Sad trend in gaming

[GSH]

See this.

-- GSH

[MrTwosheds]

...they might be onto something there...A million 1$ purchases could get you a very nice house

[MrsGSH]

See this.

-- GSH

Could you elaborate? I fail to see the sadness.

[Psychedelic Rhino]

Maybe in phone apps this is new, but in big budget games, DLCs or "Downloadable Content" has been around for years. But I realize the draw is "free".

On a side note; the developer and producer of the huge big budget blockbuster, Mass Effect 3, were busted for blatantly lying about an embedded DLC on the purchased game disk.

[Zero Angel]

I don't see much wrong with Free to Play game models. They've been around for at least 10 years now (ie: most MMORPGs and many casual game types).

In regards to the Bioware/ME3 thing, from my understanding, only part of the DLC was developed when ME3 was in testing, meaning that the DLC included on the disk was in an incomplete state, hence why the character is on the disk, but the character specific missions are not.

[MrTwosheds]

Charging people to "unlock" stuff they already have, on a game that you already paid a substantial price for, does seem a bit rich.
But I think if developers are honest about what they're doing, and do it in the right way, ie a much cheaper price/free for the initial software with a view to making their profit from real DLC, then the incentive for them to make a good quality game is much higher and the profitable lifespan of the product increases considerably. It could also help fight piracy if you went about it the right way.

[Red Spot]

Maybe in phone apps this is new, but in big budget games, DLCs or "Downloadable Content" has been around for years. But I realize the draw is "free".

Its more like the 'free to play' games on Steam. Which tend to be a mess. You get ingame with "everyone", than 99% drops out soon after as the UI/gameplay/etc is annoying if you dont start paying for features. But if you do pay you end up playing a game of which you're not really sure its as much fun today as it was yesterday, as the playerbase could already have dropped by a lot.

6 Or so years ago I ended up playing Tribal Wars. Started in a clan, got promoted to vice-leader, than the leader quit, I was made leader. From that point on I didnt call any more wars, I just snooped up small dying clans by inviting them, wait for ½ to leave and let the clan eat their villages. We ended up being no.1 or 2 on that world (world 6 iirc) without ever really warring (and we were called a lot of things because of it, yet nobody dared to attack). I eventually left as one of the strongest players on the world as I got bored by micro-ing all those villages as well as one of the largest tribes. After I left the cycle repeated itself with the 2 people I left in charge.
It was a pretty fun game, but one of the main reasons I was that capable was because I payed a monthly fee were most others did not. And you couldnt really stop doing so after a while as your empire/clan simply got too big to properly do without the extra's (I believe one of the main reasons so many players dropped out after they conquered a few villages).

[GSH]

In-game purchases are one thing if purely cosmetic (e.g. new skins), but when you can pay to advance faster -- in Tetris, no less, that's a dangerous step.

Another sad part: closing servers for recent games.

Yes, my previous employer is called out in the above two links. Lots of other companies do the in-game upselling. Not as many routinely close servers for kicks.

-- GSH

[Ded10c]

Maybe in phone apps this is new, but in big budget games, DLCs or "Downloadable Content" has been around for years. But I realize the draw is "free".

On a side note; the developer and producer of the huge big budget blockbuster, Mass Effect 3, were busted for blatantly lying about an embedded DLC on the purchased game disk.

Had the DLC contained a selectable Prothean squadmate and nothing but, then the creator of that video would have a point.

[Red Spot]

Not really. The story is that they couldnt release the DLC with the game as it was developed by an other company, and there wasnt enough time to get the extra stuff incorperated into the maingame. Than it seems all is in place and in order to get the Protean you only need to tweak 2 settings, followed by Bioware actually telling the full(?) story, at least giving info they previously were keeping silent. At the very least Bioware has been holding out on some info, which makes whatever they said afterwards rather suspicious, in my book.
And if it wasnt about the money, they could have given away the DLC, or delayed the release to at least not come across like some gready pigs.

So they lie or dont mind coming across like gready pigs, not sure if it matters much.

[Ded10c]

The DLC sort of relies on the accompanying mission "Priority: Eden Prime" to make any sense - this would be the unfinished part they were talking about. Having Javik in your squad makes very little sense without having completed the story mission to precede it.

[Red Spot]

I'm not saying that the whole DLC can be played, or at least how it was intended. But Bioware did screw up big-time here imo. If they had told people, they could have prevented this. If they had not released the DLC at release of the game itself, they could have prevented this. If they had given away the DLC to fans that already bought 2 other titles from them, they could have prevented this.
Bioware chose to walk this path, and imo you'd have to be a fool to not realise it would backfire (or even assume nobody would figure this out).

[Psychedelic Rhino]

I've always thought the majority of DLC's were a sort of rip-off. To me, adding new content would be better suited to bring in new purchases of the original game and as a nice bonus and reward to those who have 'honored' the game studio with their purchase. Not to squeeze as much cash as possible out of owners of the game. The greed was blatantly clear with Ubisoft and Far Cry 2 when they wanted you to buy a new gun for god sake.

I've always felt DLCs were an insult, and have never considered them for a moment. What makes it much worse is when a DLC purchase gives someone a marked advantage in multi-play.

[Red Devil]

hmmm, maybe i could do that for G66 and FE...

[TwinShadow]

(HOLY CRAP I DO COME HERE.. sorta..)

DLC's I have a mixed view, but mostly I'm not for them. Its true that usually, they're not integral to the story itself, thus you can play with, or without them and it doesn't change your gaming experience. However, I do not waste money on DLC because there's no point in doing so. I have the first Dragon Age, ultimate edition that includes not only the game, its expansion, and all of the DLC available in one box, for $30. You can't beat a price like that.

Mass Effect 3 I'm not sure. Origin requirement on that set me off on a bad mood when I pre-ordered it, in which I immediately canceled soon as I found out. (flame me all you want, I don't care anymore, and I'll save that for another discussion) I've already beat it, ending sucked, DLC is minor and there's only two pieces of it that I'm aware. Pre-order bonus and the Eden Prime mission. That's about it far as I can tell, with more to come probably.

Onto the "freemium" idea. I'm against it if it has a pay-to-win model. If it was entirely as what GSH mentioned, cosmetic changes only, then I'd be perfectly ok with that. Nexon was on the right track with that when I was playing Maple Story few years ago. Everything was cosmetic, lasted 3 months (I think), and everyone was happy. Then they broke the model when they introduced experience cards and other things, instantly making it pay-to-win. I left the game right around when they introduced them due to customer service stupidity since I no longer have access to my account.

In short, DLC can be a scam, not always. Freemium works if its cosmetic changes, instantly broke when it becomes pay-to-win. Which is probably why I don't play MMO's anymore, especially the free ones.