EA says "no one's getting access [to Sims 4] ahead of release" for reviews

[lord_of_flood]

vivster said:

Smear-Gel said:

vivster said:
Someone help me. I'm trying to think up reasons how post release reviews are bad for the consumer but I can't think of any.

In the movie industry, denying pre-release reviews generally mean you expect it to review pretty poorly, and don't want those poor reviews dissuading people from getting it in the first place, but rather see the bad reviews after they pay for the movie. I see no reason to believe this isn't happening for the same reason.

Well yes. The implications are always bad if you do it but it's not bad for consumers if a game is bad. They can just not buy it.

I see two kinds of gamers here. The ones that cannot wait for a game and want it so badly that they'll pay upfront or get it on day one. They obviously don't give a shit about reviews because they know they will like it regardless.

Then there are the ones that are not confident enough in the game that they need to see a review first. But does it matter when the review will be released? No. If they wanted the game badly they would get it on day one. If they need a review first, they can wait.

So I can't really think of a scenario where a post release review is hurting consumers.

I think there's a subset of consumers in that first category that kind of get caught up in the pre-order craze but aren't actually blind about it. Just really gullible because they're following a trend. They could be swayed by reviews, but when you limit reviews to after release, you don't give those consumers the opportunity to learn about the game, so they get sucked into their idiocy and make a $60 mistake.

So yeah, I think some consumers can be harmed by post release (or even release day) reviews. I prefer it when review embargos are lifted before a game's release, but that doesn't really happen.