I recieved the Spartan Collectors Edition which doesnt come with the game so unfortunately I cant confirm that. I also heard that the physical copies including the Aurora edition would ship with Epic game store keys but it wasn't official. Sorry I couldnt help

I expected that story to end differently. When the drm is stripped out I will happily play the game because it looks even better than the previous entries.

I'm not impressed with this move.

This happened because the devs realized that it would cost them more money to pay the shipping cost for the OP to mail the product back to them than the amount of profit they would receive from selling it to someone else.

In other words, there is no benevolent act of charity happening here; it's merely being spin-doctored to make it look as if there is.

It's possible to buy a collectors' edition of a game that doesn't include the game? Yup, the world is truly post-satire.

Pretty sure this was entirely handled by the publisher, or whoever is responsible for the distribution of the Collector's Boxes. I don't think the game devs are directly involved in any of that.

Either way, I'm sure some other publishers would have insisted that the recipient is required to ship it back and pay for the shipping costs out of their own pocket.
Not as absurd as you'd think. It means the Collector's bonus items aren't tied to specific versions of the game, so you can buy the game separately for the platform of your choice. Some may even want to keep the box sealed, and literally treat it as a collector's item, while still being able to play the game. Heck, some may even be exclusively interested in the collector's bonus stuff, not in the game itself, especially while the game is still tied to the Epic platform.

This is precisely why I left the opening post as is, so everyone could draw their own conclusions. I used the situation as an opportunity to further express my discontent towards the publishers recient anti-consumer decisions while upholding my own decisions not to reward those practises and show them that some gamers are honest and decient people. I am under no illusion that the decision to let me keep it was predominantly a logistical one and I was prepared to send it back to them had they requested it. As naive as it sounds I hope that little acts of humanity can eventually sway their decisions on using DRM and exclusivity in future releases and seriously consider GOG for their upcoming titles.

As for the game not being included in the top tier Collectors Edition I can sadly say that this is quickly becoming the norm, physical copies are now coming with cardboard that have (insert any online gamestore) keys and even those that do come with disks still require you to insert a provided key or download massive day one patches that render those disks obselete.

It all makes sense, it's just strange to consider it the collectors' edition of a game. It would make more sense to call it a "collectors' pack" or something that doesn't imply that the game is included. If there's no game, what is it a collectors' edition of?

I suppose it depends on the publisher, and perhaps also the local market for physical computer games in your country. I just recently purchased the remake of Resident Evil 2, and the case contained 3 game discs, with the majority of the installation data. I "only" needed to download about 4GB of additional data, but around 20GB was included on the discs.

Direct digital distribution is convenient, but for big AAA releases I still prefer to buy most of the game data on disc when possible.

Loosely related: What's up with the price point of some digital download versions? On Steam the digital version of RE2 costs around 60 Euro for German customers. I bought my physical copy via Amazon for less than 50, shipping included, and that was right at release. Maybe it's just me, but you'd think that purely digital versions should be cheaper, since distribution is so much easier for the publisher. I mean, they have so many additional costs with the physical editions, yet they often sell at lower prices, and the publisher/devs still make a profit. Makes the digital prices look like a scam. :|

Nice. You can't go wrong with that now. Shame these forums have to have the usual butt monkeys being negative about it.