Anyone else think the way Overkill tricked people into their advertising is scummy?

[YouGotOwned]

Let's face it: All along, Overkill has not been encouraging people to join their PAYDAY 2 group to keep them updated on PAYDAY, or to give out free stuff because they love the fans, but because they wanted to create a MASSIVE audience that would be notified immediately once they wanted to begin marketing future products.

I'm severely disappointed in Overkill creating a PAYDAY 2 hype train which led to the announcement of a game which quite frankly has nothing at all to do with PAYDAY 2...

The direction of PAYDAY 2 that Overkill as a company has taken is pitiful. They have fixed hardly any of the major issues, ruined stealth, introduced a broken "infamy" system which I doubt will ever be completed (15 infamies in itself was a terrible idea to introduce in the first place), and introduced nothing but constant microtransactions rather than quality downloadable content and expansions, even after swimming in $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ from sales and exploiting customers.

This is ridiculous, and Overkill, while you are without a doubt extremely active developers, you are now equivalent to EA and Ubisoft on my list... It's pretty pathetic how far you have fallen since the release of this wonderful game.

[88M-C88]

Good point, that is what I was thinking when I first heard this happened. That they did this crimefest event and what's next event with the sole intention of having a bigger audience for them to showcase their new game. And you are right it is very shady business practice to mislead your customers. It is kind of like egging a crowd on that a star will perform on a set date only to eventually tell them that everyone is instead getting free tickets to a new broadway in town.

[Vassgard]

What? They've released 33 updates this far... Is this little countdown thingy really that big an issue to you? Is your world crumbling? I don't get it. They've announced a new game that will be out two years from now. We'll get a whole lot of free Payday 2 DLC before that, along with other updates and goodies.

[88M-C88]

we are merely voicing our concerns.

[YouGotOwned]

Originally posted by Vassgard:

What? They've released 33 updates this far... Is this little countdown thingy really that big an issue to you? Is your world crumbling? I don't get it. They've announced a new game that will be out two years from now. We'll get a whole lot of free Payday 2 DLC before that, along with other updates and goodies.

Look, I am pointing out that Overkill used scumbag marketing tactics to trick people into falling victim to their marketing scheme. They used an "event" encouraging people to massively boost their group's members just so that they could advertise their new game to them through an astounding amount of hype for something the group members BELIEVED was regarding PAYDAY 2 (since it was from the GROUP ITSELF), but turned out to be marketing for a different game they were making.

[Vassgard]

It's just that you make it sound like a really serious issue, almost like they've really hurt someone. You make it sound like a felony ffs. They're making a new game, and they wanted to create a bit of mystery around it before announcing it. Why is that a problem? Did Payday 2 suffer from this as a game? Not really. It's just the same as before. The updates are still coming along nicely, with support for at least another year.

[Vassgard]

Originally posted by YouGotOwned - Almost In College:

Originally posted by Vassgard:

What? They've released 33 updates this far... Is this little countdown thingy really that big an issue to you? Is your world crumbling? I don't get it. They've announced a new game that will be out two years from now. We'll get a whole lot of free Payday 2 DLC before that, along with other updates and goodies.

Look, I am pointing out that Overkill used scumbag marketing tactics to trick people into falling victim to their marketing scheme. They used an "event" encouraging people to massively boost their group's members just so that they could advertise their new game to them through an astounding amount of hype for something the group members BELIEVED was regarding PAYDAY 2 (since it was from the GROUP ITSELF), but turned out to be marketing for a different game they were making.

What about the scumbag tactics of making fake accounts and alts to boost the number of group members, something that's been going on in here for several weeks already. What about that scumbag scheme? ;) Oh, that's perfectly fine.

[Zombie]

Originally posted by Vassgard:

It's just that you make it sound like a really serious issue

Talking about an issue in a critical way != it is the most serious issue facing the world at large. I mean, are you for real? People can't discuss ♥♥♥♥♥♥ marketing tactics because people are dying elsewhere in the world? Get over yourself, bud

Originally posted by Vassgard:

What about the scumbag tactics of making fake accounts and alts to boost the number of group members, something that's been going on in here for several weeks already. What about that scumbag scheme? ;) Oh, that's perfectly fine.

Huh? What are you smoking? Fake accounts in the Payday 2 group DIRECTLY BENEFIT Overkill and only help them to seem more relevant and advertise TWD to more people. The forums are full of people off their meds today, and oddly enough they aren't the same people voicing concerns over ♥♥♥♥♥♥ marketing...

[Vassgard]

Originally posted by Zombie:

Originally posted by Vassgard:

It's just that you make it sound like a really serious issue

Talking about an issue in a critical way != it is the most serious issue facing the world at large. I mean, are you for real? People can't discuss ♥♥♥♥♥♥ marketing tactics because people are dying elsewhere in the world? Get over yourself, bud

No, that's not what I meant. I just don't see this as an issue at all. Not even worth making threads about. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on in your heads.

[Zombie]

Originally posted by Vassgard:

No, that's not what I meant. I just don't see this as an issue at all. Not even worth making threads about. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on in your heads.

*yawn* Go play somewhere else. And take your meds.

[Vassgard]

Originally posted by Zombie:

Originally posted by Vassgard:

It's just that you make it sound like a really serious issue

Talking about an issue in a critical way != it is the most serious issue facing the world at large. I mean, are you for real? People can't discuss ♥♥♥♥♥♥ marketing tactics because people are dying elsewhere in the world? Get over yourself, bud

Originally posted by Vassgard:

What about the scumbag tactics of making fake accounts and alts to boost the number of group members, something that's been going on in here for several weeks already. What about that scumbag scheme? ;) Oh, that's perfectly fine.

Huh? What are you smoking? Fake accounts in the Payday 2 group DIRECTLY BENEFIT Overkill and only help them to seem more relevant and advertise TWD to more people. The forums are full of people off their meds today, and oddly enough they aren't the same people voicing concerns over ♥♥♥♥♥♥ marketing...

How can a fake account be worth anything? If you make three fake accounts, will you buy the game four times? Wow.

[YouGotOwned]

Originally posted by Vassgard:

How can a fake account be worth anything? If you make three fake accounts, will you buy the game four times? Wow.

The higher a group's player count, the more likely other people are to join. That's a big part of why large groups or orginizations expand so quickly, because people see it and they notice so many other people follow it, so they are more likely to do so as well.

Regardless, let's please focus on the ethics of Overkill's tactics of exploiting a group and event to advertise a completely different game.

[Vassgard]

Well... As Overkill made Payday 1 and 2 I don't really see where else they should announce something like that. Aren't their own community members most likely interested in another game from the same developer? Can't say I feel violated.

[Zombie]

Originally posted by YouGotOwned - Almost In College:

Regardless, let's please focus on the ethics of Overkill's tactics of exploiting a group and event to advertise a completely different game.

Sorry, not trying to mess with ya, OP :X

Either way, as a fan of both Payday 2 and The Walking Dead franchise, I'm pretty conflicted. While I love the idea for TWD game, it feels really cheap to hype this for the last 35 days on the backs of the active Payday 2 community.

Not sure how Overkill is surprised at the general reaction, to be honest. Leading people to believe the impending announcement had something (anything?) to do with Payday 2 and then dropping a random Melee weapon into Payday 2 is just... lackluster. Don't get me wrong, I love crimefest and the trickle of content they've been doing for Payday 2. But whoever decided to do this "What's Next" in such an obtuse way at the expense of the active Payday 2 community was very foolish.

[Vassgard]

Originally posted by Zombie:

Originally posted by YouGotOwned - Almost In College:

Regardless, let's please focus on the ethics of Overkill's tactics of exploiting a group and event to advertise a completely different game.

Sorry, not trying to mess with ya, OP :X

Either way, as a fan of both Payday 2 and The Walking Dead franchise, I'm pretty conflicted. While I love the idea for TWD game, it feels really cheap to hype this for the last 35 days on the backs of the active Payday 2 community.

Not sure how Overkill is surprised at the general reaction, to be honest. Leading people to believe the impending announcement had something (anything?) to do with Payday 2 and then dropping a random Melee weapon into Payday 2 is just... lackluster. Don't get me wrong, I love crimefest and the trickle of content they've been doing for Payday 2. But whoever decided to do this "What's Next" in such an obtuse way at the expense of the active Payday 2 community was very foolish.

Hmm... But wasn't it basically community members that started the whole "this must be Hoxton or Payday something something!!!"-hype? Overkill posted a link that just said "What's Next".. It didn't say "What's next for Payday"... And it was on Overkill's own page. No Payday-logos or anything. Only Overkill. I don't know, but to me it seemed logical that it was something about Overkill's next game. Even more so because they already announced Crimefest with all the different DLCs and bonuses. Why put up two different promo sites for the same game? Doesn't make sense.

[DoomMarine23]

Originally posted by Vassgard:

Hmm... But wasn't it basically community members that started the whole "this must be Hoxton or Payday something something!!!"-hype? Overkill posted a link that just said "What's Next".. It didn't say "What's next for Payday"... And it was on Overkill's own page. No Payday-logos or anything. Only Overkill. I don't know, but to me it seemed logical that it was something about Overkill's next game. Even more so because they already announced Crimefest with all the different DLCs and bonuses. Why put up two different promo sites for the same game? Doesn't make sense.

Because the event not only made direct references to being in the PD2 Universes but also ended on PD2's release date. If they truly never wanted this kind of back-lash, from the START they should have made it clear this had NOTHING to do with PD2 instead of being completely silent and letting rumors run wild.

They knew they left red herrings around, they knew people were going to latch to those, its as simple as that.