The Video Game Critic

Anyone else shocked by this? We've seen bad PC ports before, but a major release getting pulled from all digital storefronts is unprecedented(though Steam's new refund system definitely had something to do with it). Personally i'm very thankful I got this game on Xbox One, this is a major reason why I don't buy multiplatform new releases on PC, you never know what can happen.

I'm not shocked at all, and it's not just a PC thing. It's an issue with poor multiplatform adaptation. You say glad you got an XBox One, but probably the most notorious poor release was on that system with the completely bungled Halo: Master Chief Collection release which apparently STILL is broken. Ultra Street Fighter IV for PS4 apparently was a horrible port. This stuff comes up with all sorts of games and systems and it's pretty ridiculous it's happening in today's age.

NX17 wrote:I'm not shocked at all, and it's not just a PC thing. It's an issue with poor multiplatform adaptation. You say glad you got an XBox One, but probably the most notorious poor release was on that system with the completely bungled Halo: Master Chief Collection release which apparently STILL is broken. Ultra Street Fighter IV for PS4 apparently was a horrible port. This stuff comes up with all sorts of games and systems and it's pretty ridiculous it's happening in today's age.

To be fair, the issue with Master Chief applied only to the multiplayer. I havent had any problems with the games since purchasing the collection earlier this year, so I think they've all but resolved the problems it had.

I wonder if the problems with Arkham Knight are present in the Mac and Linux versions as well?

Vexer6 wrote: We've seen bad PC ports before, but a major release getting pulled from all digital storefronts is unprecedented(though Steam's new refund system definitely had something to do with it)

I think Steams new policy is exactly the cause of this. It just began in June before the big summer sale, and gamers have two weeks after release (not after purchase, which affects pre orders) or two hours of playing, whichever comes first. Since its all digital, and DRM laden, we actually get a benefit from thise shifts in that there are no piracy concerns.

I assume Steam just puts payment to companies like Warner on hold for a few weeks, and only passes along final post refund monies...but they must inform Warner of returns. Someone did the math. Every refund is a lost sale. Pulling the game, fixing bugs, then releasing it again is a do over.

The Steam refund policy may be a warning to stop releasing games that are obviously buggy, or may lead to companies gaming the refund policy. It will mean I stop buying Steam delivered games from Amazon though, since I think the refund policy is not in effect that way.

This is pretty interesting. What ever happened to properly testing a game before it came out? It's almost to the point where we expect new games to be buggy and need patching...

The main issue was that the PC port was outsourced to another developer instead of being developed in-house and used as the lead platform, if you look at the history of bad PC ports, you'll see that the majority of them were outsourced to different developers(Iron Galaxy, the people that ported Arkham Knight also ported Mortal Kombat X to PC, it too had major issues like save files randomly getting deleted and key features like multiplayer not working on launch), hopefully this will serve as a lesson to developers that they cannot rely on someone else to properly do the game justice on PC if they are not overseeing it.