Driv3r Gate was a disaster for the industry

[JPF997]

Driver 3 despite all of the controversy surrounding it still ended up being one of the best open world games ever made, I'd argue  it was better than nearly all GTA games In fact ( besides Vice City and San Andreas of course ).

The only thing Driv3r Gate accomplished was to destroy GTA's only viable competitor, hell I wouldn't be surprised if some rockstar employees had a hand in fomenting that scandal in order to FUD the competition.

Another thing that Driv3r Gate accomplished was to end Atari's run as a major triple A publisher, ever since that games financial failure Atari lost the ability to compete with the other big publishers and went into a two decades long decline, it's only now thanks to Wade Rosen that they are finally getting back on they're feet.

So in conclusion Driv3r Gate was a dumb movement that only hurt the industry in the long run, no positive change actually came from it, only the death of an iconic IP and the near death of one of gamings most iconic companies is what happened as a consequence of it.

Edited March 18 by JPF997

[JPF997]

Wow it's only been a few hours and this thread is already appearing at the top of Google search results for Driv3r Gate, looks like the J Man wins again 😎

Edited March 18 by JPF997

[Razzie.P]

Wouldn't that mean that it's not really a big deal, though, if this is a top search result?   Like, if I create a topic that "AHJGKLFGJKFHBLEEEEHGIURTRHGJFKGH is a huge disaster!"   and that's the top result when someone searches for "AHJGKLFGJKFHBLEEEEHGIURTRHGJFKGH " then probably means it's not really a thing.

 

 

I dunno, I've never heard of "Driv3r Gate" before, so not sure of what happened and any details.  I thought it was simply that they released a crappy game (I know you like it, and that's fine) and fans wished they had taken time to finish/polish it instead of rushing it out for whatever reason.  

 

Although I do seem to remember a magazine or some magazines being bribed to falsely give it a decent score.  Was that the deal, or something different?

 

 

Edit:  Excited to check in a few hours to see if AHJGKLFGJKFHBLEEEEHGIURTRHGJFKGH is at the top of a google search

 

[JPF997]

27 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

Wouldn't that mean that it's not really a big deal, though, if this is a top search result?   Like, if I create a topic that "AHJGKLFGJKFHBLEEEEHGIURTRHGJFKGH is a huge disaster!"   and that's the top result when someone searches for "AHJGKLFGJKFHBLEEEEHGIURTRHGJFKGH " then probably means it's not really a thing.

 

 

I dunno, I've never heard of "Driv3r Gate" before, so not sure of what happened and any details.  I thought it was simply that they released a crappy game (I know you like it, and that's fine) and fans wished they had taken time to finish/polish it instead of rushing it out for whatever reason.  

 

Although I do seem to remember a magazine or some magazines being bribed to falsely give it a decent score.  Was that the deal, or something different?

 

 

Edit:  Excited to check in a few hours to see if AHJGKLFGJKFHBLEEEEHGIURTRHGJFKGH is at the top of a google search

 

Well  Driv3r Gate happened  back in 2004 so it's ancient history now  by internet standards , it's actually not that surprising that this thread made it to the top of Google search results so easily, I was just having a little fun since this is my second thread to have appeared on Google.

 

Regardless the consequences of Driv3r Gate are very much real, everything I stated in the first post is completely accurate , sure some might disagree with my interpretation that It did more harm than good for the industry  but  it's undeniable that it had a long term affect on the industry and Atari especially.

Edited March 18 by JPF997

[82-T/A]

9 hours ago, JPF997 said:

Driver 3 despite all of the controversy surrounding it still ended up being one of the best open world games ever made, I'd argue  it was better than nearly all GTA games In fact ( besides Vice City and San Andreas of course ).

The only thing Driv3r Gate accomplished was to destroy GTA's only viable competitor, hell I wouldn't be surprised if some rockstar employees had a hand in fomenting that scandal in order to FUD the competition.

Another thing that Driv3r Gate accomplished was to end Atari's run as a major triple A publisher, ever since that games financial failure Atari lost the ability to compete with the other big publishers and went into a two decades long decline, it's only now thanks to Wade Rosen that they are finally getting back on they're feet.

So in conclusion Driv3r Gate was a dumb movement that only hurt the industry in the long run, no positive change actually came from it, only the death of an iconic IP and the near death of one of gamings most iconic companies is what happened as a consequence of it.

 

I love how the fact that something happened at the Watergate Hotel in downtown Washington D.C., has led to the de-facto name standardization for all quasi-conspiratorial / controversial events occurring in the world. Even when so and so controversial event happens in like... India, or Egypt, or Laos... it'll be like...

 

<insert foreign language here>gate.

 

I love it... hahah.

 

 

So what exactly is Driver Gate? Someone crash through a gate with condoms filled with jelly beans?

[Video]

I liked the driver games, but never heard of driv3r gate. Ill have to look that up.

 

Idk about last popular competitive game though, how much did Atari have to do with never winter nights? Many people gushed over that one, unfortunately as a mmo, not my flavor so can't comment myself.

 

(ediy)also I recall "true crime" being a solid contender for GTA style open world games, so I wouldn't say driver was the only one. That one was killed finally cause rockstar got around to porting GTA to other systems besides PlayStation.

Edited March 18 by Video

[Razzie.P]

2 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

So what exactly is Driver Gate? Someone crash through a gate with condoms filled with jelly beans?

No, that was jellygate.

 

Seriously, get your gates straight.  Last thing we need around here is another case of misinterpretation_gate.  

[82-T/A]

18 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

No, that was jellygate.

 

Seriously, get your gates straight.  Last thing we need around here is another case of misinterpretation_gate.  

 

I'd definitely be interested in some kind of jelly-bean gate... just not the scenario I presented. We could leave the prophylactics out of it. I'll just take the jelly beans.

[JPF997]

1 hour ago, 82-T/A said:

 

So what exactly is Driver Gate? Someone crash through a gate with condoms filled with jelly beans?

Long story short back in 2004 some gamers found out that Atari was bribing game journalist's to give good coverage to Driv3r and later good review scores as well. This started a massive gamer revolt which led to arguably the most successful boycott in gaming history, Driv3r completely flopped financially and Atari entered a period of long decline that lasted two decades, it's only thanks to Wade Rosen that they're finally getting back on their feet since 2021.

Driv3r Gate had many unfortunate consequences, while I don't doubt the good intentions of the boycotters there's no doubt that as a result of they're actions Driver as a major triple A franchise (and once GTAs biggest rival) died as a result , only small scale spin offs like Driver San Francisco were made after the third game bombed ( and nothing ever since, it's a completely dead IP now ).

This also had a massive impact on Atari, they had a lot riding on the success of Driv3r, it was the most expensive game they had ever made up to that point and ever since, after it bombed at retail Atari's run as a major triple A publisher died with it, soon after Ubisoft overtook Atari as Europe's largest game publisher and a few years after that Atari went bankrupt ( 2013 ) and had to sell most of they're IP's to survive.

Overall no one ended up benefiting from this in the long run, except Rockstar since GTAs primary competitor was taken out as a result of this fiasco.

 

Edited March 18 by JPF997

[JPF997]

1 hour ago, Video said:

I liked the driver games, but never heard of driv3r gate. Ill have to look that up.

 

Idk about last popular competitive game though, how much did Atari have to do with never winter nights? Many people gushed over that one, unfortunately as a mmo, not my flavor so can't comment myself.

 

(ediy)also I recall "true crime" being a solid contender for GTA style open world games, so I wouldn't say driver was the only one. That one was killed finally cause rockstar got around to porting GTA to other systems besides PlayStation.

It was the only real competitor to GTA in terms of game sales and relevance in the wider culture,  here I found this fan page  that compiled the game sales data of each Driver game up until 2009, look how large the decline is after Driv3r.

 

https://drivermadness.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1648

Edited March 18 by JPF997

[+D Train]

I think the issue was that:

 

* Driver was a popular franchise

* atari was working on driv3r for three years - it was enormous and very over budget

* in the interim, the grand theft auto really took off

* atari decided that it was vital to release driv3r before grand theft auto san andreas was released

* atari traded advance copies to a couple of publications in exchange for high ratings to help goose anticipation and sales

* atari released the game in an unfinished and basically unplayable state

* when the gaming public found out how problematic the game actually was, they opted not to buy - not sure you can call that a boycott

* atari lost a huge amount of money on the game

* driv3r was never fully finished and the IP was eventually sold off

* and atari lost so much money that it really jeopardized their business going forward.

 

it's a really weird story

 

[Giles N]

54 minutes ago, JPF997 said:

Long story short back in 2004 some gamers found out that Atari was bribing game journalist's to give good coverage to Driv3r and later good review scores as well. This started a massive gamer revolt which led to arguably the most successful boycott in gaming history, Driv3r completely flopped financially and Atari entered a period of long decline that lasted two decades,

Actually, good you bring this up, as using manipulation and tricks instead of delivering quality to best of ones’ available production means, sooner or later will backfire.

 

And moreover, people don’t usually like being manipulated, deceived or lied to, even if its about just ‘dumb entertainment’. 
 

Some manipulation tries to feed into peoples mind in such ways they feel

its their own idea or view, even wheb they were spoonfed a certain ‘take’ for a long time.

 

For my own part I’m believe in the ‘strategy’ of trying just to deliver quality or fun, don’t overstate, manipulate or ‘play games’ game-players (a rethorical pun this time), ie consumers investing money, - but more importantly time -, on things.

 

Sell whatever you sell, for what it is, not less, not more, not something else.

 

Not paying this basic respect to consumers can lead to companies dissolving, industries in the ashes, major franchises being killed, etc.

 

Good reminder.

[Giles N]

Wasn’t it some 50000 people who actually signed a petition that Star Wars Episode 8 had to be undone, snd replaced…?

 

I mean - its surreal… 
 

…snd yet, Episode is close-to unwatchable if you aren’t multitasking, having it running on a device in the bsckground.

 

This wasn’t even deception, just a mindblowing level of ignorance to basic human ways of reacting/responding to stories, meaning, heroes, etc.

 

The folks behind it couldn’t tell any difference between emotional reactions for seeing a superhero character to which an audience have followed for 40+ years, and Obi-Wan letting himself be cut down by Darth Vader, after the world had been aquainted with these characters for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

 

Man, - that takes some stupendous ignorance - to greenlight that for one of, or world biggest Sci-Fi franchise.

 

Should I’ve stunned by watching them burn down their best stuff, or should I just wake up to that it almost inevitably had to go that way as the overtake happened…?

 

Anything to learn here concerning videogames and franchises and entertainment-stuff people have loved or ‘liked’ for 50

years straigth…?

 

 

[Razzie.P]

18 hours ago, D Train said:

I think the issue was that:

 

* atari released the game in an unfinished and basically unplayable state

* when the gaming public found out how problematic the game actually was, they opted not to buy - not sure you can call that a boycott

* driv3r was never fully finished and the IP was eventually sold off

 

 

 

I thought those points were really all it was, too.   I loved the 1st one, liked the second quite a bit, but when 3 dame out, I thought it was a bit of a mess and figured the developers just didn't get to actually finish it.  So word got out that it was a turd and people just didn't buy it.  But OP said "still ended up being one of the best open world games ever made" so, I dunno.

 

 

[JPF997]

29 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

 

I thought those points were really all it was, too.   I loved the 1st one, liked the second quite a bit, but when 3 dame out, I thought it was a bit of a mess and figured the developers just didn't get to actually finish it.  So word got out that it was a turd and people just didn't buy it.  But OP said "still ended up being one of the best open world games ever made" so, I dunno.

 

 

Driver 3 despite it's faults is still a very good game, most people who trashed it never even played it, they just heard that the game was unfinished (which it was) and had many bugs and glitches so they never gave it a shot.

 

Also the rivalry between Driver and GTA was a very real thing, both games kept roasting each other until Driver stopped being a relevant IP

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19 by JPF997