Capcom Removes Advertised Offline Co-Op From Resident Evil Reboot, Updates Steam Page After Sales Begin

from the promises-promises dept

Tue, Mar 3rd 2015 4:05am — Timothy Geigner

Capcom's never really had much of a consumer-friendly reputation. Between being all about SOPA and utilizing innovative DRM measures such as "You only get one save file per game cartridge ever at all," it would be tough for the company to claim some kind of goodwill dividend should it screw up and find the need for one. And, boy, could Capcom ever use such a dividend amongst PC gamers right now.

The screw up was advertising on Steam that the RE-reboot, Resident Evil Revelations 2, would include a local, split-screen co-operative mode, selling the game under the umbrella of that promise, and then revealing only after sales had begun that local co-op had never been planned for the PC version of the game.

Owners of the PC version of Capcom's action horror game Resident Evil Revelations 2 have discovered that, unlike the console versions, it does not include local co-op - despite advertisements claiming it would.

The game's Steam page had promised offline co-op as part of a bullet point list of features. However, the Steam page was recently amended to state the PC version does not support offline co-op play in the Campaign or Raid mode. (Raid mode, it should be noted, will support online co-op shortly after launch via a patch.) Confusingly, the "assistive co-op play" bullet point that mentions offline co-op remains on the Steam page.

I'm not a lawyer, but I'm fairly certain that advertising a game to a passionate fan-base as having a much-wanted feature and then yanking the rug out from under those fans only after sales had begun is not only a PR nightmare, it's a legal no-no as well. And, of all people to pull this on, passionate PC gamers may be the worst targets. This is a group that expects to be treated as much like desired customers as console-owners and, because the PC gaming landscape is littered with differences between its games and those that appear on consoles, it's a group that tends to pay very close attention to the specifics about the features of the games they buy. Not the kind of group, in other words, that you could pull this kind of false advertisement on and actually get away with it.

Perhaps worse, the tone-deaf defiant and non-apologetic nature of Capcom's response isn't going to help matters.

Here's Capcom's statement in full:

"The PC version of Resident Evil Revelations 2 supports a variety of customisable visual settings and resolutions. The decision to prioritise a single local screen was made to ensure a stable user experience across a variety of different PC settings and devices. Raid mode will support online co-op shortly after launch when a free patch is available for players to download which adds this feature, but the main campaign on PC will only be available to play in single local screen."

Great, except none of that was the point or cause of the outrage. You told consumers there was a feature in the game at the time of purchase, then revealed that feature was not now or ever planned to be included post-purchase. That's shitty. Come out with refunds and an actual apology next time.

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Filed Under: false advertising, offline play, promises, resident evil, resident evil revelations 2, video games
Companies: capcom

26 Comments

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vegetaman (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 4:12am

Fortunately this was not a problem for me, as I still haven't forgiven them for cancelling Mega Man Legends 3. And I *DO* vote with my wallet.
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Namel3ss (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 4:20am

No great loss.
The RE series has sucked since RE5. 6 was even worse. The magic is gone.
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DeadBolt (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 4:22am

Similar thing happened with Elite Dangerous. After months of saying there would be an offline mode, they turn around days before release and say FU all that bought the game on that premise... Online only.
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gamemjoe, 3 Mar 2015 @ 4:27am

Oh my god, you had the best timing.
Wow. I've seen old news on TD at times, but this is the first time I've seen a news story get published AS THE PROBLEM THE STORY'S ABOUT IS GETTING FIXED! XD So, yeah, literally LESS THAN THREE HOURS after this was posted, Capcom started an Open Beta of RE:REV 2 that has the offline co-op for both Campaign and Raid Mode intact. ...Yeah, they finally listened for once. Shocking, huh?
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Mar 2015 @ 4:31am

And thats why some people pirate games first and if likes them, waits a few days after release to buy it.
That little -15% for pre-ordering is not worth it unless you absolutely trust the devs.
Lets see if Steam is willing to turn a blind eye even over this. Last week had that cities game where they released the exact same game for the fourth time, no refunds. But then, just reading the discussions on its steam page should tell you if the game is safe or not.
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Joseph Santee (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 4:32am

Re: Oh my god, you had the best timing.
Edit: Nevermind, it was literally MINUTES after you guys posted. Time zone problems :D
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PaulT (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 4:59am

Re: Oh my god, you had the best timing.
That's pretty cool. Now, imagine a world where they avoid pissing off and ripping off their own customers so that the original TD story isn't even necessary in the first place!

A lofty aim perhaps, but we can dream...
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Gumnos (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 5:14am

Umbrella...

selling the game under the umbrella of that promise

Funny word-play there.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 5:28am

Re: Umbrella...
I'm just glad SOMEONE caught it ;)
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Vladlagg (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 5:40am

Lords of the Realm II
Had an offline, multi-player option in 1993. Somehow, in the subsequent 22 years, this great technology has been lost to mankind. If only we had some understanding of networking computers together, using and ancient technology, we might again someday have access. I bet DARPA could research it for us, with a grant. A local network, over an area. Maybe if we improve our computing power a bit more...
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Geno0wl (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 5:56am

Not a reboot
I would not quantify Resident Evil Revelations as a "Reboot". It uses the same characters and continues the same story as the main series with zero inconsistencies. It is a "throw back" to the play style more akin to RE1-3 but it is definitively NOT a "reboot".

I say this because it was really confused reading the title for the story because I was thinking "wait, since when did Resident Evil HD have co-op in the first place?"
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Mar 2015 @ 6:44am

I'm confused... you first say it won't "include a local, split-screen co-operative mode", then extrapolate that to not including offline co-op (which I think I'm not alone as viewing as LAN play). I think it's pretty much a given there was never going to be split-screen play on the PC, after all, it's a PC (you know, smaller screen and single keyboard & mouse). If the issue is Capcom promising split-screen play on the PC, I'd view that as a typo. If they were actually promising play without an online connection (i.e. LAN), that's a different issue altogether.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Mar 2015 @ 6:49am

Re: Not a reboot
Yep, they actually released a PC-HD-remaster of a 2006-Gamecube-remaster of the first installment of the series some weeks ago. Revelations 2 is a new title.
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Rabbit80 (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 7:17am

Re:
Why shouldn't PC be able to do split screen? Mine is attached to a 42" TV, pushes 1080p@60fps on virtually anything you can throw at it, has several 360 pads that can be used with it at the same time...

What I really want devs to do is allow dual monitor gaming on PC - i.e. 2 monitors, one for each player on the same PC!
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Mar 2015 @ 8:46am

Re: Re:
Ditto, I have my PC on a 46" standard HDTV and use it for everything.

It is really just not that difficult for an experienced dev team to make a game split screen.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Mar 2015 @ 9:46am

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100331/0128358800.shtml
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Rekrul, 3 Mar 2015 @ 10:29am

Re: Lords of the Realm II
Lords of the Realm II
Had an offline, multi-player option in 1993.

In 1993, Hired Guns (Amiga, DOS) had four-player co-op on a single machine. The screen was split into four display views with each player controlling a different character. Of course, multiple characters were always in the game and if only a single person was playing, they controlled all four.
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JP Jones (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 12:35pm

Re: Oh my god, you had the best timing.
They only fixed it for the same reason SimCity released an offline mode...modders figured it out and did it on their own. And the reason it's in "open beta" is because they left out huge portions of the co-op experience, like the ability to use different types of controls (you can only use xinput controllers) and any sort of UI.

So, golf clap for Capcom. I think the story is still relevant; it could possibly use an update saying that a fix is "in the works" but I'd hardly say a half-assed fix a week after release and only after modders did it without the developers counts as fixing the problem.
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JP Jones (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 1:20pm

The decision to prioritise (sic) a single local screen was made to ensure a stable user experience across a variety of different PC settings and devices.

Bullshit. One of my PCs runs at 1920x1080 on a 127 inch screen. It's perfect for co-op games (which is why it's in my living room).

Anyone who thinks that PCs aren't used in a living room environment is still living in the world of five years ago. DVI to HDMI converters are extremely cheap and virtually all modern television and projector systems accept HDMI input. Wireless mice, keyboards, and game controllers for PC are also extremely common and inexpensive.

I have two main computers; my gaming machine that is in a traditional room with a desk, and my HTPC (if you can call a water-cooled quad-core 3.0 ghz, 8 gb DDR5 RAM, NVIDIA GTX 770 with a gaming SSD an a typical "HTPC"...as I upgrade my main system I use the components in my living room system). The HTPC is hooked up to a high resolution (1920x1080 max) home theater projector with a 127-inch retractable screen*. The entire setup, including computer and sound, cost around than $3,000; roughly the price of a 55" LG smart TV, and affordable for most middle income families. And if someone can't afford a second powerful computer, if they have even a halfway decent home network Steam game streaming works fantastic (I can't even tell the difference between a loaded game and a streamed one).

While they are fixing the issue, I find it incredibly ignorant to assume that "a single local screen" is the only thing PC gamers are using.

* Side note: Alien Isolation on a 127-inch screen with a home theater sound system in the middle of the night is not recommended without adult diapers. You've been warned.
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Gumnos (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 1:38pm

Re: Re: Umbrella...
I just felt bad that
- I was fairly late to the commenting and was still the first person to catch it (or at least comment on it), and
- I didn't have much witty to say beyond the observation of it
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Padpaw (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 1:54pm

sadly false advertising laws in the video game industry seems to be nonexistent.

Most companies do it, and my boycott lists grows by the week. They lie they cheat they steal, and nothing happens to them.

Save the odd class action lawsuit.

Why does this industry have no standards?
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Padpaw (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 1:56pm

Re: Oh my god, you had the best timing.
that would be relevant if it was a released game. Since its still in testing i.e. beta that's not really appropriate.

If it goes through to release as a co op then yes they will have listened to people's complaints
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Padpaw (profile), 3 Mar 2015 @ 1:58pm

Re:
I am beginning to support piracy more and more lately.

At first I only supported it if I bought a game and it was broken and the company refused to send me a working replacement. I refuse to pay more money to replace a defective product.
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Lurker Keith, 3 Mar 2015 @ 3:26pm

Re: Re: Umbrella...
I caught it when I found the story & there were only 5 comments, but it was too obvious to comment just to say I noticed.

(Seriously, it's an RE post. "Umbrella" sticks out like a giant, flashing Neon Sign.)
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Ninja (profile), 4 Mar 2015 @ 2:17am

Re: Re: Re: Umbrella...
I think it's so glaring that people simply giggled and moved on without feeling pressed to comment on it. And I wasn't here to make some umbrella joke or something.
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hidden object games, 5 Apr 2015 @ 11:08pm

My guess it was a cut feature that was erroneously advertised on the grounds that the console versions likely have it.So they basically copied and pasted old feature material which prompt this wreckage.It's not some conspiracy or evil action done by Capcom simply a silly mix-up.Still their issue obviously however not as vile as people like to label them.
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