In addition to what others have said I'd like to add.
This is the only point where I partially agree with you. Games used to have demos. They rarely do these days and there is absolutely no way for someone to evaluate whether a game is truly a good fit for them or not. Even gameplay videos are poor indicators as they are generally highly curated content.
That is a damn shame.
You want the truth?
Here it is - Yes, yes they very well could. It's an extreme and absolutely ridiculous example but that's the truth. As long as customers are very well aware that the final product is solitaire when purchasing it after release, they very well could. Anything shown off while in development is subject to any change they feel like doing. That's the simple truth. It's not a contractual agreement between us and them. Not in any way.
But what about pre-orders I hear you say? If they're given the chance to opt-out and get a refund because the product took a completely different turn, no harm no foul.
It would certainly get them in trouble with other groups as a public company but customers? Not at all.
The 2018 gameplay video was not a commercial. Not by a long shot. It was supposed to be a media restricted affair never meant to be shown to the wider public. CDPR chose to show it after people clamored to see it. They even said that this might not be the game people see on their screen at launch.
It was a mistake to show it. A mistake CDPR is paying dearly for and seems to have a learned from.
1. All the source material and information about the game, came from that 48min gameplay, the Night City Wires, and Youtubers demo.
So how can a customer (us) know how the game looks like before release?
We need to get the informations from that materials, because it was the only material avaible.
This is the only point where I partially agree with you. Games used to have demos. They rarely do these days and there is absolutely no way for someone to evaluate whether a game is truly a good fit for them or not. Even gameplay videos are poor indicators as they are generally highly curated content.
That is a damn shame.
2. So based on what You are saying, they could release a 2D card game (as Microsoft Solitaire for example), right?
"In the trailers we show what we had in mind. But in the end, this is the product".
You want the truth?
Here it is - Yes, yes they very well could. It's an extreme and absolutely ridiculous example but that's the truth. As long as customers are very well aware that the final product is solitaire when purchasing it after release, they very well could. Anything shown off while in development is subject to any change they feel like doing. That's the simple truth. It's not a contractual agreement between us and them. Not in any way.
But what about pre-orders I hear you say? If they're given the chance to opt-out and get a refund because the product took a completely different turn, no harm no foul.
It would certainly get them in trouble with other groups as a public company but customers? Not at all.
And that's a misunderstanding on your part.4. Lucky for us, that's not how the world works.
Generally the commercial before product release (not only games, but also cars, eletronics, and so on) shows exactly how the product will look like.
And that's why CDPR has a lot of backfires, and others company don'ts.
Look a Bethesda trailer: what you see is what you'll receive.
The 2018 gameplay video was not a commercial. Not by a long shot. It was supposed to be a media restricted affair never meant to be shown to the wider public. CDPR chose to show it after people clamored to see it. They even said that this might not be the game people see on their screen at launch.
It was a mistake to show it. A mistake CDPR is paying dearly for and seems to have a learned from.