Collector's Editions getting out of hand! (An open request to video game publishers)

[themidlandmaster]

I think Ubisofts are the best. So far, all my Assassins creed noes have been value for money with great , high quality contents

That and the creative assembly

[AJLareneg]

but doesn't assassin's creed also release like 6 versions of the CE, slightly different, so it makes collectors want to buy them all? I don't see how that's much better...

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by kennyrh

Well said Gemini, I'm with you on all points. To be honest it's all getting a bit too much hassle and I've been seriously thinking about packing it in.

That would indeed be a shame if you did. It's supposed to be easier for you to collect these as you only collect PlayStation CE's, and our hobby needs dedicated collectors like you who focus on one aspect, rather than collector's like me who struggle to collect for everything

Which leads me to another point about CEs which is the dreadful way that online-only preorders are being handled.

It appears to me that all the major outlets are employing absolute arseholes and, judging by some of the comments I've seen here of late, it's causing measurable stress to some collectors. The fuck-ups seem to get more frequent and more irritating by the day.

It wouldn't be so bad if the so-called customer service in this country wasn't so bloody laughable and, frankly, appalling. Then again, that's just symptomatic of the general attitude that seems to pervade every facet of the gaming industry at the moment.

There's issues on so many levels, not just with the retailers. Quite often the publishers poorly announce these CE's, except for the few major triple-A releases like Modern Warfare 3 or Assassin's Creed. One such poorly announced CE I feel was for Sonic Generations, where I feel that SEGA could've done more to promote this release

Where the retailers are concerned, they don't seem to have any kind of structure. If I were a major retailer such as GAME or HMV, I would have specific areas of the site dedicated to LE's and CE's (and SteelBooks). I would also be doing all I could to promote these editions, as well as announcing exclusives more. Save for the occasional heads-up on Twitter and Facebook when first added to the site, they very rarely mention these items afterwards

I would say that shipping and packaging is the worst area at the moment, where expensive LE's and CE's are still being shipped in flimsy cardboard boxes. In my own experience, the bigger they are, the more likely they are to be dropped by the couriers. Of course, the couriers are also to blame here, but if these things were packed a little better in the first place then they would be able to withstand more of a beating. If it's a case of having to wait two or three days after release day to have it arrive perfect, then I would obviously choose that option (provided I was told about a delay beforehand)

I'm beginning to dread next year already . . .

You and me both! This time last year I had similar thoughts, and at first I thought that 2011 would be a quiet year and the CE's would die down a little bit, but apparently I was wrong and they came thicker and faster than ever before!

But as I said in my initial post, the more we spend on these items, the less we have to spend on other games. Perhaps this is a ploy by the publishers to prevent us from buying games from the competition? But they don't seem to realise that this could also work against them if they're publishing a lot of games close together. Nintendo are the worst culprits for this, as can be seen this year with at least a dozen triple-A games being released in November and December alone, despite very few first party releases throughout the year

[Solemn_In_Berlin]

Bioshock Infinite Collector's Edition done the Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Fortune Hunter Edition way. Actually limited. Signed by devs. Something special. Living, breathing masterpiece of a game.

That's all I'm asking for next year. That and a Western release for Atelier Meruru.

[kennyrh]

Originally Posted by Gemini-Phoenix

I would say that shipping and packaging is the worst area at the moment, where expensive LE's and CE's are still being shipped in flimsy cardboard boxes. In my own experience, the bigger they are, the more likely they are to be dropped by the couriers. Of course, the couriers are also to blame here, but if these things were packed a little better in the first place then they would be able to withstand more of a beating. If it's a case of having to wait two or three days after release day to have it arrive perfect, then I would obviously choose that option (provided I was told about a delay beforehand)

Here's a timely example that illustrates some of your points . . .

. . .my AC Revelations Animus Edition turned up on Friday via UPS all the way from Germany and, when I saw the packaging, my heart sank. The box was almost completely wrecked at one end - so much so that it must have been mistreated in some way en-route.

However, a closer look revealed that the (I have to say) rather flimsy looking cardboard had a little pocket inside that housed the Animus and, thanks to the packers at the far end, it had been secured crossways with plastic strips and some selloptape which had stopped it falling apart completely.

So, thanks to German efficiency, it hadn't wound up in some depot seperated from the packaging - which, I suspect, would have been the case had it been posted from within the UK.

There we have it . . .the good and the bad seen in one packaged item. The CE was fine but no thanks to UPS

[kizeal]

Depending on the games itself whether its is worth to have a CE for it though, companies like nisa, activision, ubisoft, etc , those big companies uses CE to boost up their sales.

So it is expected to have alot of different types of CE or versions of CE to be distributed around the world where in that case, also made us collectors frown upon as we do collect almost different versions of CE of the particular games...

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by kennyrh

Here's a timely example that illustrates some of your points . . .

. . .my AC Revelations Animus Edition turned up on Friday via UPS all the way from Germany and, when I saw the packaging, my heart sank. The box was almost completely wrecked at one end - so much so that it must have been mistreated in some way en-route.

However, a closer look revealed that the (I have to say) rather flimsy looking cardboard had a little pocket inside that housed the Animus and, thanks to the packers at the far end, it had been secured crossways with plastic strips and some selloptape which had stopped it falling apart completely.

So, thanks to German efficiency, it hadn't wound up in some depot seperated from the packaging - which, I suspect, would have been the case had it been posted from within the UK.

There we have it . . .the good and the bad seen in one packaged item. The CE was fine but no thanks to UPS

That does indeed illustrate how a package can go through the wars and back and still survive intact if a little care and attention is applied when packaging. When dealing with CE's which cost upwards of £100, they should be packed to survive a nuclear explosion! Yet it still surprises me why many are still shipped inside flimsy boxes.

In a way it's very reminiscent of how certain food products are packaged - I often see shop employees opening some products such as dry dog food or paper goods which are packed more securely than, say, eggs or biscuits. Ites which don't need protecting as much are better packed than the products which do require it!

[Prometheus]

Great post Gemini-Phoenix, first got to say that everything you've said is completely true.

I think the deeper questions might lie in why the publishers and retailers are doing what they're doing? Rather than if they think it's fair and not confusing to the customer.

Every retailer wants to be able to boast an exclusive on a big release title, so when these games are being developed the big stores will already be negotiating deals in order to obtain an exclusive.

The decision on if that retailer gets an exclusive (be it D/L content or a collectors) is often dependant on the popularity of the game, how many they expect to sell and the amount the retailer is offering to pay for the exclusive.

GAME, PLAY and HMV in the UK were one of the first I think that started doing it in GB. They've all had varied success with it. It seems that even Tesco and Sainsburys (in UK) are wanting a piece of the pie as well now.

GAME had things like the God of War 3 Pandora’s box sell very quickly. This was an exclusive. But they also had the GT5 collectors which had to be reduced down from £150 to £50 before they could get rid of all the stock.

PLAY did really well with the Infamous 2 Hero Edition which sold out quickly. Although weirdly they popped up again early this year on the site??? it’s like they still have the production line open or something?

HMV IMO haven't done as well on their two biggest National exclusives, which were the Modern Warfare 2 Night Vision Goggles and the Killzone 3 Helghast Edition.

I think there is a good theory to which ones sell out and which ones will be left on the shelves after release but its not a failsafe rule. Sony exclusive games that have collectors are usually in my opinion either the most sought after or the least made. Whichever way you look at it... find out about a Sony Exclusive 2 -3 weeks late and chances are you'll be looking on eBay for a purchase (unless its £150 and called GT5 Collectors Ed.).

When one retailer in a region secures rights, it can mean rarity, but this seems to depend on the retailer’s greed or the publisher’s demands, as the retailer will need to forecast how many they will sell, so that they can negotiate a deal. If say, HMV wanted to sell Modern Warfare 2 Prestige exclusively, Activision are likely to say, well we know that we are going to make a lot of sales on this, so if you want it exclusively you will need to buy say 200,000 of them at £50 if you want the rights. At this point you also get players like GAME and PLAY etc. bidding for the rights.

When it's all said and done HMV could be landed with 200,000 prestige of Xbox and ps3, which now have to be sold at a certain price. The greedy bit is when these still sell-out before release and then HMV asks the manufacturers to make even more! (Which happened).

There are many other factors and despite all of them I am like you and have been burnt by Murphy's Law too many times. So as a standard you end up pre-ordering and buying all of them!! But this is part of the problem as we are continuing to feed the greed of the publishers and retailers.

I personally don't mind bigger collector editions if they are done right, I recently got the Ayrton Senna Collectors and I'm glad it's as big as it is, because it really looks amazing in a cabinet. I'm also glad the skyrym collectors was big (not too glad about it going down so cheaply so quickly mind).

I think we are also to blame because as collectors we seem to have lost the ability to know what collector editions are good and bad, and which one's are severly overpriced. I don't wish to upset anyone on here but I still can't see what all the fuss is on the recent MGS collectors, if this had come out 2 years ago, nobody would have bought it for the price it is? Zavvi have pulled a clever stunt by originally getting internet publicity on the 'exclusive' edition selling out, and then have ended up striking a deal with Konami (now they know loads of people are interested and comitted), and selling an unknown amount at an inflated price! The price it's being sold for, is only worth it, if its numbers are limited, and Zavvi know this, and that's why they've given ambiguous info on their site. If it truelly is limited to 4000, then I stand corrected and those who've got them are lucky indeed.

I said after SKyrm that I wasn't going to buy more than 3 collectors in 2012??? but like a typical collector, my talk is tough but my actions have already got me the Soul Calibur collectors and pre-orders on just about every other thing coming....

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by themidlandmaster

I think Ubisofts are the best. So far, all my Assassins creed noes have been value for money with great , high quality contents

That and the creative assembly

Oh yes, most definitely! Ubisoft, 2K Games, and Bethesda are three you can usually rely on to produce a decent CE. You just have to look at the Bioshock 1 & 2. Duke Nukem Forever, Fallout 3 & New Vegas, and Assassin's Creed CE's to see that they really take their time creating these!

Capcom are usually hit & miss, but generally produce some nice CE's, even if some others look & feel a little cheap (Street Fighter IV & Dead Rising 2, for example)

[themidlandmaster]

Originally Posted by Gemini-Phoenix

Oh yes, most definitely! Ubisoft, 2K Games, and Bethesda are three you can usually rely on to produce a decent CE. You just have to look at the Bioshock 1 & 2. Duke Nukem Forever, Fallout 3 & New Vegas, and Assassin's Creed CE's to see that they really take their time creating these!

Capcom are usually hit & miss, but generally produce some nice CE's, even if some others look & feel a little cheap (Street Fighter IV & Dead Rising 2, for example)

I wish capcom shipped overseas!!

Obviously Actvision/EA are the worst

Bioware's are surprisingly bad, they're one of the most beloved game developers.

Square Enix are good, can't wait to see tomb raider

Edit: And naughty dog! Uncharted's are superb