Square Enix Cancels Mankind Divided Pre-Order Package

When Square Enix first announced Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, fans of the Deus Ex series were hyped as hyped could be--not only was the trailer sufficiently amazing, but the promises Square Enix made for the game were enough to knock our collective cyber-socks off. Unfortunately, they couldn’t just step down from the stage and enjoy their success, they had to keep talking--and soon enough they mentioned pre-order bonuses.

Pre-order bonuses are sketchy in the first place, because it incentivizes people to spend money on a product they can only assume would be good on faith alone… which is generally a bad idea. Still, while the occasional cosmetic skin or little feature can be tolerated from time to time, some games take things a step too far--Deus Ex: Mankind United was one such game, where pre-order bonuses were ‘unlocked’ as more people pre-ordered the game, meaning that buying the game early was useless UNLESS a lot of other people did it too.

Well, the key word there is ‘was’: Square Enix, in a rare show of ‘listening to critics’, has actually canceled the pre-order shenanigans.

“We’ve spent a lot of time reading through all of your comments, working to understand how we can make things right for you. After much thought and reflection, we decided to close down the program and make all the incentive material available from day one to anyone who pre-purchases Deus Ex: Mankind Divided or purchases a day one edition of the game. Additionally, the release date will no longer be changed in accordance to pre-order numbers, an everyone will gain access to the game on February 23rd, 2016.”

So, the pre-order bonus is still there, it’s just not reliant on numbers--plus, you don’t have to pick which one you want, you get it all. Frankly, that’s how it should have been from the beginning, if they’re going to sell pre-order DLC, but the goodness of the deal isn’t the real story here. The real take-away is that the system works--you raise enough hell and call companies out, they will respond. Remember that for next time something of consequence comes up.