Dead Space 3 Dev: The Last Thing We Think About is Money

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

"EA leaves us alone. Almost every decision when it comes to the game is ours and ours alone,"
I'll probably get dead space 3 at a steam sale or something. Oh wait. EA doesn't believe in sales!
OT: I'll probably not buy anything.

Correction: EA doesn't believe in STEAM. No? I mean.. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen an EA title readily-available-at-launch since Origins. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I *did* check for DS3 on Steam.

It's both actually.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117725-Origin-Boss-Says-Steam-Sales-Cheapen-Intellectual-Property

 

[Burst6]

I like the idea of EA breathing down their collective necks while they say this.

It's just so hilarious.

I have the image of John Riccitiello lying in bed with the developer typing this naked covered in hundred dollar bills. The developer, holding a laptop, says " John, there's no way people will believe this. I can't say we think this, it'll be horrible PR". John then takes one of the hundred dollar bills and uses it to gently stop the developer from talking, then in a seductive voice says "do it".


Yeah i will not believe that EA did not have something to do with this. Even if it isn't direct, the EA mindset has a way of seeping into the developers.

 

[thesilentman]

The developers might, not sure if they were paid by EA to do so, however. I'm taking this with massive piles of salt, considering the "BROADER APPEAL!" EA has with Dead Space at this point.

 

[Curtis Stevens]

Well considering that before any news of deadspace 3 was out EA said they would no longer be making any form of purely "singleplayer" games anymore (I could be wrong and just heard about deadspace 3's co-op later than everyone else though so correct me if im wrong) then I hear that deadspace 3 is co-op and I think.... well they have you in their pocket there Visceral. Deadspace 1 actually made me scared at points where I wanted to put down the controller because I was scared. It made me put down the game for a whole day at that one point where there is that machine room or whatever, anyways really unnerving and i just put it down for a day. Went back to it the next day and there was nothing in the friggin room.... then i was like awww deadspace 2? EPIC i'm ready to be scared. I never once had the feeling of putting the controller down in it, nor do i get the feeling I will want to put the controller down for the third. Deadspace is to "actiony" now for it's own good now that it has co-op. What if Im playing with a friend and he keeps going while Im looking for loot or items to help us survive? and I miss something even mildly scary? It wouldn't be to bad if it was split screen maybe because then i could just look down or up whoever is on either screen, but since it's only online co-op me and my buddy Austin are going to have to buy two fucking copies of it and a new xbox AND another fucking tv, along with another XBL membership to boot. Saying this isn't a cash grab is like saying cancer is a good thing. Complete and total lie.

 

[Rubashov]

"The last thing we think about is monetization! Of course, it's also the first thing we think about..."

 

[Curtis Stevens]

I apologize if I ranted a bit there, but it seems to sum up my views of this series. Slowly going down the tubes along with so many other thing's that just seems to be cash grabs. Mind you I am still going to buy this game and look forward to playing it.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Ok, that is absolutely a lie.

I personally don't care about micro transactions because they are optional, it's single player, the game will simply be more accessible to a wider audience. If someone wants a survival horror experience; play on the hardest difficulty, turn down the gamma, play in a dark room with headphones on and don't buy extra guns, but rather scavenge everything.

But don't tell everyone your company doesn't think about money until after everything else, you fucking lying piece of shit.

 

[Saregon]

Yeah, everything I hear about this game makes me want it less. I liked Dead Space. I REALLY liked Dead Space 2. This one is going further away from the (already thin) horror bit, is a completely shameless cash grab (full priced, tacked-on multiplayer, and pay-to-win DLC in the SINGLE-PLAYER mode??) Wow. Also, I loathe Origin, and I only ever use it for BF3, because I didn't know it was a requirement when I bought it. If I did, I would have either not bought it, or got it on console. Also a large reason why I haven't bought any EA game for PC since Origin started (except for BF3), even though the PC is my main platform. Steam is a better software, they have better business practices, and they understand that digital prices should be lower than physical media prices.

Anyone know if this will be available for Steam, or if it's Origin exclusive? Or, heaven forbid, one of those dual-DRM things like From Dust, which forces you to use Uplay (which is even worse than Origin, from what I've seen so far), even though you bought it in Steam.

Anyway, unless they make some changes, I'll not be buying this to contribute to their five million required sales. Will I be sad to see the IP disappear? At this rate, no, not at all. And if it fails, and hopefully (though not likely) teaches EA a lesson in business, all the better.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

How is this any different to the weapon DLC packs from the first two games? Call it DLC or call it microtransactions, it's the same thing. I actually bought a couple of those and didn't much mind it. Of course that was before Microsoft alowed hackers to get away with stealing £150 from me and my promise to never use Live again as a result.

Anyway, while I have no problem agreeing that EA is run by Satan, has shitty business practices and makes shitty mass-market entertainment products inlieu of actual decent games, this issue isn't something to shout about. It's no different from any DLC weapon or armour packs found on Live for many games.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

You know, if this was just about the game itself, I might have believed them, seeing how EA is really sticking them between a rock and a hard place with the 5 million sales thing.
But it's the freaking microtransactions that kill that trust for me.

 

[GodzillaGuy92]

"We're trying to find ways to make sure that Dead Space 3 is really accessible. That doesn't mean we're going to sacrifice who we are or what the core tenets of Dead Space are in order to attract new players. Dead Space 3 shares the exact same DNA as Dead Space 1 and Dead Space 2."

You know what? Forget the microtransactions for the moment. This, right here, is the really infuriating part, when all I could think of while watching the story trailer was that, if I just closed my eyes and listened to the audio, I would have never been able to guess this was a Dead Space game at all had the Marker and "make us whole" not been mentioned once each. Guys, you already admitted you actionized a franchise that used to attempt to be horrific so that you could reach a broader audience. At least I could ignore the microtransactions if I was actually remotely interested enough in your homogenized product to shell out $60 for it, but thanks to the myriad of ways in which your corporate greed has marred your own creation, you lost all my interest as soon as that first, awful trailer debuted. Don't water down an already-unscary horror game almost to the point of unrecognizability, hold the whole franchise for ransom with a ludicrous goal of five million sales, then lie to my face by claiming you're not compromising what people liked about the preceding games for the sake of more money. Enough is enough. As of now, I sincerely hope this game crashes and burns.

 

[Baresark]

People are devoting way too much attention and being way too hurt by this. Don't buy it, how cares. It's not a competitive game. If someone want to drop the money to make the game easier, it's not ruining my experience. I think it's idiotic when the developer responds to this kind of stuff. His argument is by default delegitimized because he is coming from the factual stand point of, "this is happening", in response to the opinion, "this is stupid".

 

[Lovely Mixture]

People are devoting way too much attention and being way too hurt by this. Don't buy it, how cares. It's not a competitive game. If someone want to drop the money to make the game easier, it's not ruining my experience. I think it's idiotic when the developer responds to this kind of stuff. His argument is by default delegitimized because he is coming from the factual stand point of, "this is happening", in response to the opinion, "this is stupid".

I don't think anyone is being hurt by this, EA's hurt enough people as it is. The only reason people are commenting on it is because it is as you say: "stupid." As is the flat out denial of EA's involvement in their design decisions, I mean Dead Space 1 and 2 weren't good horror games (fine sci-fi shooting games though) but at least they were trying to be.

 

[Gormech]

No wait, he might actually be telling the truth. The shareholders could be selling against themselves and making a fortune as the company slowly kills itself, leaving them to run for the hills with their cash while the workers all lose that paycheck. Edit: And by truth I mean EA's money, not the people running EA.

 

[Your Gaffer]

I suggest everyone goes and reads the original interview at gameplanet, it was an interesting read.

 

[Lunar Templar]

*adds $40 worth of DLC that amounts to turning the game 'pay2win', claims its not about the money*

it takes balls to lie like that, i'm kinda impressed

 

[squid5580]

On one hand, EA is the same company that said "they have to sell 5 million copies to remain a viable franchise".

On the other hand, and I'm going to just point this out... how is this ANY different from the ORIGINAL game?
http://deadspace.wikia.com/wiki/Downloadable_Content_for_Dead_Space

You could pay money for better suits, better weapons, better abilities... or you could ignore it. DS1 came with a large chunk of DLC that serves the exact same purpose of giving you an edge in the game.

The DLC of the first game was added on ex post facto (for the most part, and unobtainable without the DLC). This time, you can pay to unlock stuff that's already in the game and obtainable through normal gameplay. A bit different if you consider the ramifications. Single-player games with pay to win mechanic is ridiculous. What will be next? charge me for different difficulty? It gets dangerous if we keep letting them get away with stuns like this.

Best thing to do is simply not buy the game.

I'm hoping this rage adds to lost sales. EA and Visceral (evidently) needs a swift kick in their balls.

edit:: Looks like you've got enough of this stick from others lol no need to respond, I get you.

No I think you are wrong. The best thing to do is to buy this game. Hell buy as many copies as you can afford. And don't spend a single cent on this DLC. Not buying the game won't change anything. If it doesn't sell it sends the message the game was crap, we only want our COD and anything that isn't COD isn't worth our time. Now think about it. The game ships X million copies and no one touches this crap DLC (not saying they shouldn't buy a real expansion just no resources and the likes) that is actually sending the message we need to send. Hey we like games like DS. We like our horror games and whatnot. But we don't like this kind of crap and we will not succumb to it. And now here is the kicker. It will take a server or something to make this accessible to everyone. Servers cost money. If no one buys this junk then it costs them money to maintain while all these copies of DS are floating around.

 

[YIDOSH]

I like to think that this has nothing to do with Visceral, and this poor fella was forced by EA to come out with this. I think I remember reading about how Dead Space needed a certain amount of sales to survive before DS3 was even announced, and the way this game is shaping up is horribly evident of a game desperately trying to hit that quota. The micro-transactions, the marketing - a Phil Collins song in a trailer, really? - and the near complete abandonment of the horror aspect. Not to mention the co-op, because what's the best way to turn one sale into two? You love Dead Space, and now you can get your buddy to buy it too! I'm certain that if you asked the dev team after DS1 released if they'd ever consider putting co-op in their franchise they would have laughed at you. What really breaks my heart is that he's saying this game won't sacrifice what Dead Space is to attract people, which it is. But I'm sure the last thing he wants is for this series to crash and burn and the studio to get shut down, and the alternative is obeying EA.

God, fuck EA.

 

[Nazulu]

So he wants us to believe they're just idiots?

I feel sorry for him. Something stinks more than usual at EA right now, someone's making really terrible desicions. Before wasn't acceptable, but now it's becoming full feldged retarded.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

No I think you are wrong. The best thing to do is to buy this game. Hell buy as many copies as you can afford. And don't spend a single cent on this DLC. Not buying the game won't change anything. If it doesn't sell it sends the message the game was crap, we only want our COD and anything that isn't COD isn't worth our time. Now think about it. The game ships X million copies and no one touches this crap DLC (not saying they shouldn't buy a real expansion just no resources and the likes) that is actually sending the message we need to send. Hey we like games like DS. We like our horror games and whatnot. But we don't like this kind of crap and we will not succumb to it. And now here is the kicker. It will take a server or something to make this accessible to everyone. Servers cost money. If no one buys this junk then it costs them money to maintain while all these copies of DS are floating around.

Knowing EA's track record they'll declare the pay to win scheme a success even if no-one falls for it, stick it into other games and close the servers a year later, potentially rendering the game unplayable.