That it is a rebranding of an old idea shows you exactly what it is - an attempt to sell a business model.
If established companies were just a tiny bit better with the way they do presales, this might be okay. But I've bought too many products in the last five years that were literally broken (videogames are the prime example) after forking over $60. Some of those products have remained broken for months. That's unethical. What shocks me most is this has happened with flagship franchises, which tells me those companies simply don't give a damn. Why should they, when the pay now, deliver later business model works?
Companies need to prove that their product is valuable, you can't do that when you flip the relationship, the power dynamic is completely out of whack - we're the billion dollar company, but we want you, the consumer, to give us money now for a product which we promise will be good later.
Companies do have to prove their product is valuable when its not a pre-sale - via reviews, popularity, word of mouth etc. If you choose to buy a product when none of those signals exist.. well.. expect to get screwed once in a while. The deal is pretty transparent - no one is lying or misrepresenting the good (a promise of a game) being sold, so its on the buyer to exercise judgment on whether to buy it. You are entering a contract to take on some risk in exchange for a better price/bonus features - don't be surprised when that risk materializes occasionally.
Not just unethical. Illegal in many regions. I will not hesitate to charge back a software purchase if the software cannot be returned but does not work.
It's fuzzy because of the definition of working, but I get to decide that.
Imvestors beware! I've only ever purchased 3 pre-release games and all delivered. With a keen enough eye it's pretty easy to tell if a game is going to deliver on its promises in a satisfactory manner. If you are having trouble discerning the lemons from the good stuff, maybe you shouldn't be investing in games.
I was referring to Microsoft's Master Chief Collection which was almost unplayable until six months and multiple patches after release.
You're putting all the onus on "investors" (really, consumers, because these aren't actual investments). They're expected to pay money if they want new products and then they get victim blamed if they aren't careful enough. They're not the ones at fault.
I’m with you here. But I’m not sure how I’d actually articulate why this practice is unethical. There’s an at least theoretical risk that the more pressure (of any kind) we put on the expected launch quality of so called crowdfunded or pre-sales models, the less risky the industry is going to be in aggregate, in terms of taking on bolder steps. While I’m sure there are numerous instances where this gets abused, I’m not sure on which side of the sweet spot we are.
If established companies were just a tiny bit better with the way they do presales, this might be okay. But I've bought too many products in the last five years that were literally broken (videogames are the prime example) after forking over $60. Some of those products have remained broken for months. That's unethical. What shocks me most is this has happened with flagship franchises, which tells me those companies simply don't give a damn. Why should they, when the pay now, deliver later business model works?
Companies need to prove that their product is valuable, you can't do that when you flip the relationship, the power dynamic is completely out of whack - we're the billion dollar company, but we want you, the consumer, to give us money now for a product which we promise will be good later.
As consumers, we should expect more.