I was pretty disappointed that the expansion was $2. There was a clear implication at release that more levels were coming. The more levels was in response to criticism that the game was too short. The developer then has basically doubled-down on their initial communication failures and shouldn't be surprised by the reaction. There were no explicit promises that new levels would be free, but even a mention of additional levels coming without using signal words like "chapter" or "expansion" implies free. They should have called the initial level pack "Part 1" and had a little "Included in Purchase" tag on it. Additional Parts labeled "Coming Soon". (There are myriad ways other developers handle this -- they didn't need to look hard to find an established way.) Bottom line, there are established ways to communicate and set expectations for additional content and whether it will be free or not. They did not follow them and are feeling the understandable backlash from a failure to set expectations. Personally, I'm not buying the expansion because I'd rather just replay the initial levels since it's been so long and save my $2 for something else. I'm also not going to re-review the app. I'll let my old 4-star review stand (I thought the initial levels were a poor value even if very, very well done and cool).
So you're saying people who have a problem with paying for the updates didn't hear about this kerfuffle in the same percentages as people who are fine with the updates? Ok, nice theory, though I don't know if it's backed up by facts. In any case, it's hard for me to get upset about some haters' voices getting drowned out, especially when in my opinion they were already disrupting the sample group initially by basing their ratings on their opinion that the update shouldn't cost money rather than on the quality of the game. Initially when the update came out, almost all the reviews were negative reviews from people protesting the paid update. I don't have proof of this, but I believe that the current ratio of good to bad reviews is actually a lot closer to a true representation of what people think of the game than how it initially was.
The people who heard about it are mostly people like us who follow gaming sites. People like us probably already spend something like £20+ a month on the app store and so £1.50 for an expansion is no big deal. Meanwhile the average casual app store customer probably has no idea what's going on.
Ok I think it would be a good idea to write a blog or something to give our side of things maybe. But if you've got any questions I'll answer them here as well.
I bought Monument Valley at launch but I didn't play it until this morning. This quote from the Kotaku review sums up my feelings on the game nicely: "There are no doubt those who will be put off by Monument Valley's brevity. Yes, it's only an hour long, but it's one of the very finest hours, and the value of such a thing is incalculable." It might sound silly to some but for me Monument Valley felt more like a dream than a game. £1.49 to experience more of this is incredible value.
I don't really think you guys are at fault. It's hard to predict what sort of reaction some simple release notes and a single tweet would cause. My problem is more with media reaction and the hypocrisy of a bunch of angry gamers in comments. But my question is, how many 1 star reviews were there? After I saw the TA article I checked the UK app store and only saw two and so the whole media reaction seems massively blown out of proportion to me. More 1 star reviews turned up later but there's no knowing if they were a result of the media coverage or not. It just seems like a lot of media coverage and angry comments over little proof?
Exactly Just look at the posters who are either cherry picking or trying to derail this thread in here and then, if you can stomach it, go read the disqus thread. The hypocrisy is astounding
Sorry, it's 2 am here, I'm just having a little fun. You guys are taking this pretty seriously, so I'll duck out now. Enjoy the arguing!
When we first made the tweet there were around 30-35 in five star reviews and the same in one star, with not much in between. We'd seen a quite a few tweets online and some one star comments stating they were re-reviewing the main game one star because the brand new optional content wasn't free. So it was a pretty small sample size. We made a tweet regarding this small number of people being disappointed and it blew up from there, with that tweet now sat at almost 1,400 retweets itself. About twenty minutes after sending this out the whole issue went away and thousands of people went back to hit the 5 star button, it was short lived. I do think it was just a spark to a wider conversation on expectation and value though and we were just the catalyst.
That must be on the US app store though? On the UK app store there's only about 50 one star reviews for all versions.
I find forums like this funny... in the end it's all about what you consider valuable. I personally got the game for free so I only have to pay for the expansion lol Seriously though is it really worth complaining over a few bucks? They are an indie studio and they gotta get money somehow...
To ustwo, did you know that a microwave brand had to add in their manual that you couldn't use a microwave as an hair dryer for your pets. Why? Someone in USA put a dog inside it to dry it. An old story, but a true one. Never omit a thing because people are idiots. Enjoy your arguement guys
@ustwogames BTW I liked the comment from you guys about the cost of phones being hidden in monthly contracts. When you also consider hand me downs I expect a lot of people actually feel like they got their devices for "free". At that point arguments about "£500 devices" and "coffee" start to look even more stupid. Personally I buy my devices up front and I don't understand the point of a smartphone or tablet if you're not going to buy the apps to get the most out of them, but I don't think most people have that mindset.
I guess at the end of the day we should all get down on our knees and say a prayer of thanks to God that our lives are so perfect that all we can find to complain about is a $2 in app purchase for more content in our favorite game. Meanwhile soldiers are dying in the Middle East and children are being killed in Mexico. Aint life grand.
It's called bikeshedding. Also this thread is a combination of posts from 2+ threads that the mods have moved here. So the title is misleading for the current conversation as I don't think any of us are bothered about spending the money, we just don't like the abuse that those who did complain have received.
... slow clap ... Great post and clearly states exactly why the 1 star ratings are a bunch of horse dung. Kind of sad that we've reached the point that people will spend time arguing that self-entitled asshats who crap all over a game because they didn't get their binky are standing on some sort of principle. You've got to be some sort of misanthropic curmudgeon yourself to see anything defensible in the 1 star reviews, and you've really got to be out there to see something attackable in the fans' rally against the asshats.
No, that's an urban legend going back decades and never substantiated (probably because it wasn't true like most urban legends) http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/microwavedpet.asp
