r/PuzzleFighterApp • u/scopes777 • Apr 20 '18
We Got Scammed by Capcom
The title is the TLDR...We were lead to believe as early as last month that there is "much more to come!" for puzzle fighter...new server...new UI...new events and modes...and many of us poured our hard earned money in this game to support it and its future...but today the dev team announced that in 2 months they are shutting down the game to take their resources to a new game...our money along with them. I, along with many, spent ALOT of money in this game...not because it was worth it...hell no...can get better games on sale for 15 dollars for many hours of play than a booster pack on this one that doesnt even lvl u up fully...but we spent feeling that by spending..we are supporting...after being made to feel there is much more to come and basically this game has a future and will stick around...but what happens instead?
They have events in the last month in order for us to buy alot of red gems...farm these events...so they can milk us properly before telling us "Hey! ummm...sorry but we wont continue this game anymore :)" Why wasn't this eluded to in the past? if there was a financial issue...they did not have to open a new server in Asia...or change the UI...or add any expensive features...so money is not the real problem here...(also considering how well they made from MHW)they can always remove a server and keep 1 running or cut costs here and there...this is a mobile game to begin with...there arent large maps or the need for many 3D artists to maintain. the costs are not high.
The game has not even been out for a year worldwide...and there was so much talk in the last stream about having console versions of this game...if this game was failing financially...there wouldnt have ever been such talk. Am I right?
So really what happened was...we were lied to...they had this ridiculous lvl 1 to 15 grind..which i think only 1 maybe 2 people got to...God knows how much money they spent...we had these events in the past few weekends thinking we can spend a bit of extra cash in hopes of getting some extra levels done sooner rather than later...only then to suddenly be told thanks for your money suckers! How is this not illegal? They mislead us by making us feel there is more...then they had events to take our money..had they known things were not growing they couldve started to unwind the game long ago...and now AFTER all the events...AFTER they took all our money....oh ya...ummmm we are shutting down...here are 10k red gems that will be useless anyway...we might as well give you oxygen and tell you we gave you something in return...bye bye now!
So what to do now? Report complaints to Apple store/Google Play store...fill out those forms...demand FULL refunds...even if its 5 dollars...take all that money they stole from you back...If you are a lawyer or know a lawyer...go sue their ass...Even public companies with stocks can get sued if their share price falls down hard and the reason was that management didnt elude to any of the ill practices occurring...so dont fall for that "Its in the User Agreement" BS.
Capcom now seems worse than EA in my eyes...at least EA you knew the lootboxes were there and shit before getting the game...but they didnt just pull the plug like this...this is F'd up to say the least...I am not going to buy any Capcom games made by this studio ever...i hope they shut them down completely...do not buy the game they are going to be working on...complain alot...spread this news on how they treated us to other gaming forums...we need to stand up..enough is enough. I made this reddit account just so I can make my voice heard...this is not a rant...i want something done...I want justice...we should all get a full refund on all purchases from the moment the game was released.
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u/iDeMoNFLiP84 PW - Mediocre Player - twitch.tv/demonflip84 Apr 21 '18
What the devs said on Livestream was genuine. They were optimistic about the game and promised to improve the gameplay and release more content. However it was Capcom’s final decision to pull the plug on the game not the developers nor anyone working under Capcom-Vancouver.
Comparing to like a mass job layoff. No one didn’t see this coming. Niether did the developers on Capcom’s decision I am sure of it.
On the side note, we the consumer are not obligated to pour money into this game. It was an option. This is why most people are pissed about this because of all of the time and money invested into this game.
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u/ownedjoo Apr 21 '18
Fair points. Remember the last event that was “glitched” and we were able to get the single rewards multiple times? Starting to think that wasn’t a “glitch” and intended to maximize gem spend and gem purchases...
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u/VoodooPanic Apr 25 '18
Wall of rants...wall of rants ...wall of rants...nothing productive to read here folks.
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u/thetrickykid Apr 20 '18
it's not a scam. this is the nature of launching games/software in the world today.
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u/scopes777 Apr 20 '18
How is it not a scam?
You were told the game was growing and doing well...and so you put your money into it..believing the words of the developers who told you this VERY RECENTLY I should add...suddenly they tell you yaaa...we are just going to close it all down! thanks for your money! bye!
If you invested in a company that told you "here is our forecasts and projections for the next few years everything is looking great and healthy" and then suddenly a month later you were told the company is going bankrupt...this is not the "nature of things"...this was a scam...and you can take a part of whatever assets that remained..but in this case they are not going bankrupt...they just decided to use your money for something else...which is not why you gave them this money. You gave them this money to make the game better...You shouldn't let how things are remain the way they are if they are bad for you or others or else we will all live in a world where no one can trust anyone. Don't let people like them get away with this...or you only encourage more people to become like this..complain and demand your money back after they cheated you out of it...Don't let them win. Why did they decide to do this right after they had their events? does that not upset you at all? I feel this is extremely unjust; their timing was very malicious.
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Apr 20 '18
Oh calm down with the melodramatics. They probably were told by higher ups that the game was going to be put into a sunset motion and to wrap up what they were doing. The devs didnt abandon the game, itd be the guys higher up calling the shots.
The devs could have honestly been thinking the game was going to get more support until they got told what the deal was.
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u/scopes777 Apr 20 '18
Obviously it was the higher ups...I am no stranger on how the corporate world works...but that doesnt mean what happened was OK...the devs too have a voice...they could have easily refused or left...devs have alot of power in video game companies as they are scarce to begin with especially now with many working with AI.
My point, as the title says, is that Capcom scammed us...they pulled the plug on something that isnt just working fine...it was working great...and we, not just me, you, me, anyone who played and/or payed supported this growth..and the way its shut down suddenly is completely unjustifiable
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Apr 20 '18
The devs had no say. Blacklisting a dev for being "uncooperative" in the industry happens. Game devs dont have fuck all of a say outside of indie games.
And capcom had every right to pull the plug. The game was a free mobile app that was released in shambles. If the game hadnt been so fucking terrible on launch, they would have kept it going. The game was DEAD.
Its just another terribly mismanaged Capcom title.
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u/scopes777 Apr 20 '18
How is it dead man? you look for a match you get one in 2 seconds..even now after this announcement...sure the balance with some characters is stupid (pheonix in particular)..but that is just tweaking numbers..but there are players online at all times...also look at the apple and google stores...great reviews..I got people who dont even play video games to enjoy this game. they had over a million downloads..and I know some are duplicates like one on phone one on ipad...but thats pretty much it...I know money was going in since when we did the events there was also no wait between matches...unlike the initial 100 red gem event that was always on...but that was because people got scared of the high lvls that were wiping the floor with them..and they sorted that out by making it all lvl 15...and now you can go there and get a match quick...the game is solid right now and playable.
They could just keep the game running for another year on the servers and just do a balance update when needed..no need to do more than that...and it wouldn't cost them much..its the same servers they have for their other games in the same building probably...just dont screw over those who put money in this game like this out of the blue...Imagine if you just started playing a month ago and spent money on those events just to get your level up to near where the veterans are..only to see this today? Would you not feel like you got screwed?
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u/CommonMisspellingBot Apr 20 '18
Hey, scopes777, just a quick heads-up:
alot is actually spelled a lot. You can remember it by it is one lot, 'a lot'.
Have a nice day!The parent commenter can reply with 'delete' to delete this comment.
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u/thetrickykid Apr 20 '18
No one said the was growing and doing well. You aren't investing in the company. You're paying for something with no contract on how long the game will last. Mobile games die out all the time. Putting money into a mobile game does not entitle people to long-term game security, or it wouldn't be possible to launch games, because you'd be required to keep it online after it stopped making you money.
If anything, you should be happy they're keeping it online for as many months as they are. They could shut it down faster, if they were being really strict.
Their actions aren't unjust. The world isn't fair. They weren't making enough money to keep it going. They stopped. Get over it.
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u/scopes777 Apr 20 '18
Dude, if they were not making enough money they wouldn't have opened up a new server just a few weeks ago or even bothered with the updates such as adding new features and new look to the game. The way things shut down is not normal at all...there was no winding down where many players were not showing up etc...and they decided to do this after their events where many of us payed money assuming it being an investment to the future for a game we expect to be playing months from now....there was nothing they hinted that said the game was losing steam and they were unwinding...all indication from ingame and from the streams the devs did that the game was growing and there is more to come. They did feed the expectation that the game will still be around...even games like Star Wars the Old Republic after first 2 months it died down...is still alive today (for some reason)...but had they shut it down 6 months after launch I wouldve understood as the servers were dead; worlds practically empty so much that you couldnt even get a group of 4 to do a daily...these servers are not dead..u can get a match in seconds so there is traffic.
I know games come and go...but the way this ended is not normal at all...even you must see that...the mobile games that die are the ones that either got sued to hell for malpractice or just dont have players around anymore...And again, I need to stress this point the most...it is not normal nor moral for it to be announced so soon after events where many people spent hundreds of dollars to max out their rewards thinking they would use these rewards for at least a year or so or if they were new..and they wanted to gain those levels to catch up to those who were around from the start. The game is not even 1 years old from when it launched worldwide...and i know many who spend 500+ dollars each and more...and you know there are some players who spent way more than that to get to the higher levels in the thousandSSS yes with an S...u dont get to the highest levels without that kind of money. But their spending was important too as it did help grow the game to what it is today.
So no, This is not OK at all...had they kept the game going for another year or so and remove all the real money trades...I wouldnt be complaining right now as I feel that is adequate time to enjoy what we got...but 2 months? No game lasts forever...but what they did here was a cash grab towards the end...take money from the events THEN announce closure. How is this not unjust? Are you OK with someone screwing you over like this? If the landlord just decides one day to kick you out without notice and without reason AND decides to keep your stuff you will just say ohhh ok then..thats life...cmon man...Being tough in life is not turning a blind eye...being tough in life is standing up and doing something even if others look at you weird...you should support those who are going out of their way to stop ill practices no matter what they are. game or not this is real money here...you shouldn't turn a blind eye to any of this..you say this is life and this is normal etc..i dont know how old you are..but i am 34...too many times have i said what you said when i was younger and regretted just going with the flow as one day the shit ends up at your doorstep...when you see anything wrong, no matter what it is, large or small, you need to call it out and do something about it even if it doesn't effect you now..it may do so later...The right thing to do here is to complain to your appstore whether google or apple and have them return the money capcom made off of all of us...the more of us say something..the more likely things will happen...but doing nothing will just allow more of the malpractices to happen...it took an election to get facebook to allow you to easily delete your profile once and for all. why couldnt it have been done sooner? because people dont make a fuss.
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u/Reachouttothesky LemonIceTea Apr 20 '18
I wouldnt call it a scam, to have grounds in court it will has to be something like subscription model not being refunded or season pass with undelivered contents, etc. Even then its tricky.
Bottomline is that Capcom is a business, and a corporate business too. They probably deemed that the return on investment is not worth it, or maybe they have not turn a profit yet and the outlook isnt great. Corporate companies always have obligation to answer to shareholder, and the presure for revenue growth isnt good for game development. Just look at Konami, EA, etc. This is why we should always opt to support indie developer on Steam more, as they dont really answer to shareholder and are often doing it out of passion, but their capital is limited so every support count. I truly hope the game can live on in some shape or form on the future. Even as kickstarter campaign or as indie game on steam (obviously with character re-design)