BioWare Defends DLC Business Strategy

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I bought every piece of DLC for every Bioware game I own. I enjoyed them, and it was worth a little money - yes, I have seriously low income, but it's what I'd pay for a lunch out at somewhere fast-food, so I'm not that bloody fussed about it - to get a little more of something I liked. I don't want my games broken and stuff taken out to be held hostage later, but I don't feel like that's happened so far. Extra outfits for my DA2 character? Sure, why the heck not? It's not like the offerings of the industry as so bountifully fabulous that I've had to pay full price for opening day titles all year - haven't had that problem for nearly half a decade now.

 

[edos63]

I'm sorry people. I think a lot of you have legitimate points to make, but when your argument boils down to "I don't want to pay money for things," it becomes physically painful to read. Paid DLC and preorder bonuses aren't going away, for the simple reason that things cost money to make and the profit margin for video games is stretched razor thin. We might as well find a way that we'll be happy with it.

Yeah, keep eating Bioware's bullshit. After reading that article about CDProject Red last week, it's hardly surprising that people are complaining about what this Fernando Melo is saying.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Company defends its business strategies and notes that they sell well, gamers get angry and retort that they hate the company. Oh wait, that is the summary of an EA story, or was it a blizzard story... Activision... no wait...

I'm tired of both sides whining like pansies, I want my freaking modular games, dammit. I'm sick of gamers putting a road block to their development because of there short sighted calls of 'money grab' and I'm sick of developers being to pussy-shit to actual come out and do it for fear of losing money on unsold content.

 

[Redhawkmillenium]

There have been good parts and bad parts to Mass Effect 3's DLC, IMO.

The good is the microtransactions. The beauty of it is that it doesn't give you anything you can't simply get by playing the game more. People who want to get ahead and have the money to pay for it can, while people who don't have the money are not really worse off. It subsidizes the multiplayer content so people who wouldn't normally pay for stuff like map or weapons packs (ie me) can enjoy it at no cost. And due to the way Mass Effect 3 multiplayer works, it's not a "free multiplayer, pay to win" situation -- if someone on your team is packing top tier weapons thanks to paying for them, that's a good thing. Ultimately the microtransaction system that BioWare put into place for ME3 multiplayer is, IMO, genius. Also good was making the Extended Cut for free. There was probably a very tense discussion in the BioWare/EA offices before they decided to make that content free. Likely the only reason they did that was because they knew charging for it would just make more people upset, and the point of the extended cut was a peace offering to appease gamers who felt betrayed. I certainly appreciated the peace offering.

Not so genius was the day 1 DLC. Now, it may be that the "From Ashes" DLC was put into production after ME3's production was locked down, and it was legitimately developed separately from the main game. I get that. The problem lies with comparing it to BioWare's own past DLC. With Mass Effect 2 (and Dragon Age: Origins, for that matter) the first DLC character was free (well, free as long as you bought the game new). Mass Effect 2 had a second DLC character which they charged 560 points ($6.99) for. Then, Dragon Age II had a first day DLC character which they charged 560 points/$6.99 for unless you pre-ordered the "signature edition". Then Mass Effect 3 had a first day DLC character which they charged 800 points ($10.00) for. That's a sixth of the price of the game for much less content. It just seems that BioWare (well not BioWare really, EA executives are responsible for pricing) keeps trying to push the envelope with how much they can price gouge for DLC.

As for DLC in general, the basic problem is that it tends to be overpriced. Also, they don't seem to ever drop prices on DLC -- Mass Effect 2 sells for $20 now but its Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC can only be bought for $10. But I don't think that means it should be free or anything. I enjoyed Mass Effect 2's paid DLC content and didn't resent the fact that I had to pay for it (well, the story DLC, not the weapons packs). As for ME3's upcoming Leviathan DLC, I'll reserve judgement until it's actually released.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Honestly I feel Bioware has handled DLC very well (admittedly the day 1 character shit was shifty), they've given us plenty of free stuff and the multiplayer packs aren't too obnoxious.

Unfortunately, nothing erases THAT ENDING or the insulting, demeaning behavior they put on in the wake of it. So fuck them.

 

[Trishbot]

The day a customer is actually happy about an online pass is the day hell freezes over. Nobody has ever been happy with it. Ever. Ever. Ever.

I actually had my roommate time me. I pre-ordered the Collector's Edition of ME3 on 360 and timed how long it would take to open the game, update the game, type in over 5 online passes and day-1 DLC codes, download the DLC, load the game, and start playing. It took nearly 45 minutes.

45 minutes of hassling your customers before they can even play the game proper.

I then decided to play Xenoblade Chronicles. The entire process of jumping into the game took 1 minute, and everything I'd ever need, and WILL ever need, is on the disc. The game is complete and ready to go the second I put it in.

I miss those days.

 

[MPerce]

Oh, this will be a fun thread.

I have no business criticizing the DLC for Mass Effect because I actually like how they handled the multiplayer stuff, and the stuff I should be mad at (single player day one DLC)....well, I bought it. Begrudgingly, I will add, but I bought it all the same. And I ended up enjoying it and feeling like the price was worth it, so...sorry, I guess.

Oh, but I can attack them for the online pass crap. If I hadn't bought the game new, I would have been extremely pissed to have to spend another 10 bucks just to play multiplayer.

 

[soitgoes19]

So since this makes lots of money in the long run, that means they'll be able to afford to sell their games at a cheaper up-front cost, right? I mean, that's why there's a $60 price point, because they need to make back all the money they spent making it. But with these DLC's making a lot of money as well, that means we'll get cheaper games as a result of DLC helping make back the budget, right?

...

Right?

It's like I can hear the crickets chirping.

One of the biggest reasons why I no longer buy games on release is because of the environment DLC has created. I'm sick of having money squeezed out of me at every turn, and the only way I can show that dissatisfaction is with my wallet. Articles like this one about Assassin's Creed III [http://www.gamespot.com/news/assassins-creed-iii-getting-episodic-dlc-6388223] are just begging me to wait for a price drop, GOTY edition, or to just skip the game altogether. There's too many good games out there for me to fork out so much on a single title.

 

[Kiyeri]

I think most of the hate Bioware is getting for this is because people are still upset over ME3 (even though it's been months... yay grudges...). I mean, DLC is not going away. Day One DLC sucks, yes, but DLC in general is here to stay until something else more profitable becomes popular. Bioware has actually dealt with DLC reasonably well over all, the pros of micro transactions and free DLC outweighing the flub up with the Day One DLC in my eyes. I've bought their DLC before and never felt ripped off. Go Bioware!

 

[Gennadios]

I have absolutely no problems with any aspect of the Multiplayer DLC, even the gear collection system is decent and not so overbearing that purchasing supply packs is a must.

I do have issues with the fact that making money off of them is EAware's only priority. There are bugs in the f****** game that have been there since launch. The servers are utter garbage, latency is rampant along with losing connection to the servers during peak hours, certain characters have skills that combine with latency cause you to fall through the terrain and become completely useless when dead, two of the DLC maps have bugs, a third one is known to cause a crash to desktop.

Since launch, ME3 has only had one patch, but 3 multiplayer DLC's. Shows their priorities imo.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Gave up on Mass Effect after playing the Mass Effect 2 demo personally, but I will say that I tend to steer clear of DLC as a general rule these days, because I can't guarantee that I won't be ripped off. There are companies that either do it right already or would do it right if they made DLC, like Bethesda used to.

For example, if CDP RED released an expansion DLC for TW2, then I would be all over that because I know they would pack it full of unique and interesting content (given their recent morality).

Company defends its business strategies and notes that they sell well, gamers get angry and retort that they hate the company. Oh wait, that is the summary of an EA story, or was it a blizzard story... Activision... no wait...

I'm tired of both sides whining like pansies, I want my freaking modular games, dammit. I'm sick of gamers putting a road block to their development because of there short sighted calls of 'money grab' and I'm sick of developers being to pussy-shit to actual come out and do it for fear of losing money on unsold content.

Stop reading these articles and comments sections then. That's like going to Mcdonalds and saying "I'm sick of all this fatty food, and being surrounded by fat people while I eat".

 

[Twilight_guy]

Company defends its business strategies and notes that they sell well, gamers get angry and retort that they hate the company. Oh wait, that is the summary of an EA story, or was it a blizzard story... Activision... no wait...

I'm tired of both sides whining like pansies, I want my freaking modular games, dammit. I'm sick of gamers putting a road block to their development because of there short sighted calls of 'money grab' and I'm sick of developers being to pussy-shit to actual come out and do it for fear of losing money on unsold content.

Stop reading these articles and comments sections then. That's like going to Mcdonalds and saying "I'm sick of all this fatty food, and being surrounded by fat people while I eat".

Actually, since I'm not in a company and not in a position to make a company on my own all I can really do is talk and hope it helps change things. Since It'd be inappropriate to go into a random unrelated thread and try and talk about things like this, this is the appropriate venue.

 

[Redhawkmillenium]

I have absolutely no problems with any aspect of the Multiplayer DLC, even the gear collection system is decent and not so overbearing that purchasing supply packs is a must.

I do have issues with the fact that making money off of them is EAware's only priority. There are bugs in the f****** game that have been there since launch. The servers are utter garbage, latency is rampant along with losing connection to the servers during peak hours, certain characters have skills that combine with latency cause you to fall through the terrain and become completely useless when dead, two of the DLC maps have bugs, a third one is known to cause a crash to desktop.

Since launch, ME3 has only had one patch, but 3 multiplayer DLC's. Shows their priorities imo.

Three patches actually, two if you don't count the day 1 patch.

 

[Dr.Panties]

Oh, thanks for telling us what we gamers like, Fernando Melo. It's so refreshing to be treated as a faceless profit margin demographic. Kudos too, on your convenient interpretation of sales data, and the gargantuan leap of false equivalency required to deem such figures as representative of overall customer satisfaction with your exploitative business model.

Ah, the sweet scent of corporate spin. Breathe deep, fellow consumers.

 

[Redhawkmillenium]

CDProjekt RED does not have an online multiplayer feature to sustain.

 

[Rad Party God]

Translation: We likez moneh.

Seriously guys?, explaining your sleazy practices and blatantly saying that people love to throw their money at you?, what has godfather EA done to you?.

 

[Something Amyss]

Melo did offer one interesting point: These sales subsidized the game's plentiful free multiplayer DLC, ensuring that players get a steady stream of varied content, and that developers get to stay on the Mass Effect 3 team.

Stuff that used to not have a market price of any kind is now a perk because they've reverted from an up-front cost (which they really haven't, what with online passes) to a backstage cost.

I think I need a road map to follow this logic.

 

[DragonStorm247]

I have no problem with DLC. It's *overpriced* DLC that pisses me off.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

I borrowed Mass Effect 3 from a friend and let him borrow Mass Effect 2. Didn't have online pass so I missed out on the multiplayer that I loved from the demo version. Also altered my Galactic readiness, so my ending was altered. I did all the missions and alot of the side missions but sorry that I didn't scan every planet.

I am not happy. My friend paid $60 but I guess only one of us can enjoy the game to the fullest extent.