A gold gun, today.
The fact that Electronic Arts and developer DICE have apparently re-visited their plan to charge players of Battlefield: Bad Company for additional guns as DownLoadable Content (DLC) has resulted in a cross-Interweb battle of words.
First things first though: you won't have to pay for five new weapons. Previously, unless you'd bought the Gold Edition, you were going to have to fork out cash for five-gun DLC.
Karl-Magnus Troedsson, senior producer on the game explained the move to Gamespot as follows:
"I should pretty much start at the end, we listen a lot to what people say out there. I think that's important to show, because we don't have time to comment on everything, because there's so much noise out there, but DICE is built upon the multiplayer community, and we do listen to what people say out there.
"When we saw this big uprise about people that really felt it was dissatisfying that some people bought the Gold Edition, those five weapons you couldn't get or that you had to buy if you had the ordinary version of the game, that we just decided that all weapons will be free in the game, and that's how it is now."
What Karl-Magnus is referring to when he says "uprise about people" apparently stems from a 'Boycott Bad Company' campaign started off by games website Sarcastic Gamer.
Not all other members of the video game media (and/or blogging community) are full of love for the site's campaign however. Kotaku, for example, believes that, "Online petitions aren't worth the bandwidth they're slung along." This is because, EA will replace the cash lost by not charging for DLC, "with the advertising dollars they rake in via the 'marketing programs' anyone wanting the game's better guns will need to sit through.
"Or with other DLC offered later down the line (premium grenades, perhaps?), when this has all died down. They're not giving the money away, then, just shuffling it around a bit so you won't notice it so much. This isn't the end of stuff like this. The next EA game will have silly DLC, and the next one, and the next one."
So, charging for DLC? Is it simply a case of big companies putting out unfinished games and then bleeding cash from small, helpless gamers. Can small helpless gamers really gang up to change minds and fiscal planning? Or is DLC just the tried and tested theory of selling razors cheaply and then making money from razorblades? Your opinions to the Forum please.
First things first though: you won't have to pay for five new weapons. Previously, unless you'd bought the Gold Edition, you were going to have to fork out cash for five-gun DLC.
Karl-Magnus Troedsson, senior producer on the game explained the move to Gamespot as follows:
"I should pretty much start at the end, we listen a lot to what people say out there. I think that's important to show, because we don't have time to comment on everything, because there's so much noise out there, but DICE is built upon the multiplayer community, and we do listen to what people say out there.
"When we saw this big uprise about people that really felt it was dissatisfying that some people bought the Gold Edition, those five weapons you couldn't get or that you had to buy if you had the ordinary version of the game, that we just decided that all weapons will be free in the game, and that's how it is now."
What Karl-Magnus is referring to when he says "uprise about people" apparently stems from a 'Boycott Bad Company' campaign started off by games website Sarcastic Gamer.
Not all other members of the video game media (and/or blogging community) are full of love for the site's campaign however. Kotaku, for example, believes that, "Online petitions aren't worth the bandwidth they're slung along." This is because, EA will replace the cash lost by not charging for DLC, "with the advertising dollars they rake in via the 'marketing programs' anyone wanting the game's better guns will need to sit through.
"Or with other DLC offered later down the line (premium grenades, perhaps?), when this has all died down. They're not giving the money away, then, just shuffling it around a bit so you won't notice it so much. This isn't the end of stuff like this. The next EA game will have silly DLC, and the next one, and the next one."
So, charging for DLC? Is it simply a case of big companies putting out unfinished games and then bleeding cash from small, helpless gamers. Can small helpless gamers really gang up to change minds and fiscal planning? Or is DLC just the tried and tested theory of selling razors cheaply and then making money from razorblades? Your opinions to the Forum please.
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Comments
SuperSaiyan4 10 Apr 2008 11:55
1/2
When it comes to ripping off the gamer for DLC its definently EA when they released collectors edition NFS: Carbon it came with a 2 disc and a sleeve.
However the DLC was already on the disc and if you had bought the regular version you could upgrade it to the collectors for 800points bearing in mind that you dont get an extra disc or sleeve so how is that really upgrading to a collectors edition??
Same again with NFS: ProStreet but this time you cannot buy a collectors edition nope, instead you get the lovely choice of paying 800points to download or should I use the word 'Unlock' the collectors edition which is a measly 180k or so.
Then you got Ace Combat that game must be the biggest rip off in DLC in history the DLC for that game seems to be infinite.
You pay £40 - £50 for a game you expect it to have it all not to pay an extra £5 here and there for silly DLC thats only really unlocking content already on the disc YOU PAID FOR THE GAME so why are we having to pay to unlock content already on the disc??
However the DLC was already on the disc and if you had bought the regular version you could upgrade it to the collectors for 800points bearing in mind that you dont get an extra disc or sleeve so how is that really upgrading to a collectors edition??
Same again with NFS: ProStreet but this time you cannot buy a collectors edition nope, instead you get the lovely choice of paying 800points to download or should I use the word 'Unlock' the collectors edition which is a measly 180k or so.
Then you got Ace Combat that game must be the biggest rip off in DLC in history the DLC for that game seems to be infinite.
You pay £40 - £50 for a game you expect it to have it all not to pay an extra £5 here and there for silly DLC thats only really unlocking content already on the disc YOU PAID FOR THE GAME so why are we having to pay to unlock content already on the disc??
JJ 10 Apr 2008 17:48
2/2
"Not all other members of the video game media (and/or blogging community) are full of love for the site's campaign however"
no doubt the rest of the media and so called community (or coroprate websites such as IGN, Gamespot, eurogamer) were afraid of losing advertising revenue.
Kotaku and sarcasticgamer were the few sites that actually told it like it was ie "f**ked up" and "unfair" I see the same thing happening with rockband.
no doubt the rest of the media and so called community (or coroprate websites such as IGN, Gamespot, eurogamer) were afraid of losing advertising revenue.
Kotaku and sarcasticgamer were the few sites that actually told it like it was ie "f**ked up" and "unfair" I see the same thing happening with rockband.