I looked around quickly to see if anyone has posted this, but it appears that no one has yet.
So, for those that haven't heard, there's a DLC (downloadable content) coming out for Mass Effect 3 the same day the game launches. Without diverting too much of this post to discussing why there is such a huge controversy over this, basically the DLC contains a character that is, arguably, absolutely essential to the game's story / lore.
Unfortunately, the DLC is going to be available either for $10 (as a separate purchase) or $80 if you buy the Collector's edition of the game (don't quote me on that price point, I just know it's at least $20 more than the standard edition of the game). Many fans of the series are up in arms about this decision, and many other gamers in general have taken notice as well.
Paul Tassi, a writer for Forbes, wrote an excellent article explaining why the gaming industry is adopting marketing strategies such as the one demonstrated with Mass Effect 3's launch day DLC. If you have not read it yet, I highly suggest you do so here.
You can also read it here (if I'm allowed to repost articles, anyways):
Forbes] Why the Exploitation of Gamers is Our Own Damn Fault
Paul Tassi, Contributor
2/24/2012 @ 10:24AM
Gamers, on the whole, are a very volatile group. When we’re not flaming each other over our choice of console, or debating which modern military first person shooter is the best modern military first person shooter, we’re turning our ire toward the companies that make the games we claim to love.
It’s been a complex relationship we’ve had with the corporate titans of the industry over the past few years. Though we love many of their titles, and play them religiously, we hate a lot of things these companies have done to pull the industry in a direction we believe it shouldn’t go.
The battlefronts are often subjects like DRM and used copies of games, but lately DLC has been a primary target for gamers to complain about. On the surface, DLC seems to be a serious affront to the traditionally held notions of video games we’ve held dear for years now. With preorder bonuses, level packs and carved out campaign extras, we feel like we’re getting ripped off to some degree as our games are not “complete” at launch due to a lack of this content. This illustration jokingly shows what it might look like had all these new revenue avenues existed during the “golden era” of gaming we all revere.
But what gamers fail to realize is that back then, these companies didn’t understand just how much people love video games. Yes, they sold well, and the industry grew, but as it has, it’s become clear to these companies just how much blood can be truly squeezed out of these rock hard fanbases of long-established titles. And we’re letting them do it.
The most recent controversy in question that inspired this post is that of a piece of Mass Effect 3 DLC from Bioware/EA called “From Ashes” that gamers are deeming the “worst ever.” The reason being is that it’s “launch day” DLC, meaning that the extra campaign segment being offered in the collector’s edition ($20 extra) or sold separately ($10) was actually developed before the release of the game. Even though Bioware claims it was created in the “downtime” before launch, to gamers, this makes it look like the section has been cut out of the original title, and is being sold back to them for an additional payment. Compounding the issue further, the details of what’s in the pack have fans of the game tearing their hair out because when the alien race of the featured character was revealed, those familiar with the lore deemed it an absolutely essential part of the game, far from the superfluous content DLC usually offers.
So once again gamers have taken to the digital streets, lamenting that EA is diabolical and claiming they will boycott the game for this dishonorable maneuver. The loudest voice of the movement would be that of professional game enthusiast Total Biscuit, a YouTube star with a huge following, and I count myself among his fans. In the video below, he emphatically explains in detail exactly what’s wrong with this Mass Effect 3 DLC pack, and comes to the ultimate conclusion that he will not be buying the game in protest of the practice, as he hopes to encourage further incursions into gamers’ wallets in the future.
(Link to TB's Video about From Ashes" DLC)[/url' Wrote:I’m not blameless when it comes to complaining about DLC either. One of my more popular posts a ways back was titled “The Day DLC Went Too Far” and it was about how EA (yet again) was testing its luck by offering power guns for Battlefield 3 as preorder bonuses, which weren’t available anywhere else. I was outraged then, so why am I more subdued now? Why am I not jumping on board with Mr. Biscuit and calling for EA’s head?
You would think writing for Forbes and having an economics degree, I would have written this post long ago, but it’s taken me reading a specific comment online that really hammered the truth home to me.
“ EA seems like they only care about money.”
This was posed as a complaint about the DLC and EA’s other sins, but it’s one of those “well, duh” moments you don’t think about until it’s right in your face.
(Page 2)
It just isn’t correct to call these companies evil for attempting to extract more money from their industry. It may be eye rolling or exasperating, but it’s sort of like getting upset that auto companies charge extra for GPS, when really, all cars should come standard with it. The “exploitation” of gamers that I allude to in my title is really all in the control of the gamers themselves. Yet we all either fail to realize it, or simply don’t care.
What EA, and many of the other companies are doing, is a simple economic experiment. They know gamers are a loyal group, and they want to see just how far they can push you to shell out money for the “complete” experience of a game you love.
“But it didn’t used to be like this,” you say, as you point to the retro fake-DLC picture I’ve seen above. That’s true, but again, that was an era before companies realized just how much people love their video games. The truth is, if items like map packs, DLC missions and pre-order bonuses didn’t sell, they wouldn’t exist. Plain and simple. With each new bold “affront” to gamers, these companies are testing the waters to see just how far they can go with an a-la-carte model. Do you think if no one had ever bought the first Call of Duty map pack, that they would have kept making more? Now the game sells $1B worth of $60 copies in two weeks, with every player knowing full well that twelve more maps will be coming in another three packs for an additional $45.
The same goes for this Mass Effect DLC. You might say that you wish the extra mission was in the game, thus saving you $10. But hell, I wish the game was $30, but that doesn’t meant I won’t buy it for $60. The question at hand is…how much do you love Mass Effect? You’ve shown you love it $60 worth for years, and now, they’re seeing if you love it $70 worth.
As for me? I love it. I have loved Mass Effect ever since the first time I swapped war stories with a Krogan and seduced an Asari. The series has been one of my ultimate favorite media properties of all time, going past being a good video game to becoming just a flat out fantastic storytelling experience in general. I love Mass Effect $70 worth. I will buy this DLC.
And like that, they’ve won. It might not be particularly ethical, as DLC grows more and more intrusive, but the tactic works. For every Total Biscuit who has the moral fortitude to take a stand and say no, there are a hundred thousand other gamers who don’t care enough to keep the $10 in their pocket. As much as I’d love a million people to stand up and boycott the game so that we never have to deal with launch day DLC again, it just isn’t going to happen.
This entire DLC debate that’s taken place over the years has just been a test. And if we want to pay less for our games, we sure as hell haven’t demonstrated that to these companies. But really, when you look at the numbers for many popular games, in reality, we’re still getting a bargain. Take this $70 I’m shelling out for Mass Effect 3 and its DLC. I’m likely to spend at least thirty or forty hours with the game in total, beating it probably twice with two different characters. When you do the math, I’m paying $1.75 an hour to be fully entertained by something I love. Compare that to a $10 movie ticket, which would be $5 an hour, or the $90 I spend a month on 300 cable channels to watch a grand total of three different shows a week. When you then look at a game like Call of Duty, where a dedicated player might spend 500 hours or more playing it over the course of its year-long life cycle, even if he paid $105 for the game and all its DLC, he’s paying a mere 21 cents an hour for his favorite game.
All this said, there is a limit. Eventually companies will find a breaking point where they are simply taking too much away from games and charging too much on top of the original price so that it drives consumers away. As soon as the numbers stop adding up, the practice will reach a plateau. The problem is that we’re not there yet, and though each new step forward takes us a little closer to that cutoff line, we simply haven’t shown these companies that what they’ve done is truly that hurtful to us. If it was, these products and games simply would not sell, and the practice would be scaled back. And that isn’t what’s happening.
So while I may admire someone like Total Biscuit taking a stand for the gaming industry of yesteryear, I think it’s a somewhat futile effort, and I don’t feel guilty for my upcoming purchase of this “evil” DLC pack. It’s not “right,” in the sense that we are being manipulated to a certain extent, but it’s only because these games are worth it to us. Why else do you think there are people out there who rack up $10,000 bills in Farmville? It may seem downright cruel to sell someone that much virtual farm equipment, but if they’re willing to buy, many would argue you’d be a fool not to.
But there is an edge to the cliff somewhere, and as gamers feel more and more trampled on by their corporate overlords pulling the strings of the games they love, it’s entirely possible they can drift away from the industry as a whole as it becomes ALL about the money, and the cash grabbing becomes too much to stomach. This Mass Effect DLC is another shot across the bow perhaps, but I don’t believe it’s the hull breach that’s going to make the masses abandon ship completely.
I buy games that I dig enough to decide whether if it worths my money or not. If a game that I paid keeps me occupied even after a year with me willing to return that environment, that game deserved the money I paid. After all, I am not paying to the company in origin, but paying for my fun time. So far, except for a few titles, I never felt regret about my purchase.
Last year, the only titles that let me down (from the ones that I bought) were Assassin's Creed Revelations and FEAR 3 (this, I sold back).
I agree with everything bad said about EA and would add more but I would probably get banned from the forums lol.
I also have quite a few bad words lined up for DRM and preventing the 2nd hand market. Who the f..k you are to tell me what to do with something THAT I OWN. I can sell it, throw the disc out of the window, let my cats eat it, even try to ........... the middle hole of the disc. WHO THE ... Im ok.
DLC has been around for years, they're called "Exapansion Packs". Or atleast thats how I think of them.
Although I do agree with Total Biscuit on this one. It really does sound as if this was originally part of the game, and it was cut out to get more money out of the franchise.
TB brought up the issue of DLC in the last TGS podcast. And Jesse Cox did say "Mass Effect is like the Star Wars of the gaming industry. Since the series is now coming to an end, they're trying to make as much as possible before it does." And to be honest I have to agree with him too. All these little extras they've brought out, putting up DLC content on XBL before the game is even released, I'm sorry but it feels like Star Wars all over again. Heres hoping they don't decide to do some rubbish spin offs or try to remake all the games.
I don't disagree with DLC. Like I said in my first comment they've been around for ages. Just they used to be on CD's. Its just the ones, like Mass Effect 3s, that just feel like it should have been there originally, and they've just clipped it to drag a few more £'s out of it. And thats what I disagree with.
' Wrote:DLC has been around for years, they're called "Exapansion Packs".
The difference is, Expansion packs in years past contained 1 of two things;
1.) A relatively inconsequential pack of content that isn't necessary to enjoy the overall experience of the game. More cosmetic than substantial content.
Or
2.) A huge add-on to the game, that, while not necessary to the original, expands it massively to the point where it is almost a new game itself, thus justifying the additional cost, as it cost the company a fair sum to design and distribute itself.
New DLCs being done are, instead, vital parts to the overall game experience, but also small enough with little enough content to not justify the extra price.
Could you imagine the Freelancer storyline without Juni? But would you have paid $20 for her?
' Wrote:Could you imagine the Freelancer storyline without Juni? But would you have paid $20 for her?
Only in the Thailand - that would have been good for half the night.
:lol:
On topic - SPOILER ALERT! Read no further is you're not into spoilers!
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Since the character mentioned apparently is a Prothean - I mean, we're talking the whole basis for Mass Effect here, people. That's blatant screwing of the customer.
Did I end up spending the money and getting the DLC for ME1 and ME2? Sure - but even adding in both of the new characters (other than giving me two very nice snipers backing me up) - isn't a game changer since you can complete the game without them or their information.
This is a freaking PROTHEAN! Those people that have been extinct for 49,999 years - since they were killed off in the LAST Reaper attack.
It's little things like this that make me not want to get ME3. (Whining a bit...) That, and honestly I wasn't impressed with the graphics or play of the demo. Maybe I'm spoiled - not sure.
(11-21-2013, 12:53 PM)Jihadjoe Wrote: Oh god... The end of days... Agmen agreed with me.
An interesting article, makes you stop and think for a moment.
While TotalBiscuit does have a very strong argument for boycotting the new money-making plan, the writer does make a very good point that there hasn't been enough outrage against the company that would be sufficient to stop the players having to pay extra.
Personally, I intend to get the game, one way or another. I might need to wait a while before the price of a new copy off the shelves drops a bit, though... unless I give in and pre-order.
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