Warner solving Arkham City DLC issue with a simple 5 step process

by Richard Mitchell on Oct 19th 2011 3:15PM

According to a tipster, it looks like Warner Bros. is taking steps to resolve the various downloadable content issues faced by purchasers of Batman: Arkham City. Or, more precisely, Warner is asking customers to take steps -- five of them, actually. Alright, six if you include having to contact customer service in the first place.

A Joystiq tipster by the name of Michel contacted customer service, and was told to provide the following:

A dated proof of purchase (receipt, invoice) showing the purchase of a NEW copy of the game (not a rented or used copy, nor a copy purchased from eBay)
Your gamertag for Xbox Live, or your profile for the PSN
Your email address
A scan or digital picture of the package and game disc(s)
A scan or digital picture of the code sheet (both sides).

Upon receipt of the information, customer service promised it would "escalate" Michel's issue "so a code can be produced." Obviously, the whole ordeal once again raises concern for the concept of "Online Pass" or "Project Ten Dollar," which is ostensibly aimed at reducing used game sales and thus increasing publisher revenue. Then again, it's supposed to reward customer loyalty, offering new purchasers something extra for supporting the developer and publisher.

And this isn't the first time that Online Pass has caused problems for the users it was meant to reward. Driver: San Francisco also ran into problems with missing redemption codes. Dirt 3 purchasers were unable to redeem their online passes while PSN was down earlier this year, and the developers were unable to disable the requirement, as it was hard coded into the game. Before that, Xbox Live Silver members ran into trouble downloading extra content promised for new copies of Dead Space 2.

We'd like to ask if Online Pass is more trouble to publishers than it's worth, but unfortunately we already know the answer.

Tags: Batman-Arkham-Asylum-2, Batman-Arkham-City, catwoman, microsoft, online-pass, playstation, project-ten-dollar, ps3, xbox

Reader Comments (152)

Arkham city is 20% off on steam if you haven't gotten it yet....

@Timjoy
Only if you own LEGO Batman or Arkham Asylum.

@(Unverified)

If you don't own one of those, then you don't deserve 20% off.

@Timjoy

even better...

http://www.toysrus.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=10802101&ab=Tru_homepage_aspot:1:Buy-2-Get-the-3rd-FREE-ALL-Vid

shhhh it ends on Saturday....

@Timjoy

This is why I hate people that spout off the "just buy the games new" line in all the online pass articles.

I buy all my games new, and I still loathe all this nonsense.

Warner f**ks up which means we got to spend extra time getting the DLC that should have been on the disc to start with -_-

@RobertCarr

If you bought it, it means you approve of it.

@RobertCarr Oh gone are my hopes of a simple compensation process in which I could easily pose falsely as CE owner and receive the Catwoman code for free, which I'll use when I buy I used copy.

@dogmaticatheist Thats exactly why I canceled my pre order of the CE. I wont support this crap and while I salute Rocksteady for making a solid game I cant stand behind the horrible practices of the DLC that has been making the rounds. This is why DRM doesnt work, this is why the paying consumers get screwed not the pirates. Im sorry for everyone who had the issue but uts what you get for allowing this to happen. FU WB and FU Rocksteady for partnering and allowing that to happen to your game.

@RobertCarr
Sweet, more and more people are getting it. I've passed this info along to less games-news-savvy friends, and they're not buying this game anymore either. It may be a tiny drop, but every person who stands against this crap helps.

Remember this next time someone tries to tell you that DLC like this doesn't affect you if you buy it new. Looks like it would be better to buy it cheaper used and pay for the code yourself if you absolutely want to pay money and reward WBIE for this snafu.

@RobertCarr
I would just like to point out the irony of my trip to the Customer Service page of WB (just wanted to send them an email saying that this screw up vindicating my refusal to buy into their schemes), when the trailer starts playing:

"Had you ever considered that all this is your fault. Your presence creates these animals..."

@RobertCarr
Yeah, it's not a "reward for your loyalty" when you receive content that is held from the game.

Customer Service Rep: "Hello, thank you for calling Customer Service"

Caller: "Yeah, I just bought Arkham City and it didn't have a code in it"

Rep: "Okay, please provide me with these items and a code will be generated"

Caller: "Look, I swear it came with a card that didn't have a code on it"

Rep: "SWEAR TO ME....ahem, that you will provide me with proof"

@ObiBen8

Hello, this is Peggy. Tank you for calling Warner Brothers Customer service, please hold

@The Tim
Corporate accounts payable, Mina speaking, JUST a moment.
Corporate accounts payable, Mina speaking, JUST a moment.
Corporate accounts payable, Mina speaking, JUST a moment.

First thing that popped into my head reading that. ;p

why can't they do the driver thing and just put it up for free until it's fixed. i doubt many used copied will be sold in the first week or 2

@littlejay2o02
You are underestimating the power of Gamestop

@Lerkero

But GameStop is giving catwoman codes with used purchases, so even that falls through.

I think I'll take a digital picture of me with the Best Buy cashier making a purchase when I go pick up my pre-order just to be extra safe with WB.

@StevEvilOne

I'm just imagining the Best Buy employee not being in the picture when you show WB.

"He was there, I swear!!"

What a bunch of bullshit. I encountered the first Catwoman mission (which is integrated into the narrative structure) after less than an hour of play.

A bunch of people who bought the game new and don't have working codes either get to play a crippled version of the game, or just not play their new copy while they fill out forms in triplicate, send in digital pictures of the game disc shoved up their ass, etc, etc, and wait a few days for a swamped customer service to say yes, you have permission to play the game you bought.

If someone buys the game used from Gamestop for $55 with the Catwoman code printed on the receipt, they are getting a much better game experience than the sucker who bought the game new and didn't get a working code.

Warner instituted this system because going out of their way to punish used customers was a much higher priority than providing a great experience for the new customers. Goddamn amateurs.

@copa

I agree, pretty sad they have to sit there and make New paying customers jump through such hoops to get what they were originally offered.

This is one of the issues with online passes and such.
Since if you mess them up all you're doing are hurting the people who did buy your game new.

@copa Huh? The very first scene you play as Catwoman. You don't have to wait an hour.

@Hoops

Holy shit, that opening scene is locked behind DLC, too? I just kind of assumed that was made available to everyone because most companies aren't crass enough to require paid download codes to play the FIRST FREAKING SCENE of the videogame.

@copa

You know what's funny, them Pirates are probably playing the DLC (On Consoles OF COURSE!).

The Word "TROLOLOLOLOLOL" Comes to mind for the Regular people that bought this.

only?

Oh my gosh. That is terrible.

Hey, Warner Brothers, you screwed up! How about taking the hit and giving out the codes free for a week or something, rather than sending customers to Documentation Hell.

That is absolutely ridiculous, they are asking of scans of the receipt and game contents? They screwed up, give it to everyone. Making a bunch of scans is a huge hassle and I would think a majority of people dont have scanners. Really pathetic WB, absolutely pathetic customer service.

@singleandlovinit

Seriously. I don't even have a scanner. They're making it harder for the die-hard fans who pre-ordered, instead of just owning up to their mistakes.

@singleandlovinit

Not to mention that digital photos are dubious proof at best. I can spend 20 minutes in photoshop and come up with all the "evidence" they requested.

@fohf
indeed

@singleandlovinit Agreed. WB should figure out root cause, fix it, them implement a temporary stopgap to make the interim as painless as possible. That's defect resolution 101 and reputable companies do that because they care about customer satisfaction.

Imagine of automakers installed parts that only worked if you could provide proof of original purchase.

"Your car is slow because the extra 100 horsepower is only available to initial buyers. If you can provide documentation proving such (including five forms of identity verification), we will be happy to unlock it for you."

Ugh, this sort of DLC should have been included on the disc, not something separate to download. It especially sucks for those that live in developing countries that have access to modern consoles but not a stable, high-speed internet connection such as one of my cousins in India.

This sort of thing will only get worse over time where you'll buy the game but still have to download hundreds of megabytes of content from the internet. > : (

Ha so you have to go through five extra steps beyond buying the game new to get the code....for buying the game new.

I might as well just wait to get it used and buy a code and get it in two simple steps, and still pay less than 60

I hate DLC and I they just proved why with this stupidity BUT it doesn't cripple the game by not having this DLC.

@PedoJokerBear

"BUT it doesn't cripple the game by not having this DLC."

I'm going to disagree with you here, assuming we all care about the storytelling in the campaign.

I've only reached the first Catwoman scene, but this is how it played out. That spoilery thing happened with the Joker, and then Batman ended up in a cliffhanger predicament, and... what happens next?... cut over to the Catwoman scene to set up another part of the story.

It creates a nice bit of narrative tension. If you don't have the code I assume you just immediately find out what happens next with Batman. This is not the way the story was intended to be told, and it is a crippled campaign experience.

Suppose you played Gears Of War and they removed the chapters where you played as Cole and Baird and found out how they rescued the tanker ship? Then after it was done, you go the chapters and were told, "Well now you can play them and find out what happened!" Is that the same campaign experience? No, it's a crippled narrative.

@copa Just wait until it happens with Mass Effect's multiplayer mode.

@copa

Maybe so or maybe not. That one Catwoman mission doesn't really propel the story, but it is neat playing as a different character.
What really sucks, and what this incident actually reveals is the hardship and future delays placed on game developers by the publisher's marketing dept. When the artists who make the game have to chop up an experience, a vision that was grown and nurtured, just to appeal to some goofy ideas from the suit-and-tie roundtable... well, one can only imagine that we will be getting an inferior product.
The future is not bright.

@copa

I have a funny feeling that Gears DLC will do exactly that and we'll be seeing what happened when Cole went off to find the reinforcements that magically appear at the end.

what a joke

Glad I am waiting for a Steam sale for this game. What a bunch of crap! You guys are right that they should be giving the codes out free for a week. I can't think of another industry that punishes its loyal customers like the gaming industry.

We will see the end of days for console gaming when all you had to do was put in a disc and play. Now, we have installations to the hard drive, patches to the game, firmware updates to the console, downloading DLC from the internet, etc.

@nerdydesi1

Or we can wait a month for the PC version, and *still* have to go through all that crap.

@baby sea tuna I guess what I was arguing is that console gaming is becoming more complicated, slowly but surely losing one of its advantages over PC gaming.

Is this a special pre order Riddler Puzzle?

@prodigy69
hahaha classic.

In order to play part of the single player game you need a scanner, a digital camera, and email address and an internet connection.

next year they'll be asking for our passports

@eat it

Yes, because that's the LOGICAL conclusion. First, you sent in info that has nothing to do with you personally aside from your Gamertag, then suddenly you have to give up all your ID.

I don't see where you're getting this assumption from, because honestly, they asked for NOTHING personal aside from scans of the game itself.

@Copybass Ah jeez zombies

excuse me. did they not ask for email addresses?

@Copybass Ah jeez zombies

I think it was a joke, dude. Not meant to be taken seriously.

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Batman: Arkham City

Warner solving Arkham City DLC issue with a simple 5 step process

Reader Comments (152)

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:19PM Timjoy said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:21PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:32PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Oct 20th 2011 12:15AM youngoz said

Posted: Oct 20th 2011 6:03PM Vcize said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:23PM RobertCarr said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:45PM dogmaticatheist said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 4:24PM Oozinator said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 5:25PM MonKENy said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 7:46PM aristokrat said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 8:14PM aristokrat said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 9:20PM Prox said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:23PM ObiBen8 said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 4:06PM The Tim said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 4:32PM Jennacide said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:24PM littlejay2o02 said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 5:12PM Lerkero said

Posted: Oct 20th 2011 2:40AM Raiki said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:26PM StevEvilOne said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:33PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:27PM copa said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:29PM Jawmuncher said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 4:09PM Hoops said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 4:50PM copa said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 6:42PM ComedyInK said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:27PM Gratchet said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:29PM Daveboy said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:32PM singleandlovinit said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:44PM FlashJS said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:45PM fohf said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:48PM ChaseHammerJ said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 5:14PM StrangeDNA said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:32PM nerdydesi1 said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:33PM OGC said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:33PM PedoJokerBear said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:50PM copa said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:59PM Faceless Troll said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 8:18PM JonahStein said

Posted: Oct 20th 2011 4:21AM arkweld said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:34PM eat it said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:34PM Cranky Penguin said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:37PM nerdydesi1 said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 4:08PM baby sea tuna said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 8:15PM nerdydesi1 said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:37PM prodigy69 said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:48PM ChaseHammerJ said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:38PM eat it said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:39PM Copybass Ah jeez zombies said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:42PM eat it said

Posted: Oct 19th 2011 3:43PM Korbie said

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