Black Ops Breaks a Billion

[Treblaine]

That's pretty cool...

Can you lower the DLC price now please?

Yeah seriously as a token of their appreciation they could lower the price.
That or actually make the next game on the PS3 so it doesn't look like shit compared to the 360 version.

That's not how market economy works. Because there is such high demand, the price will go even higher.

Especially as there is no real competitor.

The problem with CoD franchise now is it isn't just about "the game" it's become a social phenomenon. People buy it to play online because their friends play it online or because they know their friends WILL play it online, so it is popular... because it is popular.

it has reached a critical mass where it's popularity will increase exponentially, it doesn't have to be genuinely good, it doesn't have to be genuinely enjoyable for one person, it just has to convince the masses.

Of course this could all crash catastrophically. If the next iteration tries to carry over the same player base from the last CoD but drops the ball, and another game swoops in at the right moment, then Activision's day in the sun is over. But Activision is sitting pretty for the next 12 months, the gutted infinity ward could end everything, especially if the rigid November release schedule is stuck to and they end up releasing such a turkey that no one would want to touch it.

Though that is balanced with the risk of skipping that release schedule, perfect opportunity for a competitor to swoop in.

My prediction:

Nov 2011 Infinity Ward releases a new CoD, it is VERY bad to spite all the hype and far too much of the game content is in overpriced DLC, people buy it but don't even break MW2 records. It struggles on for a year and summer 2012 it's revealed that Sledgehammer games tries to change the franchise too much and alienates the fans, then Respawn Entertainment will swoop in and steal the prize by releasing in September.

 

[SturmDolch]

Cool. Even though it's zomg-evil-Activision, I'm happy because that's pretty damn amazing. Just think where gaming was 10 years ago and where it is today. This isn't some casual game like Cooking Mama. This is freaking COD, the competitive online multiplayer shooter.

I bought it, too, because it's a fun game to hop in, play a round or two, then do other things. The graphics, although terribly optimized not optimized at all on PC, are decent. And it's a fun game to play with friends.

I don't think it's right to compare it to Bad Company or any Battlefield game for that matter. They are completely different games, especially in terms of realism. On a scale:

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I would be suprised, but aren't these records broken, like, once a year? It's not so awesome when you always know that next year someone else is going to take the title.

MW3 will do the same thing next year, no doubt.

 

[gphjr14]

That's pretty cool...

Can you lower the DLC price now please?

Yeah seriously as a token of their appreciation they could lower the price.
That or actually make the next game on the PS3 so it doesn't look like shit compared to the 360 version.

That's not how market economy works. Because there is such high demand, the price will go even higher.

Yeah but we're talking about a file here, in theory there's an infinite amount to be distributed there's really no reason for it to be so much

 

[Tiamat666]

That's pretty cool...

Can you lower the DLC price now please?

Yeah seriously as a token of their appreciation they could lower the price.
That or actually make the next game on the PS3 so it doesn't look like shit compared to the 360 version.

That's not how market economy works. Because there is such high demand, the price will go even higher.

Yeah but we're talking about a file here, in theory there's an infinite amount to be distributed there's really no reason for it to be so much

It's just copyable data, yes. But there are still finite resources attached, such as servers, bandwidth, support, etc.
But I don't think that is even the main issue. The price will likely go up simply because it can. Because people are obviously willing to pay.