VGCC Episode 348: The Destiny of Virtual Stars
I would have been happy with eggs.
Zero Time Dilemma, the third game in the Zero Escape franchise, is launching in just a few hours. Fans of the franchise pre-ordered special editions that came with a physical watch made to look like an item from the game, but their excitment may have wrongly bit them in the butt.
Fans have been awaiting shipping alerts for their games for a few days now. Aksys then Tweeted that the pre-order bonus watches were damaged in transit.
ZTD preorder bonus game/watch bundles were damaged in transit. The watches were sent back to the factory, but game units are on time.
— Aksys Games (@aksysgames) June 24, 2016
Aksys then claimed the games would arrive on time, but fans were worried when their ship dates weren’t updating. After bugging Amazon and Gamestop customer service, some fans have gotten mixed messages about eventual ship dates, with some claiming that they wouldn’t get their game until mid August.
nice pic.twitter.com/ZlObnc1Z9B
— Jesse M. (@deepFlaw) June 28, 2016
Aksys Games, publisher of Zero Time Dilemma, are currently trying to set things right. Currently, PR reps from Aksys are claiming that Gamestop should have the games available for pick-up on the correct day, and will update pre-orderers on their watches once they’re fixed. Amazon is another story, and one Aksys rep had this to say:
Amzn ZTD folk- 1. Don’t cancel. 2. Don’t approve your insane wait. 3. Don’t buy a 2nd copy. I’ll raise hell, see what I can come up with.
— DANhalen (@Aksys_Danny) June 28, 2016
This is one of the most baffling releases I’ve ever seen. You would think that just releasing a game by itself, then shipping the watches later would be the logical option, but there must be some reason Amazon is being so difficult. Either way, if loyal fans get screwed over thanks to a transit mistake and a messy distributor, it’ll be a bad day for Aksys, especially since there are rumors of smaller game stores selling copies of the game early and spoilers are all over social media.