When Square Enix and Eidos Montreal introduced the Augment Your Pre-Order program for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, they said they were ushering in a fairer future – one where pre-order incentives weren’t split arbitrarily across regions but were defined by player choice.
Instead, they ended up like the poor augmented souls in Golem City – eyed with distrust. Fans objected to the complicated way the program co-oped Kickstarter concepts like tiers and stretch goals. They could pick just one reward from each tier, and higher tiers wouldn’t be unlocked until more players pre-ordered. If enough fans bought the game early, they were told, they could bring about a closer release date.
“We’ve been listening to everything you’ve had to say,” write Eidos. “We quickly noted that this approach created even more frustration than before, resulting in a resounding amount of negative feedback.
“We’ve spent a lot of time reading through all of your comments, working to understand how we can try to make things right for you. After much thought and reflection, we decided to close down the program and make all of the incentive content available to anyone who pre-orders or purchases a Day 1 Edition.”
The potential early release date for Mankind Divided has also been abandoned: the Human Revolution sequel will show up on February 23rd and not before. Those who’ve already pre-ordered will find the changes retroactively applied to their orders.
“We know this wouldn’t have happened with a game that nobody cared about,” finish the humbled developers, “and we’re just focusing now on delivering a game that lives up to your hopes and expectations.”
Here are a few ways I reckon Deus Ex could be augmented in Mankind Divided. What are you looking for in Arm Blade Sim 2016?