Marvel Heroes Executive Defends $129 DLC

[Andy Chalk]

Marvel Heroes Executive Defends $129 DLC

Marvel Heroes developer Gazillion Entertainment says the game's $129 "Advance Pack" DLC is actually a pretty good deal.

First things first: The free-to-play MMO Marvel Heroes began offering two "Advance Pack [https://marvelheroes.com/news/news-articles/introducing-advance-packs]" DLC releases earlier this week, a standard edition at $99.99 and a deluxe for $129.99. Both packs include 12 heroes, some Fortune Cards, Retcon Devices and Stash Tabs, while the deluxe pack also comes with alternate launch costumes, special duds for Gambit and Wolverine, more cards and other stuff. And it's 130 bucks.

Even more interesting (or perhaps concerning, if you're of that mindset) is that none of the characters or costumes in the packs have a release date. "Release dates on heroes and costumes included in this pack are to be determined, but are very likely to occur throughout 2014 and early 2015," the site says. "In the Deluxe Edition, Gambit's 'As Death' costume and Wolverine's 'Fear Itself' costume will be delivered to you one month before release in the store. However there is no official release date for either costume yet."

You might think that 130 clams for content that might come out next year, or maybe the year after, is a little uncomfortably steep, or perhaps even flat-out crazy. But Ivan Sulic, Gazillion's senior VP of marketing, doesn't see a problem. "Taking pre-orders for digital goods (even undated goods) is not an uncommon practice," he told VG247. "Season Passes permeate the console market, subscription MMOs still exist, and Digital Collector's Editions are routinely presold well in advance of game launches and sometimes in advance of games even having launch dates."

It's a fair point, and the Advance Packs are heavily discounted: The content in the deluxe pack would normally go for $425, while the standard edition is worth $215 if sold separately. "We don't think we're setting any precedent with our Marvel Heroes Advance Packs," Sulic said. "Really, we just wanted to get something solid out pre-holiday that we felt was a good offer for our fans."

130 bucks for the promise of DLC - is it a deal? Or do you think it's something a little more uncomfortable?

Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2013/12/19/marvel-heroes-129-99-dlc-pricing-isnt-setting-any-precedent-says-dev/]


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[Clovus]

I can't get really too angry about pricing. I'm used to buying full games for $5 - $15, so stuff like this just doesn't exist to me.

At least they are being up-front about some of what you are getting (even if it is in the future). How does this compare to the gambling style stuff in TF2? I really love Valve, but that system guarentees that a certain group of people will spend well over $125 just gambling with keys to open crates. It looks like this system might have similar stuff though too, with those cards.

 

[SilverUchiha]

Hahahahaha.... Just... no. I rarely buy DLC priced at $10 or less when its out because I never really feel justified in spending that amount of money on something that (on average) is only an hour of game time. But this? Who the hell is playing this game that can even afford to spend this kind of cash on it? I would have thought they'd start dropping prices to make the game more reasonable/accessible. But it seems they haven't hit that epiphany yet. So how long until this game collapses due to the insane prices?

Note: It's a shame because I really would like to play a Marvel MMO game like this... just not for anywhere near that price.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

You see, the pack itself isn't the problem, it's the fact the game has 425$ worth of dlc in the first place.

I mean Jesus, I get it's free-to-play but seriously this is really milking the cash cow dry here.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

This game isn't even worth playing and it's free. And the reason it's not worth playing is the fact that it's an MMO. They should have just made a $60 single player game like Torchlight.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Well I already did a thread about this yesterday but i'll re-iterate a bit of it. They're putting the "value" of their own game at over $1,000. (the mega-pack to buy all existing characters is $199.99, and since the $129.99 pack is "valued" at $425 winds up to approx $1080 in total) Which I think is pretty batshit insane. I mean the game's not bad, but it's not as good as Diablo III or Torchlight 2.

 

[shintakie10]

I can't get really too angry about pricing. I'm used to buying full games for $5 - $15, so stuff like this just doesn't exist to me.

At least they are being up-front about some of what you are getting (even if it is in the future). How does this compare to the gambling style stuff in TF2? I really love Valve, but that system guarentees that a certain group of people will spend well over $125 just gambling with keys to open crates. It looks like this system might have similar stuff though too, with those cards.

On average, you will get one unusual hat per $249 spent.

..yeah. And that's still the best F2P model there is

STO has the best F2P model there is, not TF2.

 

[JayDig]

I've been a pretty big Marvel comics fan for around 20 years, but they would have to pay me to play this game.

Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance, (only a couple hours) but I was disappointed.

 

[AntiChri5]

Fuck right off.

Like.......just right off.

I know the human brain has dozens of flaws that certain business models are specifically designed to exploit, but surely no one would fall for this crap?

But then i have gone and forgotten one of my favorite sayings. Never underestimate the power of stupid.

 

[EyeReaper]

Yeah.... no. You want to see a good dlc deal about unreleased characters? look at the MOBA Smite. The characters there are free (if you want to grind), or like, maybe five bucks to buy. Or, you can drop 30 bucks and get every character out, and every character that will ever be released. That, my good friend, is a deal. You just have a sham banking off the Avengers movie.

 

[Grabehn]

I wanted to play this, I really wanted to for some really stupid and unknown reason, but the fact that even as I set the language to English on steam and every single time I started the game it was in Spanish just annoyed me ad infinitum.

 

[Xman490]

I'm surprised that he didn't make the argument "Don't want to buy it? Don't buy it." After all, some people would buy all that for $130.

That is, foolish people would buy it: people who are as foolish as Gazillion execs who think many people will buy such extravagant things.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

But Ivan Sulic, Gazillion's senior VP of marketing, doesn't see a problem. "Taking pre-orders for digital goods (even undated goods) is not an uncommon practice," he told VG247. "Season Passes permeate the console market, subscription MMOs still exist, and Digital Collector's Editions are routinely presold well in advance of game launches and sometimes in advance of games even having launch dates."

Perhaps Mr Sulic should re-read the dictionary. This is not a defense or justification as to why the pack is $130.

So anyway, $130 for the promise of DLC? Hmmm... No. You want someone to pay $130, you give them everything at once.

 

[ritchards]

Executive defends decision: "It makes us money."

But yeah, as people have said, you don't have to buy it.

 

[Psychobabble]

You see, the pack itself isn't the problem, it's the fact the game has 425$ worth of dlc in the first place.

I mean Jesus, I get it's free-to-play but seriously this is really milking the cash cow dry here.

Yep. All this says to me is they are holding the brunt of their content hostage. I'll take the best deal though. You know the one where I don't pay a cent and don't support or play their silly cash cow game.

 

[Britpoint]

"But considering how extortionate our regular pricing is this is actually pretty cheap" - is not a good argument.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

Wow. Just wow. They seriously think that this game's DLC's alone are worth the price of a PS4, a low-end PC, 7 AAA full-priced games, or roughly 42 games off of GOG - especially when absolutely non of them add any new areas or questlines to the game (ala expansion packs) and many are not even made yet? This makes that new Forza that everyone's up in arms about look reasonable by comparison. Fuck, this makes Gurren Lagann look grounded in reality by comparison.

 

[Trishbot]

...I've got nothing. That's "Train Simulator 3000" levels of DLC greed. I'm not going near this one.

Capcha: "Do Not Touch". Heh.

 

[Sixcess]

They've got a very hot, very high profile IP that will appeal to a lot of 'casuals' who either don't know or don't care how overpriced it is.

I don't see it as being a sustainable pricing policy in the long term, but then I don't imagine they're in it for the long term. Quick bucks is what they'll want, and I daresay quick bucks is what they'll get.