Life of Black Tiger [PS4] and other shit games that show a lack of QA on PSN

[Niebotskick]

What I find interesting about this is that it has almost reached a million views due to all the attention it has received from the media, while proper well made indie games struggle to get even 30k views on the official PlayStation channel and usually die off. Even with the overwhelmingly negative reception this game has, it will still have made some sales because of people wanting to review it due to its current popularity, or just wanting to play it to have a laugh. In the end, the developers of Life of Black Tiger will have the last laugh. It's like PS4's version of Bad Rats, only more expensive.

 

[Picao84]

By "acceptable" do you mean actually getting on the store and people buy it? Steam is notorious for allowing utter unplayable shovelware on the Steam store because they don't give a shit. There is no quality control whatsoever, especially with the 2 hour refund window now. That basically meant Steam don't have to listen to complaints because the consumer can just get a refund.

A vast majority of PC gamers on steam don't want all that crap on the store. Over 40% of games on Steam were released in 2016. That is just fucking crazy, an indication of just how much crap is getting on there and making it very difficult for gamers to sort through all the shit to find something actually decent that they want.

The difference between Steam and console platforms is that PC is an open platform, with no one responsible for the content and no brand to protect. The PS4 is a Sony device and anything on the PSN is ultimately Sony's responsibility and reflects on their name. I don't believe Sony has anything close to the Steam refund policy but I could be wrong. I imagine the refund process is a lot more difficult for PSN.

Microsoft had the same problem with the MS Store in Windows 8, and likely still a problem in Windows 10 though I haven't done much in there in awhile. The amount of garbage apps and games in the Store that were basically broken or reselling of existing games/apps was atrocious and it basically killed any hope of trust in their store. No one used it after awhile. There was no quality control for those apps apparently, the complaint process was very difficult to find for an app and nothing ever happened to them either.

Just because Steam does it wrongly, does not mean that Sony has to go the same way. Tell me, since when does Apple or Google really monitor the control of the apps on their stores? They are equally full of garbage but its not like it has hurt business one bit did it? Plus, none of those platforms has what PS4 has: physical distribution, which I would wager its still the main source of software. Plus PS4 enjoys a lot of marketing, when people go to buy something they most likely already know what they are looking for. The refunds argument is interesting and there is an easy solution: if you have a lot of people asking for refunds, then remove the game from the store because it is obviously selling itself wrong. Let the gamers filter what has quality or what does not have, like in a real world market.

 

[Picao84]

What I find interesting about this is that it has almost reached a million views due to all the attention it has received from the media, while proper well made indie games struggle to get even 30k views on the official PlayStation channel and usually die off. Even with the overwhelmingly negative reception this game has, it will still have made some sales because of people wanting to review it due to its current popularity, or just wanting to play it to have a laugh. In the end, the developers of Life of Black Tiger will have the last laugh. It's like PS4's version of Bad Rats, only more expensive.

Again, your observation is not much different from what happened with Goat Simulator. It was the ridiculousness of it that prompted it to fame and led the developers to improve it further than the initial project. Those good indie developers that you talk about obviously have to further learn about marketing other than relying on the Playstation channel. Facebook advertisement is not that expensive for example. I have a few Apps on Android and iOS and I do not rely only on the stores to get users.

 

[Malo]

Just because Steam does it wrongly, does not mean that Sony has to go the same way.

Well that's my argument, this is a step in that direction.

Tell me, since when does Apple or Google really monitor the control of the apps on their stores? They are equally full of garbage but its not like it has hurt business one bit did it?

I know the Android market is just as bad but it was my understanding that Apple had a more strict approval system. I could be wrong, you would obviously know more about the phone app market. Apple users have no options and they have a very large biased user base that just won't use anything else.

if you have a lot of people asking for refunds, then remove the game from the store because it is obviously selling itself wrong

Why is it in the interest of the app owner to remove it? For the kind of games/apps we're talking about, they're obviously trying to do as minimal work as possible to make short-term $$$. If they have 80% refund rate, they're still keeping 20% of the profits for having done the work. They obviously do not care about quality or making a name for themselves.

So basically your opinion is that if Sony makes money then why should they give a shit. My argument is that they should give a shit.

We've made our points, argument is over.

 

[Picao84]

Why is it in the interest of the app owner to remove it?

I was talking about SONY, Steam or whoever owns the platform should remove it, not the owner obviously.

I'm in no way defending that SONY/Steam takes the money and they should not care. But they should not have the last word on whether a game should be published or not. Otherwise, if I would be SONY, Goat Simulator would not have been released, for example. While you seem to consider the game good enough to be there. See the fine line we are walking here? Who sets the standards? Can they be considered Universal? Like I said let the market decide and remove the danger by setting "alarms" if you will to remove the bad ones.

 

[Malo]

Who sets the standards?

SONY, jeez that's my whole point. Nothing gets through PSN without going through Sony at some point.

Welcome Sony users to the wonderful Steam world of shovelware.

 

[Picao84]

SONY, jeez that's my whole point. Nothing gets through PSN without going through Sony at some point.

Welcome Sony users to the wonderful Steam world of shovelware.

Well thank you for ignoring all points I'm making and clarifications. Discussion is over indeed when the other party doesn't even bother to read and interpret what the interlocutor is saying.

 

[tuna]

By "acceptable" do you mean actually getting on the store and people buy it? Steam is notorious for allowing utter unplayable shovelware on the Steam store because they don't give a shit. There is no quality control whatsoever, especially with the 2 hour refund window now. That basically meant Steam don't have to listen to complaints because the consumer can just get a refund.

I do not see what the problem is. If you do not want |shovelware" then don't buy it. If you were tricked you can even get a refund. What complaints could Steam users/customers possibly have?

A vast majority of PC gamers on steam don't want all that crap on the store. Over 40% of games on Steam were released in 2016.

Could you please provide a link to the survey that showed that PC gamers think that there are too many games available on Steam?

The difference between Steam and console platforms is that PC is an open platform, with no one responsible for the content and no brand to protect. The PS4 is a Sony device and anything on the PSN is ultimately Sony's responsibility and reflects on their name.

Everything on Steam reflects on Valve the same way as games on PSN reflect on Sony.

There are shitloads of PC games not available on Steam (Minecraft, LoL, Blizzards games, EA's games) as well. Steam is just the biggest part of the PC ecosystem.

 

[Malo]

Just for future efficient use of the forum @tuna , you can highlight specific text in a post then you'll get an option to quote+ or reply. So you can actually select all 3 of those sentences separately, add them to quote+ then in the reply box you can add all 3 quotes ready for responses. It's very handy and I even use it on mobile.

 

[tuna]

Just for future efficient use of the forum @tuna , you can highlight specific text in a post then you'll get an option to quote+ or reply. So you can actually select all 3 of those sentences separately, add them to quote+ then in the reply box you can add all 3 quotes ready for responses. It's very handy and I even use it on mobile.

Thanks for your suggestion!

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I do not see what the problem is. If you do not want |shovelware" then don't buy it. If you were tricked you can even get a refund. What complaints could Steam users/customers possibly have?

The biggest complaint I've seen is that discoverability of games on Steam is really low. You have to wade through a ton of shovelware to find the good games. This is for indie games which more often than not don't get reviews and don't get Twitch streamers or YouTube VODers highlighting them.

But as you mention at least due to the automatic refund policy that Steam has, the user never has to be stuck with a crappy game. It's just that all the crappy games make finding the good ones extremely difficult, a rather large problem for indie developers that actually make a good game. It's just the price we pay for having the freedom to have a large and relatively open marketplace for indie developers.

Steams curator thing was a step in the right direction, but it needs a LOT of work to make it more usable for the people that actually want to attempt to be a curator of games for people with like minded interest.

Unfortunately for PlayStation users, I don't think there's a relatively seemless and automatic refund policy for purchased games. So if Life of Black Tiger is an indication that PSN is going to be more open to indie games publishing like Steam, this could become a relatively large problem.

Regards,
SB

 

[one]

So, uh, is this game actually fun or not?

 

[RenegadeRocks]

The huge amount of trash on steam is an issue. For both the consumer and the developer. Just like the Android store.
I really do not want psn to go that way.

Sent from my SM-N920G using Tapatalk

 

[BRiT]

Goat Simulator is actually fun and hilarious. You might need to look at the achievments for GoatSim to find the hidden gems though.

No idea if this LoBT is fun.

 

[Malo]

Just watch Jim Sterling to get a good idea of the game

 

[London Geezer]

So, uh, is this game actually fun or not?

The only gameplay mechanic that is fun is the whole making fun of the game. That's fun.

 

[tuna]

The biggest complaint I've seen is that discoverability of games on Steam is really low. You have to wade through a ton of shovelware to find the good games. This is for indie games which more often than not don't get reviews and don't get Twitch streamers or YouTube VODers highlighting them.

That is basically the same as any store that has a really large library. Like if you go to a big library and just browse for books it will also be difficult to find the good stuff. Steam at least makes it really easy to find forum links and reviews so it is much much better than the PSN store.

 

[tuna]

Unfortunately for PlayStation users, I don't think there's a relatively seemless and automatic refund policy for purchased games. So if Life of Black Tiger is an indication that PSN is going to be more open to indie games publishing like Steam, this could become a relatively large problem.

Regards,
SB

I do not really see that as a problem. Do your research before you buy stuff. I think it would be nice if Sony would have a refund policy similar to Steam though....

 

[Davros]

I do not see what the problem is. If you do not want |shovelware" then don't buy it.

I hate that it's ok to sell garbage because no one is forced to buy it attitude.

 

[tuna]

I hate that it's ok to sell garbage because no one is forced to buy it attitude.

In a free market you have the right to make a garbage* product.


*Note that what might be garbage for you might not be garbage for other people.