THQ Unveils New "Pay in Advance" DLC Purchase Program

[josemlopes]

It depends if you trust the developers or not. If it was Rockstar I wouldnt mind, they do good and many DLC's

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

"Hey, wanna have a patch that makes Soulstorm suck less? Well, for $10 we'll set you up to the top of the download queue when we make it"

3 months later: "Whoops, looks like Iron Lore went bankrupt, anyway, the icecream I bought with your $10 was delicious, also please go buy this sequel with several huge expansion pack shaped holes in it at full price"

"PS: want to pre-order the patch that gets rid of GFWL eventually for $15"?

I'm fully aware of the complications, however with Metro 2034 and any Warhammer 40k title I'd be willing to take the risk.

Also I most certainly do not want the patch that removes GFWL but I'd like the one that adds it.

 

[Worgen]

if they want this to impact used sales at all then they should be giving that code out for free with new copies of games, not trying to pass it off as pay before you get anything and then risk them not putting out the dlc, no thanks

 

[rees263]

There are far too many instances of cancelled DLC for this to be a good idea, let alone all the DLC that is just rubbish (ie most of it). I think you'd have to be a massive fan of the series to be tempted by this.

I only ever played one wrestling game and I hated it - couldn't figure out how to play it. Admitedly this probably wasn't the game's fault. I was just playing it at a friend's house so didn't have time to read the manual or anything.

 

[mjc0961]

Uhm, thanks but no thanks THQ!

Also, that "Axxess" name reminds me of Graham's crossover into ZP: "What makes any game cooler and more likely to appeal to the youth? The letter X. Slap it on anywhere!" Except pretend he said DLC instead of game or something. And of course, two X's means double the coolness.

 

[Vohn_exel]

I can get behind project Ten dollar and even kind of like it...but this... I can't see me paying for DLC that I might not even want.

But isn't the priciple just the same as the Publisher's Club on the Escapist? We're paying in advance for content that we may not even want.

I see it as just a Publisher's Club for Smackdown vs Raw, you support the company and in return get access to better items & features in the future, item & features that people who don't join the club won't get unless they pay as well.

At least the Publisher's Club doesn't have a dumb name like Axxess, I probably wouldn't have joined if it was called Da Exxkapist Pubblisha's Klub.

Well I don't know about everyone else, but I joined the Pub club because I supported the Escapist and the things it had already done, not what it was printing out. So I guess if you wanted to support THQ for what they'd already done, then you wouldn't have much of an issue with it.

 

[Vanuslux]

I love the GTA4, Fallout 3, Dragon Age, etc...model of DLC. I get to buy a game used to get a good taste of it, and if I like it then I can happily justify pumping more money into DLC to expand the experience. It's a win/win for everyone.

This...when I really think about it, isn't much different but it leaves a worse impression. I guess because I don't trust company's to deliver on their promises and therefore the prospect of paying up front for something that may be crap or non-existent sours me. I love THQ, but I don't have THAT much faith in them.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

It's an interesting idea. I know that if Fallout: New Vegas offered such a thing I'd already be the proud owner of a bunch of DLC I've never heard of yet. The important thing to remember is that it's an option. People are free to dislike it, they can buy the DLC as it comes out if they don't like the idea of putting money down on something that isn't announced yet, let-alone released. However, I don't think anyone can be justified in saying it's a flat-out bad idea simply because they have that option.

Now, if a company said that they were going to go with a plan like this, but you couldn't buy the DLC separately when it's out? Then yeah I'd be right there with the people complaining about it. So basically it's like this:

Option: Great idea.
Mandatory: Bat-shit-fucking-insane.

 

[Xannieros]

Yes so they can take your money before you can find out if its any good. By targeting people with weak impulse control, they get more money.

At a sales point of view, smart. Though I would never buy something unless I knew it was okay, most DLC are overpriced for the content.

(Off-Topic DLC Rant)
I hate the idea of DLC in the first place. If some remember Bioshock 2, it had the DLC on the installation CD but you couldn't access it without buying the DLC separately. It's a cheap way to milk the public for more money. How does this sound, you can buy the game. Take for instance Mass Effect 2, Shadow Broker DLC. You pay $9.99 for 1/10 of the content. Maybe even less. Seem like a good deal?

 

[Asehujiko]

Also I most certainly do not want the patch that removes GFWL but I'd like the one that adds it.

You never played DoW2 then.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

You never played DoW2 then.

I have DOW2, Chaos Rising, Tinker, Game Room, Universe At War and I'm getting Halo 2.

Problem?

 

[jackanderson]

Oh THQ! It's almost like you're trying to make us hate you!

 

[kintaris]

Can someone clear something up for me - obviously GameStop give 0% of their used-games profits to publishers, but what about GAME in the UK?

OT: Meh, companies pull worse tricks than this every day. At least they're being upfront about it.

I recently bought Dragon Age and Mass Effect second hand and was forced to fork out extra for the DLC, meaning that it ended up costing just a little less than the new game. So in the future I will buy new games. But it was my decision to begrudgingly buy the extra content, and not before thoroughly checking out whether it was worth it or not by reading the reviews. No one stole my money - I spent it myself on something I wanted. So we can't get a cheap-ass deal anymore. So what? We should be concerned about game quality, not bargain hunting.

Prices go up all the time in all sorts of industries as owners try to reclaim their expenditures - expenditures on top-quality products. Games publishers look worse than your average company because they are having to be clever to deal with a huge part of their industry that eats all their profits (although not really so different from the music industry battling the pirates - in fact, games companies are at least compensating by giving you incentives through extra content, instead of just trying to jail you). As for the current DLCs on offer not being 'worth it', give them a break - DLC is still in its relative infancy, especially for certain publishers, and the market needs to be tested. If you think a DLC looks crap, don't buy it and then moan about it - simply put your thinking cap on, wait until the reviews and responses to the DLC arrive a few days into release, and then make an informed decision. And if its a little disappointing, get over it, and be more critical of the next DLC before you buy it.

In other words, buy DLC like you would buy, I don't know... everything else you've ever bought?

 

[TeeBs]

Really? someone honestly thinks THQ has gone to far, I wonder if there was a counter point.

"You think THQ has gone to far *Dramatic Pause* I don't think they've gone far enough!"