Nurb said:
yea, except they fail to realize that their original games were made popular because the gaming community kept them alive through modding and private servers depending on the game. Then they go to milk the francise with bland, empty sequels and DLC which takes control away from gamers and they end up killing their IP and piss off the loyal fanbase.
I think the prevailing train of thought on the Publisher's side is that they want to force the customers to adapt to their needs, rather than the other way around. At least, that's what I can deduce from how these publishers have been acting for the last 6 years or so.
They want Supply to lead Demand, unlike the other way around (how it should be).
They withhold mod support and deliberately discourage others to do the same. Why? So that the future gamers will accept this as the new standard. Fan-based support doesn't support the process of mass-producing sequels because mod-work tends to root players to one engine, one product.
Every time the consumer-base accepts one of these changes, the Publishers have more freedom to take more. They can hike prices, implement code that gathers info on you (which several titles apparently do now; including Mass Effect 2) etc, or even treat their legitimate, paying customers like criminals (DRM).
They don't just want the ball on their side of the court, they want to own the court. All of it.
Since people keep paying for their games and the DLC, it's obviously working.
Just as a sign of the time, not long ago I had discussions here on the Escapist about the prospect of Subscription-Based Single-Player titles. It astonishes me to think that there are people who genuinely think that will somehow provide a better experience for both parties involved (in reality, it only benefits the Publisher).
On the topic of "loyal fanbases"...
These publishers do not give two shits about a fanbase's loyalty. Loyalty doesn't pay the bills anymore; market exploitation does. If you can sucker in an existing fanbase, but make the title in such a way to try to appeal everyone (usually destroying the nuances that made the original popular at all) you can make more money than by exploiting either market alone.
That mentality is why I've had the "pleasure" of watching several beloved titles get remade or spun off into absolute dog shit these last 6 years.
