Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's Controversial Pre-Order Campaign Cancelled

Square Enix has scrapped the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided "augmented pre-orders program," admitting that it received a "resounding amount of negative feedback."

The publisher said it initially wanted to give customers more choice with the scheme, which offered multiple tiers of rewards depending on how many people pre-ordered the game. For a certain number of global pre-orders, the publisher would give away various DLC, ranging from in-game costumes, to soundtracks, to extra in-game missions. At the highest tier, the publisher would have released the game four days early.
"When it was first conceived, we wanted the program to give you more choice about what you received in terms of pre-order incentives," it explained. "In the past, when we chose those packages ourselves and split them across regions, it has caused frustration.

"We quickly noticed that this approach created even more frustration, resulting in a resounding amount of negative feedback," it added.

According to the statement, all the content that was previously going to be unlocked as specific pre-order number milestones were reached will now be available to all customers that pre-order.

"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."

Mankind Divided is in development at Eidos Montreal for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, and runs on the developer's proprietary Dawn Engine. The game takes place in 2029, and continues the story of Adam Jensen from Human Revolution.

The Deus Ex: Mankind Divided release date has been confirmed asFebruary 23, 2016.