Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Pre-Order Silliness Scrapped

"Never pre-order," we say, which is shorthand for "Pre-ordering is a gamble, so do be careful when placing bets and don't be swayed by the free shrimp buffet that is bonus DLC." Pre-order bonuses are usually harmless enough, but Deus Ex: Mankind Divided [official site] publishers Square Enix had the awful idea of saying they'd release the game early - only if enough people pre-ordered.

Following loads of folks telling them it was an awful idea, Squeenix have now scrapped the 'Augment Your Pre-order' plan and stuck the game with its original, unaugmented release date of February 23rd, 2016.

Mankind Divided's pre-order doodad was split into several tiers of bonuses to choose from, with more levels unlocked as more folks pre-ordered. At the lowest level, you could choose one of three packs of weapons and outfits, then other tiers would bring choices of things to listen to and look at. It had all the irritation of retailer-exclusive pre-order bonuses but for seemingly no reason. If enough people pre-ordered, the highest tier would be to bump the game's release date forward by four days.

Well, that fuss is over now. Square Enix said in a blog post today:

"When it was first conceived, we wanted the program to give you more choice about what you received in terms of pre-order incentives - because we've seen in the past that when we choose those packages ourselves, and split them across regions, it has caused frustration. We quickly noticed that this approach created even more frustration than before, resulting in a resounding amount of negative feedback.

"We've spent a lot of time reading through all of your comments, working to understand how we can try to make things right for you. After much thought and reflection, we decided to close down the program and make all of the incentive content available to anyone who pre-orders Deus Ex: Mankind Divided or purchases a Day 1 edition of the game. Additionally, the release date will no longer be changed in accordance with pre-order numbers, and everyone will gain access to the game on February 23rd, 2016."

You could've committed to the earlier release all the same, you know.