It almost didn't. otherwise it would have been another DOOM3 scenario.

From what I recall DOOM was wracked with issues.

Except for the whole thing where you are sealed inside rooms when fights begin.

Pre-order exclusives and other such nonsense can't really be considered as a way to force people to make a choice, they're just incentives to make a (poor) choice.

poor move for bethesda. I hope people will treat it's releases with caution.
all these big companies dont give a shit about consumers rights...

oh and their statement expalinig this move - is pure shit, at least they could be honest with their intentions

Current and probably all future Bethesda games are tainted with Denuvo anyway, so I couldn't care less.

Like nearly all Blizzard games nowadays is tainted with 'always online' in some form.

Well, pretty much all Blizz games nowadays are multiplayer, so that isn't surprising.

Does anybody? Surely the casual gamers don’t even read games websites, and the hardcore crowd who did are more fractured than ever. I might check one out now and then to get the general consensus on a game long after I’ve already bought it, but it’s really just a habitual action for something that used to be relevant in my life, the same way you might idly thumb through a computer magazine (and at least the front covers of those magazines get some eyeballs because customers have to pass them on the way to the bakery section).

That's about the size of it. Words are clumsy, and video is more tangible to people. Youtube is the first place I go and I've long suspected it was going to usurp games media somewhere down the line.

How can less information for the consumer be considered a good thing?

I 100% approve of no early press reviews. Just release your fucking game and let people buy it regardless of affiliation. I do not approve of them lying about it and doing early press reviews anyway.

Huh, just realized that now. I've only seen videos. I noticed it, but I didn't have any other thought about it because it felt like an insignificant detail at the time. Yeah, the original didn't have that restriction, I think.

Well, not 100% fine, but it could have been way worse.

I thought Demos were supposed to let you get a taste of the game. Or Beta releases (I've seen even Alpha releases to the wide audience)

Just a natural development which doesn't really say anything about the quality of their games, more about what professional game reviews mean to large publishers and developers these days. Handing out early review copies is simply high risk, low gain.

I have to agree that not giving out early press review in this case feels more like an acknowledgement that the gaming "press" feels more and more irrelevant to both consumers and producers in the gaming market than anything else.

Frankly, considering all the shit those so-called journalists have pulled, the only thing I'd have to say if they disappeared in favour of Youtubers and such would be "good riddance".