Gamers OK With CoD DLC Prices, Says Treyarch

[Logan Westbrook]

Gamers OK With CoD DLC Prices, Says Treyarch

Call of Duty fans know they're getting plenty of bang for their buck, says Treyarch's community manager.

Treyarch's Josh Olin says that gamers have gotten used to the comparatively high price of Call of Duty DLC. This comes ahead of the release of the Escalation, the second map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Xbox-360/dp/B003JVKHEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302869274&sr=8-1], which - like its predecessor, First Strike - to have a price tag of around $15.

Olin said that, on the whole, people didn't mind paying a little bit more than they might for DLC for other games, because they realized they were getting good value for money. Olin said that the content in Escalation - which contains four multiplayer maps for the main game and one new zombie map - were all completely new, and added new gameplay mechanics and features like ziplines and destructible bridges.

Treyarch felt it was important that the DLC was more than just simple maps, Olin said, adding that fan feedback had helped guide the studio into decided what to include. "All through the year we've been talking about 'ratcheting the bar up,'" he said. "So for DLC we've got to figure out how to ratchet up the levels themselves. One thing a lot of fans loved about Black Ops multiplayer was the interactivity on our multiplayer maps ... They said they wanted more, so that's why you see things like the ziplines and the bridge in Discovery."

Complaints about DLC pricing aren't anything new, and while they are getting to be less common, they're not ever going to go away completely. Such complaints are often from just a vocal minority however, and rarely represent the general mood towards the content. Speaking at PAX East in 2010, Microsoft's Larry Hyrb, better known as Major Nelson, said [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99476-PAX-East-2010-Talking-Twitter-With-Major-Nelson] that incorrectly priced DLC simply didn't sell, and it's worth noting that despite the fairly high price, Call of Duty DLC sells incredibly well. When the Stimulus pack for MW2 arrived on PSN in Europe last year [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100504-MW2-Stimulus-Pack-Crushes-European-PSN-Store], for example, the floods of people trying to get the content actually caused a number of problems with the service.

The Escalation Map Pack comes out on Xbox Live on May 3rd.

Source: OXM [http://www.oxm.co.uk/27516/black-ops-dlc-treyarch-tells-all/]


Permalink

 

[Zhukov]

I have to admit, the guy has a point.

If the price was too high, people wouldn't buy it. That fact that people buy the hell out of it suggests that the price is fine. Y'know, for a given value of "fine".

Still... $15 for 5 maps. That leaves a decidedly bad taste in the mouth.

Eaarrggg...

 

[JeanLuc761]

I have to admit, the guy has a point.

If the price was too high, people wouldn't buy it. That fact that people buy the hell out of it suggests that the price is fine. Y'know, for a given value of "fine".

Still... $15 for 5 maps. That leaves a decidedly bad taste in the mouth.

Eaarrggg...

Beat me to it. Hell, when Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004 came out, Epic released huge downloadable content packs (at least 20 maps I'd say) for free!

I do miss those days.

 

[Baradiel]

The price isn't too high. If I like playing Black Ops I'd probably have no issue with paying it.

As it is, I don't.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Treyarch's Josh Olin says that addicts have gotten used to the comparatively high price of Call of Duty DLC.

Call of Duty DLC costs just as much as a new game, and what do you get? A few maps. I can guarantee that people aren't use to it, they're addicted to it. Some people have a serious Call of Duty problem, skipping school or work for it, constantly talking about it, and shunning those who don't find it a good game. They don't buy it for however much it is because they think that's a fair price. They buy because they feel they need to. They want more Call of Duty and are willing to pay any price for that.

The sooner the Call of Duty cloud vanishes the better. All it would take is one bad game, one TRULY bad game that everyone can agree is bad, then sales will fall. Somehow, I don't see that happening, unless the split development of Modern Warfare 3 between 3 studios is screwing things up.

/rant

Calumon: That money could get me Breakfast, lunch and a snack! :O

 

[fgdfgdgd]

Y'know why people bought them for WAW? Because if you didn't it was freaking impossible to have an uninterrupted play session without being booted for not having a map. Y'know why we pay for it now? The price in Oz is $24 now, our currency is worth more than the US but we still get the price jacked up for DLC, why? Because fuck Australians, that's why, or at least the only reason we're given, I don't care that the American price is reasonable, I want to know why I'm getting taken behind the chemical sheds by their DLC prices, don't get me wrong, I understand the game prices at retail, there is shipping prices and retailers profit margins and profit margins for the developer to think about, but DLC has none of those problems, it's a license to print money but we still have to pay $10 more than the US for ours. /rant

 

[Batfred]

£11 GBP for the First Strike pack which I think was worth it. Would I buy a 2nd map pack? Not sure. I might just wait for whatever the next installment is. Or hopefully have moved on to Batman or Uncharted 3 (if they are out by then).

 

[cardinalwiggles]

to be honest in being a vocal minority i am not. however i do choose that they are not worth it and choose to show that not buying them in the first place

 

[Crowser]

I paid 60 bucks for a 8 hour single player campaign, a new zombie mode, 16 multiplayer maps, new guns, new perks, new equipment, more balance, and new modes like combat training and wager matches.

Now you want me to pay 30 bucks for 10 new maps.

No.

 

[fgdfgdgd]

Calumon: That money could get me Breakfast, lunch and a snack! :O

I'll find you some meat apples to eat, the first one has everything included but if you want more you'll have to pay 10-20% of the first apple for it.

 

[Ickorus]

I have to admit, the guy has a point.

If the price was too high, people wouldn't buy it. That fact that people buy the hell out of it suggests that the price is fine. Y'know, for a given value of "fine".

Still... $15 for 5 maps. That leaves a decidedly bad taste in the mouth.

Eaarrggg...

Thing is, this is the same old Activision bullshit "Hey we're gonna charge exorbitant amounts of money for DLC, you'll just have to get used to it". Just because people are used to it doesn't mean they're happy about it.

Thing is, if they charged less it would end up with everybody being far happier. Customers would feel they're getting value for money, said customers would tell their friends, said friends might buy the game when they otherwise would not have based on the developers good reputation, developers end up earning more money because they have new customers and more existing customers buy the DLC.

But nope, Activision is so selfish it has absolutely no thought beyond what money it can get it's hands on right away.

[small]Edited because I figure some people might get offended by what I said.[/small]

 

[Mr Thin]

You... arrogant, self-satisfied, smug... totally correct person!

I want so bad to call bullshit on this guy - $15 for some frigging maps? Are you entirely bereft of your senses? - but obviously if they sell well, then he's spot on.

Well, I'm sure as hell not OK with it.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

I would like to play the new maps with friends, but honestly they don't even care for it.

Why waste money?

 

[tzimize]

He's right, it is a fair price. In this day and age, the price point for FPS map packs is about $3 per map (unless you play TF2, then it's free because Valve wouldn't do anything to piss off the whiny PC fanboys).

Call of Duty map packs give you 5 maps for $15, Halo map packs give you 3 for $10. The Call of Duty ones are not only a batter deal, but they aren't required to enter ranked playlists like the Halo ones.

Quit bitching, people.

Whiny PC fanboys? :| I wish you were here when the PC scene was ablaze with mods and developers released the tools to play with their game because they knew it added value, and more people bought the original game. If we whine its only because things could be SO much better...

Goddamit. Gamers nowadays are such fucking sheep :| While I dont have a problem with anyone selling a ridiculously overpriced map pack, I do have a problem with it when they do that and in addition dont release modding tools and let the community play around and make their own stuff.

I remember Half-Life days, mods galore and models/skins all over the place. All fan made, all free. Hell, I even remember custom stuff for Doom 1 for that matter. Todays gaming scene makes me sad.

I've never bought DLC, and I never EVER will.

 

[joshuaayt]

People buy overpriced things, if they really want them- I know this, because Australia still has a thriving game market, for double the cost.

I won't say he isn't making a good business point, and if I owned a company I'd probably operate by the same logic, but I don't think "Welp, it sells" is proof enough that the prices are reasonable.