Request to Telltale: Please remove the "4-6 weeks" line from your FAQs
himmatsj
Banned
This is really getting absurd. Yet again an episode is very, very delayed to what was promised (we are almost into 12 weeks since EP1 came out for TFTB).
I think it would be the honorable thing to do to just remove this snippet of info from the official FAQ of their games. We all know that the "4-6 weeks" mentioned is far from the truth, and they rarely if ever meet it.
No hard feelings, but I just feel that the least TTG can do is to remove this line from their FAQ cause this is not their first game..it's their fifth and they've still not improved their delivery. GoT EP2 came out after 9 weeks, and we are almost 12 weeks from when EP1 of TFTB came out, with at least another 2 more weeks to wait for by the looks of it at the very least.
The new kid on the block, Life is Strange, has promised 1.5 months between releases, and let's see if they can stick to their words.
What do you guys think? Would removing the "4-6 weeks" thing be the right thing to do?
Thanks!
EDIT: I have decided to compile and list out the release dates, time frames (in weeks) between each episode, and average episode release times for each series as well as the whole series. You can draw your own conclusions from this that Telltale is very, very far off from their stated estimated release times on their FAQ of "4-6 weeks".
- The Walking Dead S1
EP1 – 24 Apr 2012
EP2 – 27 Jun 2012 (9 weeks)
EP3 – Aug 28 2012 (9 weeks)
EP4 – Oct 9 2012 (6 weeks)
EP5 – Nov 20 2012 (6 weeks)
Average: 7.5 weeks
- The Walking Dead S2
EP1 – Dec 17 2013
EP2 – Mar 4 2014 (11 weeks)
EP3 – May 13 2014 (10 weeks)
EP4 – July 22 2014 (10 weeks)
EP5 – Aug 26 2014 (5 weeks)
Average: 9 weeks
- The Wolf Among Us
EP1 – Oct 11 2013
EP2 – Feb 4 2014 (17 weeks)
EP3 – Apr 8 2014 (9 weeks)
EP4 – May 27 2014 (7 weeks)
EP5 – July 8 2014 (6 weeks)
Average: 9.75 weeks
- Game of Thrones
EP1 – 2 Dec 2014
EP2 – 3 Feb 2015 (9 weeks)
EP3 – 24 Mar 2015 (7 weeks)
EP4 - TBC (6 weeks and counting, not likely before 8 or 9 weeks)
- Tales from the Borderlands
EP1 – 22 Nov 2014
EP2 – 17 Mar 2015 (16 weeks)
EP3 - TBC (7 weeks and counting, not likely before 9 or 10 weeks)
Grand Average (not counting TFTB and GoT): 8.75 weeks
No. of times TTG has met their stated estimate of "4-6 weeks": 4/17 or 23.5% of the time (including GoT and TFTB)
Comments
+1
I don't mind the wait (although I wouldn't mind not waiting even more), but that statement has to go. At the very least clarify that it is meant as "4 - 6 weeks of Valve Time™".
No. I think they should finally pull their finger out and work on each season to a schedule. The current setup is beyond pathetic and makes no sense after the success of TWDS1. TWDS1 continued to build on the hype as they released with little distance between each episode. This ridiculous wait is just killing the format of episodic gaming.
Oh, and if anyone hasn't noticed, it's the same stunt they pulled with TWAU.
I think no. Because they still won't stop delaying their games like it is ok. They don't think that they owe us, because we payed money, which means we've got contract with them. But they don't follow the terms of our contract. TTG themself said about "4-6 weeks", but they hardly ever manage to release episode in such period of time.
So, the only way to made them stop this is to stop buy their games, at least until full release. While we put up with such treatment they will continue to do so. Stand up for your rights!
I definitely think the FAQ timeframe should be changed, sure everyone here knows to take it with a giant grain of salt, but it's extremely misleading to new customers.
They should change it to
"Whenever we fucking feel like it."
They need to and they will as they gradually upscale their business.
When you transition into being a bigger company, being blatantly dishonest about the wait time stops being an annoyance and starts being a serious issue.
I think they should take it down because it is not something they are sticking to. The GoT game is supposed to end right at the beginning of season 5. Which would have been a sweet lead in to the new season. I'm surprised HBO isn't on their ass more since they are involved, from a marketing prospective. At this rate we will only be 3 episodes through by the time season 5 hits, which is total bullshit. If I would have known more about TellTales late deliveries I would have thought hard about getting this game closer to the end.
There was not a single delay since TWAU Episode 2, as they never gave any release date. You can't delay something if you didn't even give a date which could turn out false.
And you don't have a contract with Telltale lol
Even if you think buying a game is making a contract (it isn't), that doesn't change the fact that it's only a FAQ and as that not part of any legal restriction.
Seriously. I don't like what Telltale is doing, but it's not illegal, they aren't breaking a contract, because there is none :P
Sorry that I was coming at you with this now, but it had to be said.
Who even goes by the FAQ still? Honestly I don't really care at all about it and I don't know why this is even a big enough deal to make a thread about it in the first place. You said it yourself, they haven't gone by this for 5 games in a row now, what point would it even do to change the FAQ?
Seconded.
It just doesn't make expectations that cannot be fulfilled.
Remove it or leave as is, the game will be released whenever it's ready. Altering it will not make the episode release any faster, but we should at least take comfort in the fact that it will be released at some point. Plus when all episodes are fully released no one will give a shit that we had to wait for the episode to come out right now.
A schedule?
That would make it worse.
I forgot there even was a FAQ, who still goes on the Games Page?
Theres more pages than the community page??? I've been missin out on a lot
How so? Write the season, make the season. Once it's about 50%- 70% done, start releasing it episode by episode on a schedule.
Seems pretty easy to me.
Those who did wait will and I personally will be waiting for the full season release in future. It'll be cheaper, I can play them when I want and won't have to have an absurd amount of time for Telltale to release a 2 hour episode every 3 months.
So you don't mean release it by a certain point in time?
Also sounding easy and it being easy are two very different things.
Do you know how many complaints people would have over them "holding the episodes hostage". People would complain about the fact that Telltale already have episodes ready but won't put them out just so they can keep an episodic release. I personally like the way they handle these things currently.
Besides, it seems like Life is Strange is going that route and its second episode was hacked into and the choices for episode 3 were leaked.
Smart move.
It wouldn't be at "hostage" though. They'd release every month just like they did with TWDS1. During that time, they'd be able to refine them. Life is strange is a poor example to not do it. It is their first attempt at something like this and Telltale have had plenty of leaks over the years too.
The idea of them being held at "hostage" is just dumb. By that logic every TV series going is doing it. Every company plans and releases things in a timely manner for crying out loud.
Seems easy. They write the season of 5 episodes, start working on them and move on to the next. Once they reach a point of near completion, they work on a schedule of when to release them and at what times in the calander year. Every month? Maybe a month and a half to give more time to complete it etc.
who cares tho
who cares
Again, seeming easy isn't the same as it being easy.
Yes, it sounds like a good plan but it isn't, this would delay the game entirely with people getting upset if it will even happen. That whole schedule is again a bad idea, people will complain that they're just holding it off just because they can...Because everyone around here complains about something. Then there will be people hacking into the game and getting it all at once early making Telltale lose money like Life is Strange is doing. It's a flawed system and people will complain anyway.
The OP does. All he does is criticize TellTale.
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I'm sorry, but your argument is heavily flawed. You couldn't hack into episode 2 if it was kept separate like other TT games have been, it wouldn't be a delay if it wasn't released till nearer completion. As for people complaining, yeah. That's life. However, know one can honestly say the system they have now is good. It's a joke.
Yes, thank you for just saying my argument is flawed without any real evidence behind it. You could indeed, look at Life is Strange and just look at Telltale, hackers will find a way. Except it would be, they would delay it to keep the pretense of episodic gaming.
It's funny enough that you all complain at Telltale yet still buy their games, if you don't like them so much then I don't understand why you stay around. This system is good and it's sad you attempt to change something you don't understand. I'm just glad that Telltale has common sense and ignores these sad attempts at protesting and complaining.
It won't change a thing.
it won't change a thing i don't see why people buy these based on the faq and you will never sue telltale just gonna keep pointing that out to you so yea no point and i thought you were done with telltale but then again you have been saying that ever since twd season 2 came out
Okay... ignore vaild complaints...
Oh and also, best not to judge those you don't know. I actually know more about the industry then you might think.
they didn't release episodes every month for TWDS1 it started in april and ended in november
You know what I meant. They were far better compared to what we get now.
Yes, "Valid complaints".
You also don't seem like it, crying about Telltale so much.
So would you not agree the current setup is flawed?
I agree barely, I must say your ideas sound a whole lot worse than whatever Telltale is doing now.
Okay, I got your point, makes sense. But! Almost(important word, not all) every episode of TWAU and TWDS2 were released later than 6 weeks. I believe only the last ones were release 4-5 weeks since 4th one. Their pattern last year was 9-10 weeks average. Some people say "Oh, come, they said usually 4-6 weeks, it means not always, but most of time". Well, let's see on TWDS2:
As you can see, only one meets 4-6 weeks period. Come on, you can't ignore that. It is so unprofessional from them to act like this. You tell us usually 4-6, but only once(25% of all) manage to do so. Well, you can't stand up for you words, do not talk at all(not you personally, but ttg).
Again, my point is that they have to review their episodic policy, because they really can't follow it right.
p.s. every customer-seller deal is a contract in some sort.
no you said we got them every month and we didn't you weren't trying to make a point you were making stuff up anyway
episode 1-2 was a 2 month wait, episode 2-3 was a 2 month wait, episode 3-4 was a month and a half and episode 4-5 was a month and a half
seems pretty much like how they released season two to me except the wait for episode 4 was shorter in season 1 than 2 but telltale didn't have anything else to release when they were doing season 1 unlike season 2 where we got 2 twau episodes between episode 3 and 4 of season 2
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So you think a roughly 2 hour product where most of the character models, animation are done and coding not having to deal with Navmesh, collision detection and the standard difficulties of most games taking up to 3 months is better then having a planned structured approach? Okay.
i know i have been around for his crap ever since season 2 came out everyone who disagreed with him was a apologist according to him