UK Gov -- Fix Your Games it's the LAW (Consumer rights change in the UK 2014)

[scottykad]

so this law doesn't come into effect until 2014..is this why rebirth was rushed out in such a mess?

[ragod]

Hmmmm.....may not bode well for smaller developers and could well drive some good and exiting projects into the big greedy corporations.

I doubt this will effect X Rebirth as many from the UK had certain protections in place and have already had their refunds, while others like me have stayed with Rebirth knowing egosoft will first fix the game and then give us some extra content for the game as they often have in the past.

Some wrongly believe that if it is released in the USA then the company wont have to cough up a refund, however the UK has a double barrelled shotgun when applying legislation, We can use UK law and if not resolved, then go to the European courts, which as many know, can squeeze billions out of mighty corporations such as Google and Microsoft, if the don't obey laws set down anywhere in Europe.

The one saving grace for small developers like egosoft, is that they have a proven and enviable track record of fixing and repairing there product to a higher standard that was originally intended, and this new legislation will allow some flexibility within the law for this to be allowed, without affecting a consumers right to demand a refund from whoever supplied the product.

I think X Rebirth has demonstrated egosofts commitment to repairing the product and I also cannot see the new legislation being used retrospectively.

downside to this business model is by the time thier game is ready or of a reasonable standard its in the bargain bins for £4.99

maybe this hasnt dawned on them ?

Except everyone that was planning on buying the game bought it at full price when it hit the streets. And if the price goes down, people who never planned on buying the game will give it a go, much as I have with the dozens of games I've bought on Steam for £5 that I never would have touched at full price.

Digital code sold with little to no reproduction costs is still profit.

The question though, is did you look at any reviews for those 5 dollar games you bought?

I myself have bought a number of cheepo games, but never have I EVER bought anything with a rating so low as XR's and that is not going to get better as time goes on.

Hell, they dont even have a single positive review that they can plaster at the top of their page to try to fool people into thinking that reviewers liked it...

Unless they resort to some silly stuff

"Best game I have ever played 10/10!"
-Some dude on metacritic

"A worthy Successor to the X franchise!"
-Chixbanger7042

[LV]

so this law doesn't come into effect until 2014..is this why rebirth was rushed out in such a mess?

Yes, As the maniacal Bernd slowly spun anti clockwise in his executive chair, stroking his cat, he knew he must order his minions to rush it out in advance of this dastardly law that would end his pursuit of his own volcanic lair.

[Tasogie]

Jesus this forum gets worse an worse.....last time I saw this many tears was listening to the chavs on ITV saying it wasn't fair people dont like their hate an brutality on old people....

[pjknibbs]

Jesus this forum gets worse an worse.....last time I saw this many tears was listening to the chavs on ITV saying it wasn't fair people dont like their hate an brutality on old people....

And you think posts like this improve things? I beg to differ. It applies whether you're pro- or anti-Rebirth: please post constructively, or not at all.

[Tasogie]

Fair enough, I am just fed up with seeing these people scream ill sue an demand this n that when they an everyone els knows it isnt going to happen. The forum is something of a cess pit for those of us who enjoy Ergosoft games an we get abused by this lot for daring to enjoy something.

[BigBANGtheory]

What is missing isn't so much a change in law, its an easy facility to dispute digital media with a trader if you've been effected by its quality, backed up by an independent ombudsmen service.

Ease of access is the key.

This is why as a consumer I choose to shop at Amazon, its not always the cheapest but they are generally pretty reasonable about these types of things.

Personally although I have endured what I would consider unacceptable technical support with respect to XR and its performance problems, I haven't gone down the refund route as I do see light at the end of the tunnel. I can wait longer for the changes and am prepared to give Egosoft a chance to see good on its promise to listen to feedback (and do something about it). However that is my decision you can't expect everyone to be that understanding, there will be many that have a very legitimate reason to return XR. What I would say though is if you want to do that ffs get on and do it, don't do nothing and then moan about it you'll get no sympathy for that.

In fact that reminds me, I have a promise to keep to write to Klemens Kundratitz concerning his companies technical support.

[CARISMBLUE]

In my opinion there must be something for consumers on the digital market. The digital market still gets ignored most of the time. But games are hard to handle. It's not as easy as buying a car. All cars drive on the same streets but games run on many different computers and doing QA for all possible system configurations can get pretty expensive. I'm just saying that games are hard to handle except console games or other games on fixed sand boxes. The only thing are features. These can be determined before the release. But all promised features of X-Rebirth are there. So nothing to argue about. In my opinion such laws can't do much about bugs and performance problems. I also think that such laws would make it even harder for small companies to deliver games because of the costs of QA.

But something should be taken into account. When you buy a car you have the option to do a test drive to check it's handling and so on. On games you are still buying stuff blind. The only option is waiting for community reviews of the game. But even this is not as good as testing it yourself. Because forums are always full of negative feedback and almost no good feedback. And that someone is angry because of low FPS doesn't mean that your PC will suffer from the same problem. There should be demos for every game that would be something into the right direction.

[Nosscar]

Fair enough, I am just fed up with seeing these people scream ill sue an demand this n that when they an everyone els knows it isnt going to happen. The forum is something of a cess pit for those of us who enjoy Ergosoft games an we get abused by this lot for daring to enjoy something.

+10.


not gonna break forum rule, not gonna break forum rules, not gonna break forum rules, 10 deep breaths, chill, I am ok now.

Know exactly how you feel.


And CARISMBLUE :
Good and valid post.:

[Varek Raith]

People are tired of getting screwed. It's why such laws are being introduced/expanded in the EU. The game industry has been doing this crap for the past 10+ years. I'm amused they didn't think it'll come back and bite them in the butt.

[Nanook]

Fair enough, I am just fed up with seeing these people scream ill sue an demand this n that when they an everyone els knows it isnt going to happen. The forum is something of a cess pit for those of us who enjoy Ergosoft games an we get abused by this lot for daring to enjoy something.

From what I can see, the abuse is coming from certain individuals on both sides. However, stop discussing the people who post, even in general. Keep it to discussing the game and related issues, or don't post. You've been told this before, so heed it or deal with the consequences. Anything more to say on the subject, take it to PM.

[Nosscar]

People are tired of getting screwed. It's why such laws are being introduced/expanded in the EU. The game industry has been doing this crap for the past 10+ years. I'm amused they didn't think it'll come back and bite them in the butt.

I agree, but like the above post states, simple solution is a small demo first, or go the track of public Alphas or betas before release.

What I disagree with is the constant, useless, hate posts we see on this and the other forum. This does not help or benefit anyone, neither the players or non players.
Constant post about " how bad" how crap" ect is becoming as repetitive as "show me your wares".

( and before I get a warning: The first paragraph is on topic agreeing to a post on consumer law.

The second paragraph is disagreeing with ways that people dissatisfied with consumer law might express themselves. Also on topic.)

[tuareg]

the problem is that as ego still sell it with lies for full price, if the hate stops here and on steam there will be more victims...

[BigBANGtheory]

Well you can't sue anyone in this instance, not from the UK at least all you can do is make a claim against your losses against the trader or get your credit card company to reverse the charges.

If you used a debit card to say a foreign trader / website your options are not a lot really, you is stuffed. Learn your lesson and don't do it again

Before you fly off the handle though, consider that whilst X Rebirth holds many parallels to Silent Hunter 5 (finally in a playable state after 4yrs modding by a dedicated fanbase), Egosoft has not abandoned support for its product nor heavily discounted it unlike Ubisoft.

[BugMeister]

EA games have a lot to answer for, as far as I'm concerned..
Battlefield 4 has cost me over £80 and, to date, even with numerous
patches and updates, I have yet to play this without crashes, and glitches

- despite having to use the awful Firefox browser, and upgrading
both of my graphics cards from AMD6870 to 7870 crossfire

- this really is a dreadful situation, and I'm not alone in thinking this
- their forums are full of horror stories and complaints..

- EA really are the pits!!