection is already quite slow (3 bars with the best of hosts) so I get disconnected at least once every five games.
solidsteven
FNV works pretty well for me. I only get the random crashes and the extreme lag sometimes. It is built better than Fallout 3.
TheUgandanGamer
Can safely say that i’ve personally not had any noticeable bugs/crashes on my copy of Fallout: New Vegas, despite playing at least 20+ Hours of it.
Unless it’s a crash or something which stops you from completing the game, then I’m not too fussed with bugs/glitches in the FO games, as for me – it makes it far more fun :P
DrNate86
I was watching my brother play it over Christmas and it crashed twice in the 20 mins I was sat there!
djdustb
I have racked up over 60 hours according to my save files, I would say the game locks up and forces me to reboot the PS3 at least 2-3 times each session.
It is hell, even FO3 was not this bad. That being said I love the game, any other game and I don’t think I could put up with it.
squashme
FO3 and New Vegas are the worst for bugs I booted up New Vegas and it froze when i was customizin my character ffs on my 1st play through its pathetic and Bethesda are still denyin that theyre are problem with games
gazzagb
I’d more blame Treyarch as it’s them that did all the coding for the game, hence it’s down to them to make sure it works. Although I agree that PS3 and PC gamers have been sold a broken game.
quinkill
Activision is the publisher though, they are the ones legally responsible for any consumer complaints about the game. Hence (as above) Gamers’ Voice sent the letter to Activision. It’s then up to Activision to then put pressure on the developer to fix these issues (i think).
gazzagb
Ah thanks. Well let’s hope Bobby gets on the phone to Treyarch asap!
waddo_89
QA = Quality Assurance, right?
kevatron400
Yep that’s right. Known more colloquially as ‘testing’.
quinkill
Good on them, I for one am very disappointed in the Multiplayer side of Black Ops. Not only for the glitches, frozen screens and repeated connection failures, but also the plethora of supposed updates that were meant to fix these issues (or so we were told). Granted things run a bit smoother than release, but these main issues still have not been addressed. I’ll be expressing my dissatisfaction by putting my foot down and refuse to buy future COD games (might rent them tho :P )
A2J7C
Thank’s a lot, i don’t touch my copy of the game because of that. They only want profits, as you can see because they are making the DLC… i’ve changed again to the Modern Warfare 2, but in the PS3 now it’s only Hacker’s… don’t know what do do :/
TheUgandanGamer
This will end soon… The hackers will be smited.
beeje13
I sold Black Ops yesterday for £31, so I’m happy that it only cost me £11, but I feel sorry for the poor soul who bought it.
doomsday619
Where did you sell it? I want to get rid of mine and thts a great price to get the money would go to a good cause dead space 2.
beeje13
Play.com, I undercut at £30.99, the other sellers are selling a couple of pounds more than that. 50p for the packaging and 96p for the 1st class post.
besidavi
Gamestation gave me £33 (credit) for it on Wednesday. Shop assistant remarked they were doing the best trade-in price at the moment.
beeje13
If I would have know about that gamestation price, I would have gone there!
rht992
always liked gamers voice. a good bunch with a good cause. remember hearing a interview with the head of relations a while back on gamespot. lovely guy
scavenga
Argh, whiners. Do people even understand the amount of code it takes to make a game work at all? Bugs are annoying, but fully understandable IMHO. People are spoiled rotten.
John Malcolm
Bugs may be fully understandable, but with the amount of money thrown at games like Black Ops, they should be few and far between (and then patched quickly), not left to fester and give a (great) game a bad name.
Also, online server support etc should be much better that it is for Black Ops. The amount of money made (especially on release day) etc etc. An old argument, I know, but valid I think.
Raider197
Well the 360 version works fine, so there’s no excuse for not working as hard with the code on other systems.
To be honest, to say people are spoiled rotten if they expect something they spend their hard-earned money on to work on an almost fundamental level is pretty ignorant.
quinkill
I think people do understand, it’s just they expect games to run well on all platforms…not just xbox 360. Is it reasonable to sell a product on ps3 that’s inferior to the 360 version? I don’t think so, but hey if Bobby gets praise from the shareholders and his tidy bonus then sure some people are ‘spoiled rotten’
Boomshanks
People are spoiled rotten because when they buy a game they expect it to work properly? Sorry I fail to see your logic.
scavenga
Sorry, me and my big mouth. It’s probably because I’m so old that I’m still impressed by such things as cell phones you can watch video on, and that you can play online with mates – bugs or no bugs. Whine all you want, I apologize.
Klart
If a game nets more money than the biggest movie blockbuster ever, than you can expect it to work properly.
gernboes
if a person/firm working as a software developer would turn in code as buggy as some games released nowadays as a finished product, he/they would never see any money for it and probably loose their customer… game developers just are in the lucky position that they dont have to deal with a single customer who also has to approve the product before they buy it…
fattyuk
Or activision could just cancel the online section of the game :| as they can do as it’s in there small print :|
quinkill
coz that’ll make the consumers happy. good one!
Samiro05
Nice :)