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
gaffers101
I wish anybody the best of luck taking on one of the big players in the games industry.
TURRICAN-808
What PlayStation UK QA dept need is a seal of quality like Nintendo had with the NES and SNES years ago. I hope the decision goes in favour of the accusers
hazelam
i think nintendo could do with that seal of quality back as well, but they won’t, they’ve got their mountains of shovelware making them shedloads of money, nintendo it seems have long ago stopped caring about quality, vitality sensor anyone?
gamerindia
What bugs ? My version didn’t have any .
BigCheese
I’m glad we have someone standing up for the people who matter; the consumers. Who spend their hard-earned money on something they expect to work everytime it’s played. But I can’t see this one stand changing anything, next year CoD will come out, buggier and worse than ever before, but it will still break records and everyone complaining about bugs will still have bought a copy. But it is wrong, it’s not fair trade at all.
hazelam
i hope something actually comes of this because for far too long the publishers have only been concerned about themselves and their profits and not about their duty to their customers.
it seems like quite a few publishers see the consumer as the least important part of their business, and that is just wrong.
they’re quick to claim ownership of the software on the disc and how they should be entitled to continued profit from it even after we’ve paid for our copy, yet they abdicate responsibility when something goes wrong.
it’s not like activision weren’t given a chance, from the sounds of it they had a month to respond, but chose not to, now it’s in the hands of a government department, let’s hope they actually take this complaint seriously.
fattyuk
Jesus Christ!
A government department!
I’m pretty certain they’ve gotta better things to do than to investigate into a few peoples call of duty game has been stopped midgame
cam_manutd
When a company is biased in production I think government involvement is more than necessary…
fattyuk
Well that’s very sad.
hazelam
so fattyuk, why exactly do you have a problem with the idea that activision might be held accountable for their mess or that the consumer might get some recompense for being sold a shoddy product?
it obviously bothers you enough to start attacking other people here, which is pretty much all you’ve been doing in these comments.
you have shares in activision or something?
StevenHibs
I hope something comes of this
fattyuk
Nothing will. A dozen people on this site. + Few hundreds of other people complaining on other sites. Compared to the millions who just buy it play enjoy it.
hol
Whilst it’s good some body is taking a stand, I think it’s a little too late! Let’s face it, COD has had the same issues since Modern Warfare, nothing has changed, people still rush out to get it regardless, complain loudly and then, hypocritically, buy the DLC, knowing full well it’ll change nothing. Still, I suppose we can live in hope that one day, they ‘might’ get it working properly? ;)
fattyuk
Well said. Bout hypocritically buying the dlc.
fattyuk
In all due respect.
How old is everybody that’s complaining about this?
DrNate86
I think you have made your point now. Repeatedly. And often quite rudely.
fattyuk
what’s that got to di with anything lol
BIGAL-1992
Your way of pointing out your opinion is starting to wind people up and is now causing offense at the same time. Neither of which will be tolerated here.
solidsteven
As Al said you are starting to annoy people. Your posts on this subject could be classed as spam.I know the ironic Solidstven complaing about spam thing. you insulted Jonny B for no reason and he was just expressing his view on the matter. I think a quarter of the comments are by you and that is enough.You are coming close to breaking TSA’s Number 1 rule. So please try to refrain from posting more comments as it is spam and it is annoying people. Even i didn’t post this many comments during my darker days.(well at least not on one article.)
JoshHood
“In all due respect.”
Riiiight.
fattyuk
well I apologise.
I did noticethat nobody actually answered my question.not to worry
X
Charmed_Fanatic
Nice to see some kind of action being done against it
fattyuk
there’s nothing happening lol someones wrote a letter, which won’t do anything.
Its abit like me writing to president Obama and asking him to stop the war.
Nothing will come of it,
jonny_bolton
So all the anti-war protesters should just shut-up then? We should have one totalitarian state where difference of opinion doesn’t exist, where all the power is at the top?
It looks as though you’re sat refreshing this page hoping someone replies to you, or says something contrary to your opinion, so you can make a little remark (based on your one experience) quite clearly in the attempts of getting a rise out of people.
I wouldn’t have minded had it been more of a debate but the fact of the matter is you haven’t once countered a point with a reasonable answer. The breadth of your replies stem from “it didn’t happen to me” to “stop whining”. It’s frankly boring.
You’ve made yourself heard, you didn’t manage to get a rise out of anyone (even though you resorted to a rather embarrassing display of name calling – and while we’re on the matter didn’t have the decency to reply to the comments calling you out) so just move on now please.
cam_manutd
Nice to see a voice for gamers…I have a PS3 and to be honest we get some games that are half playable with the likes of COD4 and BLOPS being the obvious ones with MW2 now hacked as well :/