Posted on: Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
Posted in: News
Comments: 69
The WarZ Controversy? -UPDATED-
After releasing the WarZ on Steam, purchasers of the game have cried foul and even demand legal action be taken for fraud.
As some of you may know, after the runaway success of ArmA 2 mod DayZ, a new zombie MMO was announced calling itself the WarZ and showcasing the same gameplay elements of DayZ. When the internet pointed out that WarZ was just a copy cat, the developers turned around and claimed it had been working on WarZ long before hand, though that is now being called into question. It also seems that the Steam release has caused quite an uproar as claims of false advertising, threatening blacklisting for requesting refunds, doctoring photos, copying the terms of service from League of Legends, and moderators banning people for complaints in broken English have skyrocketed.
From my time in the 3-day guest pass beta, I found the game to be incredibly boring, poorly optimized and with zombies being sparsely populated and more of an annoyance then anything. It seems things haven’t changed, and while photos like the above are being used to promote the game for sale, in reality they were staged and are not representative of the actual game. Naturally as a result a firestorm of rage has erupted with parties blaming both Valve for not testing the game, and Hammerpoint Interactive for false advertising of in game features and misleading consumers into buying an unfinished product. I think TotalBiscuit covers the WarZ itself best in his “BoreZ” video and would highly recommend that people avoid this game like the plague of zombies it wishes to be.
Update: It almost goes without saying, but Steam has pulled down The War Z and is offering refunds for anyone that purchased it.
Sources:
Escapist Forums Destructoid
Extras:
TotalBiscuit’s BoreZ
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69 thoughts on “The WarZ Controversy? -UPDATED-”
Its awesome game
Bought it when friend recommended it, pre-Steam sale, and was pissed about its gameplay. It is a terrible game and am now even more upset because my friend told me about his free trials, after I had became bored with it. All buyers unhappy with it should have a refund. Steam buyers or not.
Got my refund from steam. Praise the lord, quick word of caution to everyone. Stay away from this steaming pile of fecal matter, excreted from the rectum of a Rhinoceros.
If the textures, outdated engine, buggy servers or gazillion of bugs in game were not enough, you have to deal with the countless hackers who use aim bots and esp to camp spawn zones. Furthermore, they claim this game is an mmo, yet the mmo is limited to some random retard smashing your brains in with a baseball bat before you can type a greeting in proximity chat.
If you enjoy playing a “MMO” where you basically spend the whole time hiding behind foliage and avoid speaking to anyone or interacting with any players, just to live long enough to grab some weapons and loots only to be killed by a hacker from 1000 yards away, then this is the game for you.
If like the rest of the gaming community, you want to enjoy a fair, balanced and finished product, please look elsewhere. Hell even Day Z is better than this horseshit.
Sir if you played the mod the game is basically copied from you’d realize that In this it is killed or be killed not much pairing with strangers and it is mostly hiding from players not zombies
Hi,
My friend introduced this game to me and he and I and a couple of his friends played this game for about 8 hours straight. Really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it coming as a former Operation Flashpoint / ArmA gamer. 30 years old / Sweden
I started playing the game on Oct. 15th with a community of others. Are plan was to get a private server when they became available. We were originally told they would be available in the beginning of November,then December. Its now halfway threw January and we still don’t have private servers.
The hacks showed up within the first week. You could avoid them on low pop servers at first, but now they are everywhere. Most of gameplay ends with some guy killing 4-6 of us within seconds.
The game has made little to no progress since the alpha release. The bugs/glitches that were in the game then are still around now. Loot still floats in the air. Hills still try to kill you, not as bad as it was originally but still an issue. You can still jump into windows and get onto roofs. Alot of rocks/columns can be hidden in and you can shoot out at people.
The map is still not the size we were told it would be. The ambient sound is getting worse with every update. Hearing random dubstep and other sounds in the woods is highly annoying. They do have more zombies, but they are tethered to towns. Just run to the edge of town and they will get stuck and you can go about your business.
The whole thing with putting the game on steam came as a shock to most of us playing the game already. We were told nothing about it till after the fact. When i seen the steam page and its list of features that were nonexistent at the time. I knew a shitstorm was coming.
Sergey put up an apology about the whole thing on the warz forums, but at the same time blamed the players for misreading the information on steam. I am highly surprised their is not a lawsuit against them already.
All in all i originally thought the game had potential, but with hammerpoint making the game it will most likely die.
The current state of the game is a hacker infestion. The warz forums are a complete mess and not really in working order to see if their so called anti-cheat system is doing any good.
Also forgot to mention that the emulated warz servers have made more progress with the game in the past few weeks then hammerpoint has in almost 4 months now.
HEY! forgot something important Angry Joe and Total Bisquid mentioned and its REALLY IMPORTANT to point out: most of the game is broken no Zombies, lag, poor texture and crashes but HEY! the payment system for weapons and stuff (whit real money) IS TOTALLY FUNTIONAL! what a COINCIDENCE huh?
I havent bought the game and after a few videos ive watched over these few days im glad i havent because this game has been said as a rip off and a scam in which i agree. Also if some of you have bought the game i seriously hope you get refunds. Good luck to you.
this is cool
I’m never buying anything from hammerflight ever again
I know one of the devs for DayZ and he has confirmed that WarZ is just an attempt to cash in on the hardcore zombie-survival genre. The game is headed by the same dude that made big rig racing, and it’s essentially War Inc with zombie paint slapped on it. He also said that they have received emails in confidence from one of the more disgruntled WarZ devs. It confirms that internally the devs on the game talk about people who actually buy the game as suckers and treat them with contempt. Basically, Hammerflight is well aware that they are scamming people and doing whatever they can to cover that up as long as possible so they can cash in.
I’ve been trying to get a refund for so long. If anyone knows how I can do this, please let me know. I’ve contacted them several times but never get a response. My email is maxwellgrubb@hotmail.com. If you know anything, please contact me.
Also there is a huge problem with hackers which your not allowed to talk about on the WarZ forums which makes the game basically unplayable (unless you hack i guess)
I hope the terrible game goes bankrupt asap and sells to a real company.
Oh, this load of ****. My score? :NO, JUST NO! avoid it like the plague on fire, while spitting acid, and shooting rockets out of it’s eyes.
I’m not sure why everyone thinks WarZ is a scam me and a bunch of my buddys play it all the time and they are constantly updating it making it better by the second. Also this isn’t the type of game you are going to have fun as much fun alone then if you were in a group. I bought the game for $25 and haven’t had a single day where i wanted my money back. Also if you bought the game and don’t want it and for some reason think it’s a “Scam” then WarZ is handing out refunds.
for those who dont know, this game is shit… it is broken, buy dead island you will get a huge kick out of it. its like fucking 40 hours single player ALONE
wait its on steam…… opens steam, BITCHES
Hmm do I smell an Angry Review coming for this?
Please, no. Don’t give this crook the oxygen.
Apearently So many people have complained about this game that Steam has offered their money back if they can show a printed copy of the receit and show them a picture of it as well.
I’ve seen way too many people complain like this, but what too many “knuckleheads” don’t realize is that the game has not yet been officially released. Beta started Yesterday I believe, and it has been stated multiple times on the WarZ forums that anyone purchasing the game is buying an unfinished product for testing purposes. I do agree however with the sketchy buisiness practices the devs have been using. People are banned without explaination. Unfinished anti-cheat software. “Hacker-Bait” guns placed in walls in- game to see who’s naughty.
There’s also the whole copycat scandal, but that’s been a major part of the industry for decades. When battlefield 1942 came out, guess what followed? Call of Duty. who’s top dog in sales now? CoD. It’s not apperent to many, but this is the same instance, and that’s what drives the entire market- competition.
The problem was, the Steam page where the majority of people bought the game never indicated it was a beta build or in any stage prior to full release. Which is why so many people are pissed and why steam is giving refunds, taking War Z off of the steam store and apologizing on behalf of Hammerpoint Interactive.
The screenshots they used were not normal in-game screens and were edited to look nicer, and the majority of their selling points for the game on the steam page were false or misleading.
Yeah, that’s a good point. I think the game is actually solid where it is right this moment, in fact i’ve never had this much fun since Star Wars Battlefront 2. I think they need new corprate direction and they need to ditch this Sergey Titov moron. Hammerpoint has the funding to continue development, but if their advertising is so skewed and their practices so sleezy, then I guess my friend who was inexplicably banned might just go through with his lawsuit- and win- quickly.
The Steam release was rushed as well because Arktos wants to push this game out there onto DayZ’s territory, but their steam page should’ve been a ton more accurate than the garbage they used for publicity. Very poorly done trailer, skewed screenshots and very illegal buisness manuevers might kill this game before it gets off the ground.
NOTE: Also the game still has no official anti-cheat engine. Which pisses me off a TON right this second [FEEL THE ANGRY] because it’s not uncommon for hackers to ghost in gun spawns and kill whoever picks up a super duper fancy revolver that I just lost
It’s bad that I reply to my own comments, however, the friend I referred to earlier recieved his account back along with five dollars worth of in game currency. They’re not THAT bad I guess…
Lolno…. CoD DID NOT copy Battlefield….. Please do some research before posting theories…. Here’s the real story… Remember MoH allied Assualt and 2015 INC? You see… Disappointed with EA not allowing them to make the game they had wanted, a few members of 2015 INC broke away, and made their own company, Infinity Ward…. Soooooo they learned from MoH’s mistakes, and improved on it… And then came in 2003, Call of Duty…
*Continued
I would like to apologise for my rash behavior, and somewhat mean comment…. But, being a long time fan of CoD, Vietcong AND Battlefield, I cannot stand it when people claim one copies the other without actually knowing the full story…
Joe, this is like your opportunity to bring the Gauntlet…THE GAUNTLET…down on this game and it’s shoddy business practices. Judging from what I have seen in your videos, you hate bad business practices that effect gamers, and these guys were practically scamming people out of their money. Consider it a friendly request from a long time fan, but I would love if you make a video of sorts explaining why this is absolutely unacceptable in today’s gaming world.
DON’T BUY THIS GAME JOE! Your money will be wasted! There is no point when it is basically common knowledge that it is a piece of garbage.
Don’t give a single cent to these scamming developers.
Joe: Only play it if it offers you to play it for free for a set period of time, otherwise screw even touching it.
However, I do agree with @jwalker, this type of scamming in the gaming world SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED NOR GO UNMENTIONED! And I feel that it merits you bringing your fist upon these “developers”.
Thank god I never bought it.
P.S, @SetchDreskar, good on you for bringing this up, your news posts in general are extremely helpful in knowing the various events in the gaming world that I may have missed otherwise, thanks
.
All I can say is be patient, there may or may not be content coming soon in that regard.
Games copy each other all the time…its nothing new. The fact people are making such a big deal over this is just really stupid. If you dont like it dont play it. Believe it or not some people enjoy the game even knowing its a copy. Seriously game company’s have done this to each other for god knows how long. But this is just one of the biggest controversy i have seen in a while. Seriously guys calm down its just a game….
I don’t think you understand why people are upset over this. It’s not because it’s copying anything, it’s because the developers have decided to be crooks and lie to their customers, in order to squeeze as much money from the players as possible. Shoddy business practices like that, and among other practices the company has been caught doing, are not welcome and should be stamped in the game industry as quickly as possible. Players have A RIGHT to be angry at something like this.
So Eric, if you buy a washer, and it just rips apart your clothes, being manufactured so poorly that it doesn’t function at all as a washing machine, rather a clothes eater, you wouldn’t be mad? “It’s just a washer, it’s just money, I’m still alive so I’m good to go.”
No you’d be pissed, because it’s money down the drain to a scam. Maybe you’d sit on your hands for something like this, but gamers have done just that for far too long. Just because games copy each other doesn’t mean we can try to stop it. People steal from each other all the time, yet I wouldn’t just sit back and watch if someone did it in front of me.
Games aren’t exactly life or death, but money is money, and being scammed isn’t something to “calm down” about.
Wasted 15 dollars on this game. Now I want my money back.
Steam is currently offering refunds in that regard.
JOE, you really have to do a review on this piece of shit game. It would be great but these assholes put out a game that wasn’t even NEAR completion. Talk about a shit storm.
*The “MISSIONS” are broken
*Gaining XP has NO POINT (apparently this is supposed to tie into a skill tree or some shit)
*You can’t shut off the endless stream of global retard chat.
*Normal and hardcore modes don’t work as intended.
*You get gang raped by griefers constantly (teams of three with full body armor and assualt rifles)
The list goes on and on.
Basically this is an unfinished game filled with promises of features that are either missing or broken! 2012′s RIPOFF game of the year…no DECADE!
Please Please review this game Joe after watching TotalBiscuit’s BoreZ first look i think people have to be warned
I’ve played since the October alpha release and am still enkoying myself. And by the way….more zombies spawn now.
Might want to add Gamespy’s interview too to the Extras. It was really funny to read: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-war-z/1226980p1.html
I’m not sure if you have ever played or looked at dayZ, but you should defiantly do a quick showing of this game just to see how bad it is. You can thank totalBiscut for the takedown.
Nice comment Aguy, thats exactly the reason people are pissed off because you, like so many others, put DayZ where the title The War Z should have been used… thus perpetuating the problems caused by the SCAM, COMPLETE FUCKING SCAM, that is The War Z.
My friend wants me to buy this game because it’s awesome, but I can actually see this game for what it really is; a rushed cash-in that conveniently arrived when DayZ was getting popular. Disgraceful. Rocket was working on this shit longer than the team at Hammerpoint, and doing it by himself. He’s earned my money when the DayZ standalone comes out. I’m starting to hate my friends who just wasted their money supporting another uninspired, shitty game. They bought Fable 3, White Knight Chronicles, Mass Effect 3, and the more recent Resident Evil games. I don’t know if I can justify his purchases anymore.
Wow, your friend needs some better tastes in games.
not necessarily, i believe that they bought those games for the advertising, that it seems, that the somes gaming companies spent more than developing the games itself
PD. Sorry for Bad English
This is horrible, the game looks so fucking unimpressive and dull.On good side, they are giving refund for this “game”, so it’s not all lost. But dear Lord, NO MORE FUCKING ZOMBIE GAMES, ENOUGH!!!!
Well, I did not like Day Z nor this “game”
Game devs, y u no give us a good STANDALONE game zombie game?
Please, for the love of god, I want to see a review or at least an Angry Joe Plays of War Z. This game is god awful and, considering the hype it’s been given, needs to be shown how awful it is, preferably with a hilarious review or something like that.
Don’t Torture Joe like that dude!
He was willing to play kinect games and crap like Battleship. I think he can take it. I do admit his soul has already been tortured so much, I would feel bad if he had to go through this too. But the potentially amazing review makes me ignore my guilt and human kindness. GO JOE!
No, this game is absolute crap in every aspect (it stinks of a scam), and you want Joe to give his cash to the developers responsible? Fuck that.
Having Joe talk about it is a good idea, but making him buy and review it is just wasteful and supporting the crappy developers responsible of the whole controversy, if he can somehow play the game for free then it’s OK for him to do it, but financially supporting the “developers” responsible for the whole scam of a game is just ridiculous.
Maybe somebody here who got scammed or bought the alpha can give Joe the account info. But considering how bad this game is, the awful corporate commander business practices, and how many people were scammed, we need the Anger brought upon this god awful game. It must be damned by gaming society for every sin both WarZ and Hammerpoint have committed. I will admit having him at least talk about it is a good idea, but a proper review would be more effective at saving curious people.
We also have yet to get a <2/10 game this year, and this trash deserves a negative score
Good thing it has been pulled from Steam and I believe they are giving refunds to those who want them as well.
At least Valve have manned up admitted to screwing up on this one.
They pulled it? Wow, that only took a day. Sweet. I wonder what Valve did with Project Zomboid though, that’s an actual zombie survival simulator.
Yes, I heard they are giving refunds.
Good on you Valve, though I wished they had tested the game far more thoroughly before releasing it, but I suppose the ultimate responsibility here lies with the developers themselves in making that scam of a “game”.
Thank god it was pulled from Steam.
Well that solves my dilemma. Why buy a zombie game that can’t even compare to Left 4 Dead anyways?
Interesting topic, especially in regards to Valve and how it might affect user relationships with Steam.
On a side note, you really should watch those typos in the article above.
Indeed it is though I suppose I will ask where are the typos at?
Well noticed one, it was easy to read over, heck did it four times I used quiet instead of quite, that’s depressing.
Well typos are sometimes hard to find because our brain automatically corrects it for us, despite what we are actually reading. Heck, I’m in college and sometimes I’ll re-read projects I’m about to turn in and then see stupid misspellings.
It’s especially more difficult for writing electronically for some reason, writing it down on a physical form always makes it a lot easier for me to find the typos (though it is time consuming for sure, thus I have to rely on re-reading it over and over most of the time)
i was lucky enough to read in the community forum on the buy page and was warned from all the posts to do not buy! Feel bad for people getting treated like shit over this screw up.
Glad you guys didn’t fall for it. Some of the big review sites posted vids of this game, made me buy the game, luckily I was able to get a refund.
You should watch “Worst Game Ever, Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing” on youtube. Made by same developer. Funny as hell.
It wasn’t made by the same developer, one person on the team, that being the lead, created the engine Big Rigs was made on and had no actual influence on the game itself.
Ah yeah correct, my bad. But I think it shows a lot of similarities though, even if it’s only the guy who made the engine. I don’t really have high hopes for DayZ either, although it will probably be a lot better than this. I’m waiting for Survarium, which is being made by old S.T.A.L.K.E.R. team. One of my favorite series.