Seriously...can't install the game?

[Achilleslastand]

I'm not one to jump on the "I hate Steam" bandwagon, but after picking up a copy of Civ tonight at Walmart I find that I can't install and play the game. Steam says it's not released. To heck it isn't! I've got it in my hands. But no, I have to wait for some arbitrary time for Steam to "unlock" the game I currently have physical possession of.

Thanks.

/rant

Even tho it is in your physical posession you are actually renting the game liscense from firaxis/take 2.
Isnt the future of pc gaming great?

 

[Oneluv]

Yea ... it's really more Walmart actions than Steam.

As much as I dislike the Steamworks requirement for Civ V ... thats just your own misconception of when the game "came out".

With all due respect but how is holding the game in your hand a misconception of when the game came out. Having came out in quotes doesn't really help. The game was in his hand. It's not an unreasonable expectation to then be able to play said game. Regardless of your level of agreement his feelings are valid and very understandable. Some of this stuff really gets into goofy time.

 

[JakeCourtney]

Even tho it is in your physical posession you are actually renting the game liscense from firaxis/take 2.
Isnt the future of pc gaming great?

Yeah, I see this really helping the fight against piracy.

 

[sghiminini]

in the UK, we have to wait until 5pm on Friday to start playing.

That's absolutely not true. In UK you'll be able to play at midnight on Friday.

 

[Unionfield]

This thread is annoying. Stop getting self-righteous about a freakin' video game. It will get unlocked at 10AM EDT, probably because that is when 2K has said they will be sure their multi-player and achievement servers will be 100% functional. Don't blame Valve/Steam.

 

[Boris Godunov]

There's nothing "arbitrary" about a specific unlock date/time...

Walmart is entirely to blame for the predicament. They weren't supposed to sell the game until tomorrow, but they seem to have engage in their typical craptacular business practices and done whatever they pleased.

 

[HamTard]

Ya it's that particular Walmart's fault for selling it early. The whole point of the unlock time is usually because Walmart and Gamestop and Best Buy demand that publishers like 2K not release their game on Steam earlier than it can be sold in stores. Since many stores don't open until 10am on the release date, they require that Steam wait at least that long.

The reason retail stores (head office, not every individual store follows the rules obviously) demand this is because they don't want people to buy from Steam since it is their competitor. Since retail still sells more copies of big games than Steam, they can leverage that by threatening 2K to boycott selling their games if they don't make sure Steam can't sell it early.

 

[Dearmad]

I'm not one to jump on the "I hate Steam" bandwagon, but after picking up a copy of Civ tonight at Walmart I find that I can't install and play the game. Steam says it's not released. To heck it isn't! I've got it in my hands. But no, I have to wait for some arbitrary time for Steam to "unlock" the game I currently have physical possession of.

Thanks.

/rant

it's not released dude. Walmart screwed you over. Now go back there and buy some chinese merchandise and help out a chinaman.

 

[KCMcG]

Ya it's that particular Walmart's fault for selling it early. The whole point of the unlock time is usually because Walmart and Gamestop and Best Buy demand that publishers like 2K not release their game on Steam earlier than it can be sold in stores. Since many stores don't open until 10am on the release date, they require that Steam wait at least that long.

So are 24 hour stores supposed to hold the game until 10 AM when every other media (DVDs and other video games) are allowed to be sold at midnight? The midnight release is one of my favorite parts of the anticipation for a new game. I would have liked to be able to play this game for several hours before going to work.

 

[Robovski]

Steam still reads 2 days 16 hours for UK through Steam. According to the Take2 website it should be midnight the 24th.

 

[Robovski]

With all due respect but how is holding the game in your hand a misconception of when the game came out. Having came out in quotes doesn't really help. The game was in his hand. It's not an unreasonable expectation to then be able to play said game. Regardless of your level of agreement his feelings are valid and very understandable. Some of this stuff really gets into goofy time.

I am totally on-board with this feeling (I have been there), but this is another example of punishing paying customers. It no longer matters if you handed over the money for the game and have it's media in your greedy hands, it is no longer good enough. Thanks to the internet the publisher wants to be sure you bought the game and won't let you play without internet validation, and you can't validate without their being ready to validate and think you should be able to do so.

Does this need to change? IMO yes. The fact I buy a license for a game is in itself a major problem. Next Parker Brothers will be shutting down yard sales for old copies of Monopoly being sold off...

 

[paradigmx]

I've had the game installed and ready to be activated since last week, I didn't expect to be able to play it the second it downloaded and installed because I did product research and knew the game wasn't out yet and it was preloading it.

Don't blame Steam, they just follow the instructions layed out by the publisher(2K Games)

If you want to blame something, blame Walmart for selling you a game 9 hours too early, Blame 2K for wanting to make sure their support staff is at work when the game launches, and blame yourself for not researching the product your buying.

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

Look into bright side. At least we can start playing the game at around 10 am eastern time, while UK and others have to wait a few days after we brag how fun it is to be playing this game.

 

[Hawkwood]

From 2K forums:

Wow.

How shocked am I that the game is already on the shelves at Wal-Mart? It's just unthinkable that a retail store with the morals and attention to details that Wal-Mart has would put a game on the shelf a whole 3 or 4 days before the release date. It's just not possible. Mal-Mart would be the very last store I would ever--

Nope. That's a lie. I totally anticipated Wal-Mart's inability to follow directions as simple as: "Do not sell until September 21".

The only part more fun than my apparent clairvoyance over Wal-Mart's competence in performing day-to-day stocking routines, is the fact that those people who happily buy the games come home to find that they can't play them and have to wait like everyone else. I know it's not nice, but I am laughing inside.

I understand the reasons why I'm currently unable to install, but I'm also upset that I'm not able to.

Why? You haven't lost anything. You bought the game. You'll be able to play the game the same time everyone else can. Hopefully, if you're upset at anyone, you're upset at Wal-Mart for selling you a game they were contractually obligated not to sell you.

Just as an aside, I worked part time at a retail chain similar to Wal-mart to pay for school and specifically handled receiving/stocking. The way you're describing it (having to *look up* release dates) is not what happens.

You receive a box from UPS/FedEx/whatever. This box is marked "DO NOT RELEASE UNTIL [DATE]" with big obnoxious stickers in bright colors, ours would usually be orange, and usually arrive a week or a few days in advance. You open the box, add the contents to your inventory and tag/prep it for sale, put the inventory *back* in the box, *SEAL* the box, and put it in a designated area to be stocked for the release date.

This is not confusing. The product ends up on shelves early due to A.) employee incompetence of just grabbing boxes to stock and ignoring the GIANT ORANGE STICKERS or B.) employees being *told* to stock it early, which is usually the case for big untouchable chains like Wal-mart. When this is the case, it is almost always on a weekend so that smaller retailers have a harder time contacting their distributor for permission to break release date as well, and Wal-mart has several days of exclusively selling the product.

This is a bad thing, because it absolutely costs smaller businesses a ton of money because they can't risk going against their distributors. If Civ 5 didn't have a lock on it, how many fans would rush their Wal-marts to see if it's for sale, and cancel their pre-orders? A lot. And you also get cases like this, where the customer is upset because s/he has a product that can't be used due to being sold early or doesn't have a day-0 patch available, etc, etc. It sucks for everybody but Wal-mart, basically.

Also let me get this straight, USA gets the game three days before the rest of the world, and the Australians are angry that they have to pay 80$ for the game, and the americans are raging that they don't get it even earlier?

 

[krunsh]

Welocome to digital era. Gone are the day of dvd purchases. Had you bought the game on steam, you would have known.

Now get over it and wait like us.

 

[ValugaTheLord]

ahaha xD

This is to prevent people from playing before actual release if shops make mistake.

 

[Tanktunker]

The release date is 21st of September, 10am EDT.
If when you are reading this is before the release date, you cannot play the game.
If when you are reading this is after the release date, you can play the game.

It's easy, say that when you are reading this it is 21st of September, 9am EDT: you cannot play the game.
BUT if it's the 21st of September, 11am EDT: You can play the game.

Can I play is a function of what time is it, not a function of do I own a physical copy rather than a digital copy.

 

[Selous]

From 2K forums:

Also let me get this straight, USA gets the game three days before the rest of the world, and the Australians are angry that they have to pay 80$ for the game, and the americans are raging that they don't get it even earlier?

nice post

and to add insult to injury, looks like the demo isnt coming out till the game is releasing in northamerica ... so australia doesnt get to play till the 22nd

 

[Gerurun]

Since retail still sells more copies of big games than Steam,

They reached parity about two years ago but digital sells more than retail now.

 

[Wezqu]

In my opinion 2k should not give the next game they make to Wal-Mart to sell. If they can't stick on the release dates on the products they don't have any right to sell them and get money from them. This would make an example that if they want to sell the games then they do it by the book and not how they want it to.