Mass Effect 3 DLC Shenanigans

[fubarFX]

that chart is pretty accurate and all but the dlc pricing is still completely off. dlc overall fails to create value for the customer. it IS a way to squeeze as much money out of the customer as possible and having that dlc day 1 just makes it look even worst (it's like they're not even trying to get you excited for dlc).
In a perfect world, dlc is part of the support and creates value for your franchise. but that's just my opinion

not to mention those "already on disk day 1 dlc shenanigans" (I'm looking at you capcom)

also EA's online pass is fucking disgusting
remember back in the days when you could have a lan party and play multiplayer on a closed network? these days are over, now they are removing LAN features and are making you purchase an online pass. that's just degrading the customer experience for profit, plain and simple. The customer is obviously taking a backseat here because EA only cares about their shareholders. We're going to see more and more of this in the coming years. boiling frogs I tell ya!

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Some games still have closed LAN (Tf2, CSS, Dustforce), but, are mostly the smaller companies who have them (But, barring the first 2 I mentioned).

EDIT: also Bioware and EA telling us to stop acting like producers and just play their damn game.

 

[grazr]

Personally i thought DLC was to create replayability and continued interest post-launch.

I don't see how day 1 DLC does either of those and as Ravidge has already said, what you get from particular DLC is no where near worth the value it's sold at (50% of the games total value?). I fail to see it as anything other than monitisation when all the coding and content is there, it's just extra bits that take no time to produce at all and being sold at the same value or close to the value of a full AAA title.

Valve have already shown the industry that map packs don't need to be purchased because they increase revenue from full game sales anyway, sales that more than make up for the man hours spent making that content. So whining about needing to pay the content producers is a completely moot point as that income already exists without putting a price on the DLC.

"There's no point in releasing DLC a year after your game has come out when most people have already sold your game back to GameStop three times,"

If players understand that a game will recieve consistant updates to game content over a period of a year then they are more likely not to sell the game back to their local retailer after the first week (having power levelled through the game). Ignoring the fact that Steam is actually DRM, TF2 has been proving this for the past 3 years. Updates even 4 years down the line were still creating revenue for the game and they weren't even charging for the DLC.

This is also ignoring the fact that as an RPG game with dynamic storyline elements it's one of the most replayable games ever created, next to Skyrim (out of the 50 or so gamer friends i know who played ME1/2 only 1 has sold his copy and only because he sold his entire game collection along with his xbox. Most of the others are still playing through each game a 5th or 6th time). I don't see why they couldn't just allow user created content as an alternative, like many other RPG's such as Skyrim or Star Trek Online, to create continued interest if they're that worried about their design team not being paid. No other companies seem to consider this such an issue, at least that's what i'm presuming considering they're not employing these monitisation tactics. STO has gone the TF2 route with F2P 2 years after launch and running off of microtransactions whilst Skyrim has proven that you don't need multiplayer to have a full, replayable game.

 

[Okrag]

not to mention those "already on disk day 1 dlc shenanigans" (I'm looking at you capcom)

Why even look at Capcom? The Mass Effect DLC was also on disk.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Why even look at Capcom? The Mass Effect DLC was also on disk.

I heard it was only on the Collectors edition disks....

 

[Okrag]

I heard it was only on the Collectors edition disks....

Link? Also even if it was only on the Collectors Edition Discs it means that they had it ready by the time they shipped and still lied.

 

[fubarFX]

Why even look at Capcom? The Mass Effect DLC was also on disk.

wow according to some sources the content was on the disk. so they're charging people for dlc without hosting a single file. no server costs, 100% profit. double dipping at its finest!

I'd like to be on the developer's side, trust me, but publishers make it impossible

 

[TheKieranator]

I bought the Collector's Edition and I had to download the DLC off Xbox LIVE yesterday, so I kind of don't think it was already on the disk.

 

[YM]

Probably a case of work on it, cut it, then when the DLC team breaks off they decide that's the one thing they want to do first, so they come back to it.

I will say this again: Day 1 is the only time I'd want to buy DLC for Mass Effect 3.

 

[MangyCarface]

Game was short : /