About the EU campaign for maid outfit and fat chocobo

[Kururu-Chan]

And the worry some have expressed over codes running out because the mag isn't too popular, and the idea of codes being stolen... nope, I'm still side-eying this a lot.

Also, I really do wish the other region promotions would have been confirmed. Even making us wait longer might have been fine if it was like 'here is how every region in EU can get codes.'

[jameseoakes]

Is there any reason why the UK is getting such a bad promotion, I wouldn't have thought any actual gamers would read that magazine

[Felis]

I didn't say it can't be bought, but I don't see why ALL EUROPE have to buy a specific magazine from ONE country (which is ironically not part of EU anymore) when they could've have used Steam or ANY OTHER media in existence.

Brexit have not started yet. The UK is still part of the EU. They want to wait for a new prime minister before leaving the EU.

Also not ALL EUROPE have to buy it, they can buy it if they want. Other europe promo events for the other europe countries are still coming.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

I am very disappointed in this promotion. The main reasons are and I'm not going to start bashing either side of this are.

Accessibility
Purchasability
Time- Scale

Accessibility ~ While I admit the site is easy enough to navigate and it's easy to find the purchase area, it takes at least a good minute of reading to realize that you do not need to subscribe but can wait the 3 months and "Back Buy" as needed however this is something that is not as easy as say buying something from Amazon game department or walking into 7/11 in Japan and buying a few cans of drink~ It feels as if we're getting rather pushed aside with this, who knows what the deal will be for the other countries. "Angry magazine customers" aside, how did they think we would receive this campaign honestly?

Purchasability ~ I have not seen this magazine in stores? Is it sold in specialist newsagents because it doesn't seem to be around? I live in Sheffield in England (Or the UK to those not familiar) It's a pretty large city, certainly not somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Now I'll admit sure it's there online but is there any guarantee that if we back order instead of subscribe that we will DEFINITELY receive a copy, will they print one specifically for us who order or will we have to succumb to supply and demand? I want my items as much as anyone else, I will likely still go through with this promotion regardless of me voicing my negative opinion on it.

Time - Scale ~ America got their promotion deal 74 days? I think give or take a couple after Japan, now YES America did try to cheat their codes but this was fixed with only giving out the codes when the order got shipped. Now I don't know about you guys but my average shop on Amazon.co.uk does not take a whole 3 months to ship items, however if you are to without subscribing (Which you can only subscribe for the October issue not the August or September ones) you must wait until whatever release day you can back order from, which yes means the whole 3 months basically, while you can probably buy them one month at a time that's still a HUGE gap between codes.

I'm going to go into a final couple of points which are more my opinion or personal grievance with this campaign. First of all, to those of us who do not purchase this magazine anyway, why should we suddenly have to buy it now? What use do we have for it if we're not going to read it. Why not simply put the codes on the cash shop instead, this is literally all we are doing, paying for codes. Those of us who really want these items and I mean REALLY want (I've been waiting months for maid attire) will likely do it anyway and I really, really have to point out the grudge we're going to hold against you Yoshida-san for making us jump through hoops to get these items.

Finally, I really dislike the idea of using a photo to authenticate the Chocobo promotion, I am very self-conscious about my appearance, even my passport/drivers license was a huge ordeal for me, I don't have to provide photo ID to Paypal when registering my debit card details. I don't have to provide a photo to Amazon when presenting my delivery address instructions, why is it not possible to break up parts of the Chocobo code in each of the 3 magazines and have them fit together to form a whole? Or send the serial code of your receipt with the ISBN number of each magazine/barcode. I'm going to probably not do the picture part as I'm really hesitant about sending it via email to a company I've never used before but maybe that is just myself. Like I said, these are personal things.

Games Master has been around since 1993 when the TV show Games Master came out. I haven't purchased it since the days of Megadrive. I still see it in majority of newsagents and it is also in WHsmiths.

[Kling-Klang]

(DEVPOST)

Its like you are just repeating what mirta000 was replying all the time to anyone who was angry at this whole deal.
The issue is the way the promotion is being handled in EU (in this case UK). JP and NA had a much simpler and easier time doing this whole thing, and EU (UK) has to bend over and do all the things nobody wants to do just to get the items. And wait 3! whole months, while JP and NA got them in about 24 hours.
I dont understand.

[Stumble]

Its like you are just repeating what mirta000 was replying all the time to anyone who was angry at this whole deal.
The issue is the way the promotion is being handled in EU (in this case UK). JP and NA had a much simpler and easier time doing this whole thing, and EU (UK) has to bend over and do all the things nobody wants to do just to get the items. And wait 3! whole months, while JP and NA got them in about 24 hours.
I dont understand.

Yes! This is 100% accurate!

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I... Honestly don't mind. Everyone acts like the magazine has killed their mother, but really it's only like 15£ for the chocobo mount, the atires and the masks and it comes with a free magazine! I don't see how it's worse than buiying a million bottles of water. As for not being comfortable about posting your own picture? They don't need your face, they just need proof that you're a person and not just a copy-paste bot on the net. Just wear a mask, or end your picture at your neck. I don't think that anyone will object.

The price isn't what has UK players irate, but the fact they have to pay a subscription for a magazine many do not want. Compared what with JP and NA players who basically could buy whatever they wanted-- for far less after currency conversion. And yeah, Europe got royally screwed.

[Sayori]

Its like you are just repeating what mirta000 was replying all the time to anyone who was angry at this whole deal.
The issue is the way the promotion is being handled in EU (in this case UK). JP and NA had a much simpler and easier time doing this whole thing, and EU (UK) has to bend over and do all the things nobody wants to do just to get the items. And wait 3! whole months, while JP and NA got them in about 24 hours.
I dont understand.

Amen.

/10char

[Rynia]

Please understand that far apart from the fact that it's a terrible medium, Future Publishing are a terrible, terrible company. I won't be buying the magazines on principle, not that there will be any in a shop near me.

Funny thing though, gaming in the UK is very niche, MMO gaming even more so, but their circulation is so poor it won't even cover the amount of players in the UK, let alone the ones who don't get their own promotion later in the wider EU. Are they going to publish more than their usual numbers to meet demand? Unlikely.

It doesn't take a genius to realise we're being massively let down here. Taking an unethical company as your partner in this was your first mistake, followed up by tying it in with unrelated media that only generally puts 18,000 copies in circulation (and that's numbers from 3 years ago, I imagine interest has dwindled since then), followed by then dragging the promo out over 3 months compared to the 0 seconds it took our NA friends, followed by the whole bizarro fat chocobo needing all three magazines bought. Greedy. Very greedy. And very disappointing.

[Saphinara]

Games Master has been around since 1993 when the TV show Games Master came out. I haven't purchased it since the days of Megadrive. I still see it in majority of newsagents and it is also in WHsmiths.

I knew of the show, I was a kid at the time, didn't know about the magazine, which is why I said "Specialist" WHSmith is still considered one these days right? Im probably gonna go look on Thursday since the community team said it's the latest issue, if not going to just try and get it online. Thanks for clearing that up though.