Update: BigBen Interactive has now announced a second delay to the Switch version of the game, pushing the release back to 19th June in Europe. The official press release states that this is "to ensure that the game launches with all improvements and fixes needed on day one".
Original Story: With the crazy and colourful Mario Tennis Aces just around the corner, Tennis World Tour looked to be a decent option for those wanting a more 'authentic' experience. The game was set to launch for Switch in May, but has since been delayed until 12th June - just next week. Unfortunately, its launch on other systems - which went ahead as planned - has been something of a disaster.
Speaking to French newspaper Le Monde, founder of BigBen Interactive Alain Falc admitted to several glaring issues surrounding the release. "The departure was chaotic," he explains, noting that the project was "only 20% completed a few weeks before its release". You likely don't need us to tell you that this is pretty much unheard of in the game development world, but it sadly gets even worse.
It turns out that rather than postponing the release to spend more time on development, the company chose to release the game anyway to avoid "losing the benefit of marketing campaigns already committed", as well as making sure it launched during the 2018 French Open for maximum selling potential. The focus from here is to reportedly release an updated, refined edition of the game next year, with a brand new Tennis World Tour already planned for 2020-2021.
Falc remains almost mockingly optimistic about the situation, however, stating that the company "put 500,000 pieces on the market but with many distributors who have no right of return, so we know that will be profitable". Yes, you read that correctly: the low quality of the game (which was described as "the worst tennis game that has ever released on any format to date" in SA Gamer's review) doesn't matter to BigBen Interactive because the shipment of the game has already been secured and can't be returned. Brilliant.
The game is still set to launch for Nintendo Switch next week, on 12th June to be exact, and while we don't know for sure what state the game will be in, we're not exactly left with much confidence.
[source jeuxvideo.com]
Comments 88
So much face palm.
The Switch version literally has no chance of success, considering now players got a taste of Mario Tennis Aces. (And we know Classic mode will be an option in MTA)
And I thought I hated tennis before...
Switch owners should boycott this. What an attitude!
Yawn...
BigBen games are boring, even I Love My series on 3DS Europe.
I hope this gets 1 and 2s and flops so catastrophically that retailers refuse to stock any future software from this publisher.
If there is any justice, there won't be an instalment "next year".
To think that I was even considering this. Big Ben can consider themselves blacklisted.
I'II wait for a Review on the Switch Version (doubt it will be getting any better, since it was poor on XBONE/PS4). but im getting Aces anyways for my Tennis fix, and if i wanted more tennis games on any other consoles it would be on PC.
Oh my good God. That is just staggering. It's as if they designed the whole thing to be a parody of video game publishers. Surely he won't retain his job following these comments. In fact, in sounds like nobody involved should! This is shameful.
I'm sorry, it just should not have launched. Please, nobody buy it. This would never have happened even back in the Wii U days, so don't let these developers perform the rip-off tactics they've done for the other formats on a Nintendo system.
That attitude will come back to bite BigBen in the ass when their next game launches. Retailers wont order many, if any, copies from them. Their reputation will take such a big hit with gamers and other developers, too. If I worked for that company, I'd be updating my resume and looking to get out now. This is just a train wreck.
Wooooow. I don't even know what to make of this. For the head of a development studio to just outright say the product is a rushed job that's far from completion yet smugly say it's okay because it's impossible for them to not make a profit... Do they understand what PR means? Because this doesn't bode well for their public image.
It's as if they looked at how bad Ultra Smash was and thought, "Well if Nintendo isn't gonna release another garbage tennis game this month, we might as well give it a whirl."
@Ooyah : The craziest thing about this is that the founder has disclosed this to the press. They have just written their own death sentence, and I hope that their retail partners decide to return all 500,000 copies so that they can deal with them like Atari did with E.T. all those years ago.
Wow, at least they are honest to say that the game is incomplete.
Perhaps they should charge the game for what is really worth as well.
Currently the game is selling at full "normal" price in the UK but I'm sure it will drop quickly due to the quality of it.
I wasn't a fan of the publisher, BigBen, after playing Snow Moto and Aqua Moto on Switch. I believe BigBen is one of those publishers everyone should consider avoiding.
And in other news... Switch owners rewarded effort.
https://gematsu.com/2018/06/bloodstained-curse-of-the-moon-sales-top-100000-one-week-after-release
they should just cancels this trash on Switch
If anyone who owns a switch and chooses this over Mario tennis then u basically don't deserve a switch.
@Quarth I wasn't planning on buying this game since I've already pre-purchased Mario Tennis Aces (God bless my grandma for doing so), but now I'm really not going to buy the game! 😃 That's what I call voting with my wallet!
Big Ben has been terrible for years and constantly milked niche fans desperate for certain sport games... I wanted a tennis game but seems like a hard pass... same the jet ski and snow mobile racing games that should have brilliant
Scumbag city blues right there.
I'm amazed that they even made these decisions in the first place let alone make it open to the public, releasing a game that isn't even a quarter of what it's supposed to be just to make a quick profit from people who have preordered or interested in the French Open is terrible!
It's appalling and I'm not planning to support them in any way in the future
And what even is the 20% that we currently have!? Surely at least 75% of their plan would be "have tennis"?
@olrodlegacy "This would never have happened even back in the Wii U days"
This has happened time and time again, long before original Wii. However EU's refund law that transformed into Steam and other platform's refund policies curbed the practice a lot, especially after disastrous Arkham Knight's PC launch and subsequent mass refunding. Now if only Nintendo stopped breaking EU law and implemented a sensible refund policy of their own...
Honestly that kind of ethical attitude has no place in any business and is horrible to hear. Nintendo should pull its release based on that statement. I’ve never heard someone so brazen
@Kimyonaakuma This is why a sensible person should never preorder videogames.
@olrodlegacy it has happened since the Atari. It’s called shovel ware
In an effort to save that marketing money already invested, the company just damaged the franchise's reputation forever.
Way to go, geniuses.
I feel so betrayed by this. Was really looking forward to a realistic tennis game. I can't ever bring myself to support this developer given their attitude. Congratulations in your 500,000 copies, I guess. You won't sell much more after that.
Certainly, this developer or any isn't let off the hook for something this blatantly egregious. However, in a big picture frame of things, the entire industry bears some responsibility for allowing these practices to even be considered. I can name about a hundred triple A/big budget franchises that never should had been released in their state and people lapped it up anyways
I thought most (if not all) BigBen games were overpriced trash anyway, but now I’ll make a point of dissuading as many people as possible from buying their useless tennis game. And they’ve got the gall to charge £49.99 ($59.99 in NA) on the UK eShop!
Wow, just wow. Stay far away from this developer. That's not the way to do business.
@SmaggTheSmug I don't really get why people bother doing so anyway, it's not like you're missing out if you buy it on launch day.
Besides you might end up with a mess like this...
I'm not one to hold a grudge but those comments there from the publisher means I will be sure to never purchase a game with their name on it. Disgraceful response!
Hopefully Nintendo will remove it from the Eshop,if that's even possible now.
Big Ben interactive, nuff said..
So it's thanks for making this game profitable for us, you suckers. And hope to fool you again next year. That's how it sounded.
A class action suit bait, for sure. A full price game for 20% content. Any lawyers here?
As already said by many, I see stockists and retailers blacklisting the game so next year they get next to no orders unless theh literally give it away.
Or if I was a retailer I would be tempted to place a sign on any copy I ordered quoting this guy’s words. They can’t take anyone to court as they are on record of saying it.
BigBen software = shovelware 9.999 times out of 10 .
BUT, I blame Nintendo to be ok with this behavior ...
Nintendo's "Seal of Quality" has to come back .
Should be fun to read reviews for this. Can’t wait.
“We know we’re selling a terrible, unfinished product, but it’s cool, and guys, pleeease don’t worry about us. We’ve managed to steal enough money already to ensure we’ll be able to update the roster, get the game a liiitle closer to finished, and release it again next year. Which reminds me... Tennis World Tour 2020-21 is officially announced! Wahoo, amirite?!?”
@bimmy-lee That's exactly that!
"Hey guys, you can't return our copies and you've already paid for them, so wait for the enhanced edition, bye! By the way, the game is terrible and we know it!"
@Kosmo - Yeah, the statement is unreal. The lack of all situational and self awareness is staggering.
@SenseiDje All the Seal of Quality stood for was that Nintendo verified it would play on their system and the vendor was locked into their contract (until that was deemed illegal).
Even back in the NES and SNES it didn't prevent crappy games from being on the system as despite a seal of quality LJN rolled hot garbage out on both systems (along with a few other publishers).
The game will be finished in 2020-2021? Sounds like a kickstarter campaign to me.
Another good example of today's video games: betting on marketing only and releasing an unfinished game.
Exactly like no man's sky.
So I'm guessing BigBen Interactive should be blacklisted forever.
@Quarth
Not only switch owners. There should be a blacklist for editors like this.
@Switchitup thing is, I was going to get this over mario tennis only for the fact it was looking like a decent realistic tennis game. I own 2 other mario tennis as wells as Wii sports, but after reading this, I will be getting mario tennis again.
Fun Fact about BigBen games...
And next, Mario Tennis Aces vs. Tennis World Tour.
Ladies and Gentlemen. What NOT to do when running a videogame company.
Disgraceful bigben. Shame on you.
Well, I won't be buying anything from this publisher in future (if I ever have in the past).
@Captain_Toad
"Ladies and Gentlemen. What NOT to do when running a videogame company."
Copycat ?
What a joke.
Thank God for Mario Tennis Aces.
Whoa!! Good luck getting your retail partners on board next time. This guy just screwed his next launch.
Bigben is going on my list of shovelware game developers. Because this is the same attitude that shovelware developers have when given popular movie and book IP's. They put something together that just barely squeaks past console verification and stop caring once the first shipment hits stores.
I'm just glad Mario Tennis is there to dump on their Switch launch.
The game actually just got delayed to the 19th of June. I don't know how they can add 80% of content in a week but good luck. Also, releasing so close to Mario Tennis Aces is just silly, if you ask me.
They should've delayed the game completely, on all platforms and avoid being ridiculed for taking the players for cash machines.
Who would buy this over Mario Tennis?
BigBen? More like BargainBin amirite? 😄
“Authentic” graphics seems to be the one and only selling point for a huge crowd these days. Haha to them
@marnelljm "Who would buy this over Mario Tennis?"
People who are sick of Mario's face being plastered on EVERYTHING
@marnelljm
The pricing point is important...
I guess they rushed it to market (PS4, XBOX1) in competition of AO Tennis. A game, that is also rushed :-/
Whatever fine line there is between confidence and arrogance, this guy’s long crossed it. Wow. He legit sounds like a Disney villain.
In the UK, this sort of thing is known as "Doing a Ratner".
Poor show. If you want a good non Mario tennis game 'on the go', get a cheap Vita with Virtua Tennis 4, it's a good game, if years old now.
@Syntaxkita at least with NBA Playgrounds the devs owned up to their lackluster debut, fixed everything, gave a public apology and then promised all the early Switch adopters free copies of their next game. Methinks Big Ben won't be going to the same lengths to fix their public image...
Wow...that's just amazing. The publisher openly declaring they shipped a game that was TWENTY PERCENT complete, and that they intend to do little about it, and that they're happy because they stuck their distributors with the baggage? Did this guy just start from a Big Pharma/Big Finance/Big Data/ or Big Defense industry where these kinds of statements are seen as success?
Meanwhile he's delaying his trainwreck of an incomplete game on Switch to make it better? After Mario Tennis launches.
Wow, I think this deserves some shelf space next to our WiiU copies of Aliens: Colonial Marines and Project CARS.
These developers ain’t gamers no more. The poopy booty industry got to them, now they just corporate shells out there for money.
BigBen is an awful game company.....
I mean.. wow. What dickishness!
Wow. Gotta love a dev who is open about screwing over the userbase. Sarcasm, btw, I will have to remember the name so I don’t buy a game from them in the future. There’s enough crappy practices by devs nowadays, so it’s worth noting when one company is exceptionally crappy, the industry doesn’t need this.
Whoa, with their words and the absolutely horriffic way they handled this game, they have 1000% made sure that I never ever even have a thought of buying a Bigben game ever.
Atrocious!
Also, 20% done and still released? Just eeewww!!
I admire the honesty.
McEnroe vs. Borg it is not.
bigbens games are all the same rough and shoddy rugby games arent too bad but some releases are just cash grab
@lifepsychedelic
Mario Kart has always had an element of luck to it but I don't see how that applies to Mario Aces. How is Aces not competitive?
This game will flop and the developers reputation ruined forever. All this for short term financial gain. Bad move. Was genuinely thinking about getting this instead of Mario Tennis once i seen some reviews. Decision made. Hello Mario!
Launching this at the same time as Mario Tennis was a terrible move
The correct response from retailers should probably be to not order from them. The re-release or updated edition or whatever next year seems like a safe game to bet against. Who really wants last year's game but "now it's ok, I promise"?
Glad that, for once, the disastrous version of a game was released on other platforms first. Pretty used to Nintendo getting the short end of the stick.
A bunch of crooked scyhsters with the intent to defraud.
Watch when their game releases on the Switch that it's DOA and then Mario Tennis Aces releases and the game is the fastest selling Sports game to date. I'm TELLING you guys they're gonna blame the horrible sales for the Switch version on Mario Tennis Aces!
"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."
LOL 20% on cartridge, 80% download later next year. This is going to be a trend on Switch.
@Kinoen What if a delayed game turns out to be bad?
A whole new low here. This guy is honestly committing business suicide by openly saying they released a piece of crap to make money.
Wow, that's one way to try and make sure you go out of business.
@JayJ
You dare to question the infinite wisdom that is Shigeru Miyamoto?! BEGONE THOT!
@Kinoen Just saying, Duke Nukem Forever was a thing
@Nincompoop
???
Tennis World Tour is 20% complete, not 20% on cartridge + 80% download.
Talk about missing the point completely...
@westman98 The irony of misunderstood sarcasm.
Why can't there just be a remake of Super Tennis already? Since 1991 maybe a couple tennis games are as good or better?? Bring it back!!
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