ShroudedDarkness said:
Ok, going as far as to call all of this a boycott is a bit ludicrous. Capcom put forth a product to a target market that wasn't there with an massively inflated sales expectation; consumers from the old target market didn't want the product and DmC failed to find a new market since their target market didn't exist in the first place; and so the product didn't sell anywhere near sales expectations. That's basic economics, not boycotting. Yes, there were small pockets of the fanbase that took all of this THAT seriously, but for most it was "Call me when they give us Devil May Cry 5" upon which they promptly ignored the game, as is their right. Besides, boycotting is completely legal so it doesn't matter either way. Fans told Capcom they wouldn't support them if they went ahead with the reboot and Capcom didn't listen. So some fans encouraged others not to buy the game MOSTLY through using Capcom and NInja Theory's horrid PR campaign against them. If Capcom and NInja Theory had handled their PR with the slightest bit of competence, this wouldn't have been an issue. Everyone knows Metacritic's user score is a joke. That site is full of trolls. I don't get what you mean by "Highest reviewer score". DmC ranked lower than Devil May Cry 1 and Devil May Cry 3 SE. Metascore bombing, trolling, flaiming, etc. are merely symptoms of a broader issue at this point. EVERYBODY handled this poorly: Capcom didn't have a plan outside "provoke fans" for the first 2 years and near the end just kinda gave up on marketing their own damn game; Ninja Theory wasn't used to such antagonism and understandably, but still unprofessionally, lashed back at fans; the Devil May Cry fanbase literally tore itself to shreds like a bunch of crazed Orangutans and created such a toxic environment that people just wanted the game to ship and be done and over with; and journalists, professional or not, misconstrued several things that both parties said, thus creating a further rift between the fanbase and the developers. DmC exposed just how much animosity there is between consumers and developers; how poor communication between the two are; and kinda showed that, for all the strides that the video game industry has made, it is still an immature industry. Hell, SEVERAL titles have been showing this recently. This entire fiasco has been an embarrassment for the entire gaming community and unless everyone learns from this experience and grows up, DmC 2/Devil May Cry 5 and other games down the line will create yet another embarrasing fiasco. |
DMC has the highest reviewed metacritic this year as far as hack n slash titles go. I am not comparing it to its predecessors but rather to all the high budget hack n slash titles coming out this year. Capcom and Ninja Theory never used a horrid campaign to reboot the game, so I really don't know what you're saying there. They were never handed the engine for the game but rather started it from scratch and stayed true to the action and even beefed up the animations to be more fluid and realistic. The only major difference was that the lock on and auto feature were taken away . As an old DMC fan the change perplexed me at first but it also piqued my interest how Ninja Theory would take things. They didn't steer anyone in the wrong direction. DMC isn't that great of a title to be holding on such a high pedestal. Outside of DMC3 the entire franchises story was bland and weak. Dante was just a cool looking character until three where he pretty much met his match in the prequel against his brother. You can say its fair but in truth it was quite childish, but I am sure plenty of industry professionals would not agree with you. Capcom never fucked gamers over intentionally with this game and DMC4 got its fair share of fan bitching but of course everyone knows Hideki Kamiya left the newly started Platinum Games so thats half the reason DMC4 sucked ass. Ninja Theory never attacked the fanbase , they defended themselves from threats and actually took to heart the complaints consumers had and added multiple models of dante in the game. They never responded without being provoked and had great respect for the way the game was handled before them. Want to know what the problem is? A fair amount of online otaku fanboys got pissed when a Japanese title was handed to a western complain plain and simple.