@jedikv: There is not a single case I can think of where 'voting with the wallet' worked in the context of not buying a game on day one. Simply because, like I said, you have no influence over what anyone else does. Saying: 'Well, if we all did this then it would work' means nothing when that is just never going to happen.

The only thing you can actually influence is you. Unsatisfied? Speak up. It works. It has worked. And it continues to work as evidenced by this. Arkham Knight was largely pre-ordered, yet it was pulled from Steam regardless because people spoke up about it.

No developer is going to notice you didn't buy their game. Because it's never going to be 'all of us'. It's going to be just you. And that just doesn't matter on this scale.

I bought the game on the release day and I am now just putting it on the shelf. I can play with few issues because I own a pretty beefy machine. But I'm not going to miss out on any improvements or freebies (wink).......I can't afford a lot games and it always seems the one I finally save for crash and burn.....Oh well ....Live and don't learn!! Use to be they made the game on PC then ported to consoles....always felt bad for those guys and girls....Now I am under the heel of the man!! LOL!

@zevvion: You know I agree with you that we should vocalise to developers. Not sure how you're making it one choice or another, you can both not pre-order something and voice your opinion on it. That's what happened during the Xbone reveal, a combination of bad PR from the DRM as well as low pre-order rates forced Microsoft to change their tactics. Due to the lower sales, they've been trying to win over the public ever since. Games series like Tony Hawks, Guitar Hero and Sim City all fell due to lower sales. Besides, it's great to see a decline in preorders, it shows consumers are getting wise, it also means potentially less pre-order DLC bullshit too.

I give WB credit (and I use that term very loosely) for being up front and suggesting the refunds. As for people immediately raking Iron Galaxy over the coals: For shame. I find it doubtful that it was all on them. I see it like this:

WB: Iron Galaxy, you're doing the PC port for Arkham Knight.

IG: Cool.

WB: You have a month before launch, delays aren't allowed. Get to it.

IG: Fuck

Granted, it could be they just dropped the ball, but considering how most ports seem to be handled these days, I doubt it was all down to one developer messing up.

That's an huge oversimplification and misrepresentation of the current situation.
"x86 code base" ain't much use if performance is bottlenecked at other parts in the process, like draw-calls to the graphics API.

Both the Xbone and PS4 are able to access their graphics hardware in a much more low level way than PC's currently are able to, this allows Xbone and PS4 games to issue way more draw-calls for graphics.
On PC DirectX 11 can't handle that same number of draw-calls, to accommodate for this large parts of the game have to be rewritten or the graphics simply have to be "nerfed".

This issue has been affecting quite a lot of recently released PC versions, FarCry 4, AC:Unity, even the Witcher 3 devs had something to say about it.

Luckily a solution is already in the works with DirectX 12 and the Khronos Groups Vulkan API (OpenGL), we have to thank AMD for that because they had been the ones pushing for a more low-level API with Mantle.

PS4 version is fine. Even looks better!

Yeah I think I'd rather play this game, honestly

@accolade said:

Bat's is trippin hard.

@hardtarget said:

Gallery

If you're curious to see how bad it can really get, check out these screenshots of my just AMAZING experience trying to play the game on pc.

just great all around

I can only say I do not understand this failure. Not mad or anything, I appreciate WB/Steams quick cap on it. And though my PC is pleading me to wait, I've got that new PS-4...

Stuff like this make me anxious about building my own PC this year.

Provided the Unreal texture streaming is behaving the PC version looks just as good at this point (better if you're running above 1080 and have the bonus nvidia bits). The patch restored all the missing effects.

Yep, the (first, hopefully) patch hasn't fixed everything but I'm not now getting the massive frame drops when the limit is unlocked. I'm getting a pretty solid 60-70 with half of the Gameworks stuff enabled and am *only* dropping to the mid 50s when Batmobile doughnuting.

Before the patch I was seeing single figures.

My PC specs eat the PS4 hardware for breakfast. but yeah it makes perfect sense that an under optimized console would have the best looking version.

Unfortunately welcome to the new way for PC ports. Hello Assassins Creed Unity.

Someone even told me that Nvidia lied about the 30fps debacle and showed off the game running at 60fps on PC fully optimized.

Why is this possible?

I know they care and are going to fix it.

I wonder if that would have happened without the steam refund policy? Ya!

Let me end all the you're a console fanboy you're a pc elitist crap and say this.

Logic suggests that it is unnacceptable for a game on a $400 console to look better than it does on a $3000 PC.

BTW I own an PS4, XBone and WIIU I just like and think I'll get the better experience when I've paid for it and it's not exclusive.

I have all three consoles plus PC. I purchased this on PC because just recently I upgraded it (because of you Witcher 3) and pre-ordered Batman figuring it'd be the best experience. Obviously that didn't pan out. I'm one of the few where the game isn't totally broken on PC however I am really missing on the visual goodies that PS4 offers (not to mention the Scarecrow exclusive). Buuuut, if I do the refund then I give up on having the Harley Quinn pre-order bonus and the 'possibility' that the PC version will turn out good in the end... eventually. I just don't know what to do. Wait it out or go for the refund and get the PS4 version sans HQ.

@ptys: don't be, this isn't the norm (despite what some may say).

@misfittoy: I'd say refund, there's no reason to let them keep your cash for a defective product. Who knows how much they will fix it, given Arkham Origins was dumped pretty quickly, leaving a lot of big bugs unpatched.

@jedikv Thanks for idea on that. You make a good point. Maybe I'll just play through the Harley Quinn stuff quick and do the refund. I don't want to be stuck with a game that's never fixed. I don't recall if Arkham Origins got this much attention though. Probably not with Steam refunds and all this go around. I wonder if all the refunds are motivation to get it in a more workable state this time. This can't be good PR... you'd have to think all the negative attention would shine a bad light overall - even if the console versions work fine.

@misfittoy: I recently refunded my PC copy and bought it on PS4. The Harley Quinn DLC is REALLY short so you're not missing out but I ordered from ShopTo and I still got the DLC. It's a pack in so places might still have copies, it's not a pre-order bonus emailed or printed on a receipt.

I will probably buy the PC version once it is fixed to show my support and have a hopefully superior version, but put your money in to the PS4 for now.

I went back to the game to see how the patch worked and it doesn't seem to be working. Anyone else not getting the update on Steam? Aren't there supposed to be more options like Ambient Occlusion?

@misfittoy: AO is on by default. It'll be added to the settings screen in a future patch.