Honestly you assumed that they didn't know? EVERY developer knows how stable and what issues has his stuff. It's a rule to be a..developer! At least they are honest. Imagine how that honesty would play a role as a factor to sales for this game if they were honest BEFORE releasing..LMAO It's like another SNAFU thing..

I agree that Kotaku is not a really reliable source. Also if WB went with a different developer to port AK to PC instead of the same crappy developer who did AO they would have been better off I think. Also If Rocksteady ported the game themselves I think they were better off. Also if they knew about these issues for months then why not push the release date of the PC version further so they could fix it.

Well they also should have known that with the refunds now available, people won't stand for crap like this.

Yeah I totally agree with you there.

Sure they knew. And they didn't send any review copies. What a coincidence, lol.

People need to stop the pre-ordering of games , and this will stop the company's filling there pockets with money before games are released . It's all greed that's making them releasing games in such a sorry state, and while us gamers keep throwing money at their products before they are even finished ,thing won't change for the better. Would you buy a graphics card before you had read a review ? would you buy a car without driving it first ? Stop pre-ordering folks,,, and i think if we all did this thing would get better for us. Hats off to steam for there new refunds policy .. 🙂

all the programmed people that cant think for themselves will continue to promote and prebuy. the power of marketing over the sheeple. They are counting on it.

No ****. I'm really sick and tired of these major publishers pulling crap like this, yet they won't stop because people will keep pre-ordering/buying over and over. There's always consoles vs PC, but one thing we all have in common is that we keep getting games half-arsed rushed out the door and have to endure the consequences.

I agree. I really don't understand why people pre-order ANYTHING from a major publisher these days. It used to make sense, back when digital downloadable copies weren't a thing. Today, all it does is show you're blindly faithful to a brand, encouraging incomplete work, and encouraging bad business practices. The problem is indie developers really do need the pre-orders, but games like this are spoiling it for everyone.

I agree. I really don't understand why people pre-order ANYTHING from a major publisher these days. It used to make sense, back when digital downloadable copies weren't a thing. Today, all it does is show you're blindly faithful to a brand, incomplete work, and encouraging bad business practices. The problem is indie developers really do need the pre-orders, but games like this are spoiling it for everyone.

I agree... just wait. There are plenty of crappy releases one can buy a year after the fact and enjoy all the patches. Just need to be on a one year delay. Seems MS has this issue with OS's. 🙂 We are all human guinea pigs.

I think this should be a true showing of ANY company that offers preorders anymore, should clearly be avoided for a good portion of time after the 'official' release as they know its messed up, yet allow it to be released. ..this would be ideal in a perfect world...

Why stop pre ordering? If I want to play the at launch, I'll pre-order. If the game is turd, I'll get a refund.

Why stop pre ordering? If I want to play the at launch, I'll pre-order. If the game is turd, I'll get a refund.

Several reasons: 1. You give publishers the impression they don't need to try as hard to give a decent product because you already bought into the hype of what the game stands for. Case in point - this Batman game. 2. In many cases, you don't get ANY special benefits from pre-ordering. 3. Unless there was some contractual agreement, the company owes you nothing but the game itself regardless of it's quality. Why pay full price for something that could be utter crap? 4. Not all pre-orders allow refunds. 5. If you're getting a digital copy, you can still get the game on release day. Pre-ordering accomplishes nothing unless you're getting a physical disc. 6. In a situation like this game, it isn't playable on release day, so what's the point of getting there a couple days earlier than everyone else if it's still garbage? 7. A publisher like WB Games doesn't need your pre-order money. Aside from maybe getting access to the game 24 hours sooner than everyone else, what do you honestly think that money is contributing to?

"Four million RPG fans spending their hard-earned money on our game is a sign that we did something right, quote from witcher 3, warner bros should go see project red get some tips on how to behave properly to paying pc customers witcher 3 i only had download 500mb to get game running rest on the retail discs , arkham knight 5 discs retail and a 25gb download on top just cant beleive it how stupid can u get, i never buy another one there games unless they change there ways warner bros are even worse than ubisoft

This is obvious. I imagine this chat occurred in the WB: Pc porting Guy: Sir, the pc version is currently in no condition of being released, it's terribad and essentially broken, i recommend more time, like waaay more time. Mr Warner Bros Guy: The DRM... tell me, does it work ? Pc porting Guy: That's not the issue, sir Mr Warner Bros Guy: Does...it...work ? Pc porting Guy: Yeah, it works, nobody will be able to pirate it. Mr Warner Bros Guy: That's all i needed to hear, RELEASE THE TURD

Why stop pre ordering? If I want to play the at launch, I'll pre-order. If the game is turd, I'll get a refund.

There is also an chance they might not give you an refund and laugh all the way to the bank.

Several reasons: 1. You give publishers the impression they don't need to try as hard to give a decent product because you already bought into the hype of what the game stands for. Case in point - this Batman game. 2. In many cases, you don't get ANY special benefits from pre-ordering. 3. Unless there was some contractual agreement, the company owes you nothing but the game itself regardless of it's quality. Why pay full price for something that could be utter crap? 4. Not all pre-orders allow refunds. 5. If you're getting a digital copy, you can still get the game on release day. Pre-ordering accomplishes nothing unless you're getting a physical disc. 6. In a situation like this game, it isn't playable on release day, so what's the point of getting there a couple days earlier than everyone else if it's still garbage? 7. A publisher like WB Games doesn't need your pre-order money. Aside from maybe getting access to the game 24 hours sooner than everyone else, what do you honestly think that money is contributing to?

Oh they do have to try now, if the game is not to my liking, I can and will get my money back and they'll see nothing, like I did with Batman The benefit is I get to play the game when it releases. Like I said, if something is "utter crap" I'll get a refund, nothing lost All pre-orders allow refund on Steam and Origin If a game launches at midnight and I want to play at midnight, the only way to play at midnight is to pre-order and pre-load The point is I could play on release day. I wanted to play on release day because I didn't have much else to do. The point is I wanted to play it on release day, as soon as it went live.

There is also an chance they might not give you an refund and laugh all the way to the bank.

You're wrong. They will give me a refund.

Oh they do have to try now, if the game is not to my liking, I can and will get my money back and they'll see nothing, like I did with Batman The benefit is I get to play the game when it releases. Like I said, if something is "utter crap" I'll get a refund, nothing lost All pre-orders allow refund on Steam and Origin If a game launches at midnight and I want to play at midnight, the only way to play at midnight is to pre-order and pre-load The point is I could play on release day. I wanted to play on release day because I didn't have much else to do. The point is I wanted to play it on release day, as soon as it went live.

That's not the right attitude. That kind of mindset does not apply to everyone and will wait for patching etc, and not go for the refund option. Same as the above, it doesn't apply to everyone that wishes to play a game on release day and will not go down the route of refunding. You do not absolutely, totally and utterly have to play the game at the stroke of midnight. That's a lie. Same as first point. It doesn't stop developers believing they can get away with worrying about the level of backlash than the quality of the game. So could buying it from a shop on release day, after reading the forums to check whether the game(s) are good. I find it incredulous that someone truly believes computer game ownership is that important versus the quality of the game, from the UX to the GFX and the SFX.

That's not the right attitude. That kind of mindset does not apply to everyone and will wait for patching etc, and not go for the refund option. Same as the above, it doesn't apply to everyone that wishes to play a game on release day and will not go down the route of refunding. You do not absolutely, totally and utterly have to play the game at the stroke of midnight. That's a lie. Same as first point. It doesn't stop developers believing they can get away with worrying about the level of backlash than the quality of the game. So could buying it from a shop on release day, after reading the forums to check whether the game(s) are good. I find it incredulous that someone truly believes computer game ownership is that important versus the quality of the game, from the UX to the GFX and the SFX.

I don't expect a perfect release, ever. I don't mind certain bugs, some companies do work hard to patch these and I have no problem waiting for patches. I also do research into what games I buy, I read previews, watch beta streams and youtube videos before I spend my money. The refund part comes into play if a game gets released in a state like Batman. If a dev has the arrogance to sell me a game locked at 30fps, a game that stutters like mad and crashes for people, I take that personally and I'll ask for a refund, out of principle. Trust me, some games, when I have the time and I'm looking forward to a long awaited game, I have to play it at midnight. It doesn't apply to everyone, sure. But like with D3, it had 8 million players logging in at it's midnight launch. Sometimes I'm inpatient, yes, but for me personally, pre-ordering is the only way, in this case. Same Doesn't it? How so? Have you not seen the sh1tstorm all over the internet with the Batman fiasco? WB and Rocksteady have been dragged through the sh1t everywhere you look, negative reviews, people getting their money back, this must have been lesson learnt for WB. They now know if they release their next game in a similar state, they won't see a penny from people. They'll have to try harder. Wrong. If I want to play a game at midnight, the only way is to pre-order. For one, nobody sells retail copies of PC games around here. Two, I'd have to drive to a 24 hour store to see if they have the game, which obviously they wouldn't have. Three, even if they had the game, with a game like Batman, I'd still have to download 25gb of data so no, I wouldn't be able to play at midnight. Even if it was 2-3gb, I'd still not play at midnight. Quality is important. This is why refunds come in handy. Now if a game comes out utter turd, I'll get a refund. Simple. Refunds will hopefully improve the state of PC gaming.

@eclap Everything about you screams "sheep" and "consumerist". This is EXACTLY why pre-ordering is hurting the gaming industry - you don't care if something is done right, you just care if it's "good enough" and caters to what society deems as current and cool. Playing a game like this at release date is a moot point. Whether the game was released last month or next week, it still would be a glitchy unplayable mess, so the time you play it is arbitrary. WB games wouldn't have thought this game was "good enough" if people didn't pre-order it. You talk with your money, and if you're throwing your money at something that isn't even done when the parent company could single-handedly fund the product from the beginning of its development, they have no incentive to make a good product; in their eyes, you as a consumer have already got what you paid for. Like I said, this doesn't apply to all publishers - it all depends on the motives of the publisher. Batman games are sold because they're easy money, so they do the bare minimum to get your money, and you bought into it. In another perspective - why pay full price for something incomplete?

I'm sorry, you are making zero sense. BTW, I pre-ordered Batman AK a day before release, there's no way WB based the quality of their release on me pre-ordering the game 24 hours before it unlocked. Pre-ordering could have been hurting PC gaming up until now. You simply can't ignore that people can now get a refund. Our wallets have a meaning again. Publishers can't afford to release incomplete games full of bugs anymore. They could until recently, but now they can't. Me pre-ordering a game or not makes no difference. They have to release a good game, otherwise they see NOTHING from me (refund). Get it? In another perspective, if a game is good, they can take my money and I'll pay full price, why not? If a game is not released in a solid state, I'll take a refund and they see nothing from me. EDIT:

WB games wouldn't have thought this game was "good enough" if people didn't pre-order it. You talk with your money, and if you're throwing your money at something that isn't even done when the parent company could single-handedly fund the product from the beginning of its development, they have no incentive to make a good product; in their eyes, you as a consumer have already got what you paid for.

That makes no sense. So if Batman only had 1/10 of pre-orders it had, would WB release it completely fixed? Not even close. The game would come out in a completely 100% same state. I did talk with my money. I got a refund. Do you think WB will release such a mess again? Yes, they can have 10 million pre-orders for their next game, if they release an incomplete game, people will simply get a refund. They can't afford to pull this sh1t again. PC gamers have something to fall back on now. Pre-order or not, games will have to be released in a much better state now. It's as simple as that.

eclap, with the greatest of respect, we are talking about the games industry and the concept of pre-ordering a game - you are talking about the impact to you, not to the industry and other consumers. Pre-ordering is bad in general terms to all consumers because of the impact to development. I could give you an unlimited amount of analogies, but I despise reductio ad absurdum. Allowing products onto a market in an unfinished state is the result of pre-ordering, and it affects people and justification cannot be given 'because you can get your money back if unsatisfied'. You wouldn't wish to plan a night out with family at a restaurant, only to be told the food is going to be late and when it does arrive, is not what you ordered. And then to be told it's okay because you get your money back. Under that very poor analogy, some people would shrug their shoulders and say 'well, at least we are together as a family, that is what is important. Let us enjoy the meal regardless, even though it is not what we ordered.'. Other people might reach for the nearest knife and stab the waiter. Geddit? to some it's okay because of refunds, to others it's downright disgusting and ruins the whole experience. If pre orders did not exist, this problem would not exist as games would be as close to GTAV standards when they are released as possible, and no waiters would die.