355 réponses à ce sujet

[ralph2190]

FearMonkey wrote...

Well, I pre-ordered from Best Buy for $50 a while back. Glad I did that. But if I didn't, I'd be waiting till next year's Holiday Steam Sale for this game. $60 for a PC game is just too darned high.

Yup me too. I took advantage of Best Buy's free shipping during the holiday season as well. Too bad they hiked the price to 60 during Thanksgiving weekend. 

[endersares]

 I'm still going to buy it on steam. I think it's very disappointing what you are doing, I guess you couldn't get a deal up like you did with those other dd outlets three months ago. You guys are very friendly. 

[Jon Jern_]

TJPags wrote...

Steam must be behind the price increase.  The logic is as inescapable as the fact that EA intentionally kept the SE off Steam.

Fixed, you're welcome.

[TJPags]

FearMonkey wrote...

TJPags wrote...

FearMonkey wrote...

Well, I pre-ordered from Best Buy for $50 a while back. Glad I did that. But if I didn't, I'd be waiting till next year's Holiday Steam Sale for this game. $60 for a PC game is just too darned high.

So, you went someplace other than Steam, and got it for less.

Imagine that.

Steam must be behind the price increase.  The logic is as inescapable as the fact that Bioware intentionally kept the SE off Steam.

When I pre-ordered it back in Sept/Oct, it was $50 at Best Buy. They've since raised the price to $60 like everybody else but since I pre-ordered it at $50, they can't raise it on me. I hope.

Either way, It's obviously EA behind the price hike, not Steam.

I'm sure that's what happened, and I wasn't attempting to single you out or anything.

Just pointing out that the conclusion many people seem to be drawing is based on about as much information as there is in your post.
 

Id of Ith wrote...

TJPags wrote...
How about they don't, since nothing was "botched"

Oh clearly, after all look at how pleased many of their PC customers are here. 

I didn't mean "botched" in the sense that they did not do this intentionally, I meant "botched' in the sense that Steam-centric PC fans would be negatively impacted by this move. Which is really the only thing those of us on the consumer end of this relationship should be worried about. 

Of course, they clearly did it intentionally so they could "negatively impact" people who want to order from Steam and make them angry.  That was obviously their intention.

Steam-centric people who had other options - and so far, that seems to be about everyone in this thread with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions - made a choice.  That's not Bioware's fault, nor is it EA's.

[TJPags]

Jon Jern wrote...

TJPags wrote...

Steam must be behind the price increase.  The logic is as inescapable as the fact that EA intentionally kept the SE off Steam.

Fixed, you're welcome.

Thanks, it was fine the first time.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist like it seems so many are. 

[Sharuko]

The people that make the Witcher 2, have the Digital Deluxe version on Steam for $45. Damn you Steam for raising prices. If there is one thing you should not complain about with Steam, is their prices. They have amazing deals.



I don't mind the new price point. I just wanted the SE Edition Steam and I hope EA BioWare does not play these types of games with consumers in the future.

[Arivle]

This is just my feedback to whoever is responsible for stripping availability of DA2 SE from Steam.

It is funny how all sw companies cry about piracy, yet are not hesitating to screw us customers willing to pay for their products for literally few dirty cents.

In DA1 I bought every single DLC, even those I didn't really cared about because I conisdered it being a well-deserved additional bonus from my side to Bioware for such a fantastic game. I surely won't do it again with DA2. Reason: This obvious greediness from your marketing department.

Sadly EA just proved me they don't deserve extra support. I just preoredered my DA2 from Steam and will perhaps buy a DLC which will indeed interest me. But in no way I will buy them all just because the game itself is great.

This harsh criticism is in no way aimed at Bioware developers who do _awesome_ job but the people who sell their products.

Modifié par Arivle, 13 janvier 2011 - 01:21 .

[nisallik]

Or it could of been something a lot easier to explain than the day after the deal expire, it goes on steam.



It could of been that Steam would not be able to offer a signature edition for a certain amount of time.



OR



They locked in a deal maybe 5 days ago and figured the best way to go was to wait until after the signature edition than just to offer it for 5 days only.

[StingingVelvet]

FearMonkey wrote...

When I pre-ordered it back in Sept/Oct, it was $50 at Best Buy. They've since raised the price to $60 like everybody else but since I pre-ordered it at $50, they can't raise it on me. I hope.

I don't know about Best Buy but as a frequent amazon shopper I can promise they do not change the price after you pre-order to raise it, only to lower it.  When you pre-order on amazon you get the cheapest price they list it for from your pre-order date to release.

I actually got it for $39.99, as I pre-ordered when it was $50 and got $10 off from my amazon rewards program.

[Id of Ith]

TJPags wrote...
Of course, they clearly did it intentionally so they could "negatively impact" people who want to order from Steam and make them angry.  That was obviously their intention.

Steam-centric people who had other options - and so far, that seems to be about everyone in this thread with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions - made a choice.  That's not Bioware's fault, nor is it EA's.

In the end, their intentions should not matter whatsoever. Only the end result, which is certain gamers which will be negatively impacted by their mysterious inability - something they've not had issues with in the past - to make this game available to gamers who prefer to purchase their games through Steam in time to take advantage of the SE offer. They also have the ability to mitigate the impact of that by making the content available for those users, yet they aren't, which is certain something within their power to do. 

[Fernando Melo]

Whatever the reasons (and you are free to continue to create conspiracies and assumptions as you wish), the fact remains that unfortunately the SE edition was not able to get on to Steam.

I'm as disappointed by this as the next person - everyone involved wants our games to be available to as many players as possible, that's the business we are all in.  There is no 'win' by purposefully holding back our game from a segment of our potential players, or jeopardizing a long standing relationship with any one of our distribution partners, or any number of other "evil" (but illogical) things that have come up here. 

EA publishes dozens of games a year - BioWare alone has franchises making games and additional content year upon year - despite what some of you may want to think, there is no sense in toying with our partnerships or you, the community, for short term gain.

It is almost like there is a want of drama from some in order to help them justify this in some manner, but the reality is that it is no one's fault -  the fact that we released something before is no guarantee that we can come to an agreement to release something in the future, just as the reverse is also true. 

Those of you that followed us through the Origins roller coaster of release dates for DLCs and patches (particularly for consoles) should know by now that occasionally things do not go according to plan - and despite best efforts from everyone involved, some players 'lose out' for any number of reasons. 

That is never a good thing for us, nor our partners.  

How would actively working to do have players 'lose out' in any situation like that make any sense?  To then assume that any company would do those things - and specifically target YOU, yes you, and purposefully upset you in such a way that you won't buy anything from us is letting your misconceived anger get the better of your reasoning skills.

F.

[ralph2190]

Well said Fernando!

[Sharuko]

Fernando Melo wrote...

It is almost like there is a want of drama from some in order to help them justify this in some manner, but the reality is that it is no one's fault -  the fact that we released something before is no guarantee that we can come to an agreement to release something in the future, just as the reverse is also true. 

Thanks for your response.  Many people including me are just disappointed SE was not available on Steam that is all.  It almost felt like the SE edition was the anti-Steam edition for PC.  But since you said it was not, I will take your word on it. 

[TJPags]

Id of Ith wrote...

TJPags wrote...
Of course, they clearly did it intentionally so they could "negatively impact" people who want to order from Steam and make them angry.  That was obviously their intention.

Steam-centric people who had other options - and so far, that seems to be about everyone in this thread with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions - made a choice.  That's not Bioware's fault, nor is it EA's.

In the end, their intentions should not matter whatsoever. Only the end result, which is certain gamers which will be negatively impacted by their mysterious inability - something they've not had issues with in the past - to make this game available to gamers who prefer to purchase their games through Steam in time to take advantage of the SE offer. They also have the ability to mitigate the impact of that by making the content available for those users, yet they aren't, which is certain something within their power to do. 

I'm not sure it is in their power, as the agreement reached with Steam may only be for the current "standard" edition (is that the right term?  you know what I mean, I trust) and any currently available DLC.  To offer the SE on Steam would likely require an agreement regarding the SE - which they could not make in time to offer it in the first place.

if you read back through this thread, you will find other instances of other games not being available on Steam as well, or available later on Steam than through other avenues.

I suppose, at the end, COULD Bioware do SOMETHING for Steam users to "make up" for this?  Maybe not the SE, but I suppose they could figure out something.  The question becomes, "should they"?  My opinion is no.

To return to an example I've used before, let's say I prefer purchasing games at Walmart, yet Walmart refuses to sell a certain game (substitute CD in there if you wish).  There are known instances of Walmart not carrying certain things because of content they deem "innappropriate" (and no, this is not something I support in any way, just makes for a good example).

Now, I can go to Gamestop, or Best Buy, or Target, or Amazon, and purchase the product, but I don't, because I like Walmart, and prefer buying there.  Whose fault is it that I don't get the game (or CD, or DVD, or whatever)?  Mine.  Does anyone "owe" me anything?  Nope - and if anyone does, it's Walmart.

[abbe6100]

Fernando Melo wrote...

Whatever the reasons (and you are free to continue to create conspiracies and assumptions as you wish), the fact remains that unfortunately the SE edition was not able to get on to Steam.

I'm as disappointed by this as the next person - everyone involved wants our games to be available to as many players as possible, that's the business we are all in.  There is no 'win' by purposefully holding back our game from a segment of our potential players, or jeopardizing a long standing relationship with any one of our distribution partners, or any number of other "evil" (but illogical) things that have come up here. 

EA publishes dozens of games a year - BioWare alone has franchises making games and additional content year upon year - despite what some of you may want to think, there is no sense in toying with our partnerships or you, the community, for short term gain.

It is almost like there is a want of drama from some in order to help them justify this in some manner, but the reality is that it is no one's fault -  the fact that we released something before is no guarantee that we can come to an agreement to release something in the future, just as the reverse is also true. 

Those of you that followed us through the Origins roller coaster of release dates for DLCs and patches (particularly for consoles) should know by now that occasionally things do not go according to plan - and despite best efforts from everyone involved, some players 'lose out' for any number of reasons. 

That is never a good thing for us, nor our partners.  

How would actively working to do have players 'lose out' in any situation like that make any sense?  To then assume that any company would do those things - and specifically target YOU, yes you, and purposefully upset you in such a way that you won't buy anything from us is letting your misconceived anger get the better of your reasoning skills.

F.

Most of the things we feel angry and betrayed about can be easily redeemed by an extension of the SE sales period, extend it to the end of this week, thats 4 days, and I will GLADLY shell out my the €50 that it costs for me to buy it on Steam.
It isn't much harder than that.
And yes, technically it is harder for you to do that, but it would make MANY customers EXTREMELY HAPPY, which in the long end will give you more money. You're not only selling games, but you are selling a service, bad service stays in mind for a long time.

[lv12medic]

Fernando Melo wrote...
...
It is almost like there is a want of drama from some in order to help them justify this in some manner, but the reality is that it is no one's fault -  the fact that we released something before is no guarantee that we can come to an agreement to release something in the future, just as the reverse is also true. 
...
F.

It's just that conspiracy theories and drama make a much better story than boring logic and mundane buisness operations.  Bioware is the land of story isn't it?

[Meltemph]

EA publishes dozens of games a year - BioWare alone has franchises making games and additional content year upon year - despite what some of you may want to think, there is no sense in toying with our partnerships or you, the community, for short term gain.

Now I'm not one to care one way or the other it's your product you can market it like you want, but Steam has been getting a LOT of flack, from publicly traded companies, because of their dominance in the Digital market.

The idea that, that does not effect strategies from companies that have their own product distribution is silly(silly in regards of thinking of doing something like that doesn't make sense). Sure, you may hurt yourself a little by holding back content from a distributer, but if that distributer is viewed as having to much of a hold on a specific corner of the market it is VERY normal to do something like withholding incentives from certain distributer, specially when it directly cuts into a market that the publisher is involved in.

Maybe it wasn't Biowars idea, but it is not out of bounds to think that EA was trying to direct initial sales traffic away from steam through pre-sales. And I should say, there is nothing wrong with that and you don't have to tell us, however the "toying with partners" being a bad idea... Well that would very much depend on if your publisher thinks a digital distributer has to much of the market, because it would "make sense" if it actually did pull more then normal into the other partners.

Modifié par Meltemph, 13 janvier 2011 - 01:38 .

[Id of Ith]

TJPags wrote...
I'm not sure it is in their power, as the agreement reached with Steam may only be for the current "standard" edition (is that the right term?  you know what I mean, I trust) and any currently available DLC.  To offer the SE on Steam would likely require an agreement regarding the SE - which they could not make in time to offer it in the first place.

Speaking as someone who works in this industry, I can tell you fairly plainly that the chances of this being the case are pretty much zero. 

But really, the question is more about whether or not EA is doing everything they can to get this content delivered to as many users as possible. One of the biggest releases scheduled for 2011, and they can get it done on bit players (relatively speaking) like Impulse but not on Steam? Hard to swallow, but not as bitter of a pill as the fact that they don't feel the need to simply take the extra step to make it available delay non-withstanding, which I assure you, Steam would accommodate. 

[EmperorNish]

Fernando Melo wrote...



It is almost like there is a want of drama from some in order to help them justify this in some manner, but the reality is that it is no one's fault -  the fact that we released something before is no guarantee that we can come to an agreement to release something in the future, just as the reverse is also true. 


F.

I don't blame Bioware for any of this, but this is clearly on EA. For whatever reason, EA has decided that Steam is its largest competitor in the digital space for pc games and it has decided that it wants more of the revenue pie from digital sales (see John Riccitiello's recent comments about digital over taking retail revenue). Look at what games are available on other digital distributors and compare that to Steam. There's been a recent history of EA either putting their games late or not at all on Steam, and Dragon Age 2 is being caught in the crossfire as well.

Why is EA doing this to Steam and not other retailers? It's because Steam dwarfs the other players in the market, and EA want to grow their awful DD marketplace where they get more money per sale compared to if a game is sold elsewhere.

Edit: Look at the pattern: No Sims 3, No Fifa11 but there's Fifa Manager because Football manager is on Steam, no Deadspace 2, no Create, the NFS twitter said no Steam version of Hot pursuit, but that eventually came out and now Dragon Age 2. Funny how the DA2 pre-order is up just as the Signature Edition offer expires. EA doesn't have a problem with Steam? Riiiiight.

It doesn't take four months to negotiate to get a release on a digital distributor, so I'm not buying that explanation at all, in fact I'm not buying the game. Too bad for Bioware, but if this is how EA wants to do business, then I want no part of it.

Modifié par EmperorNish, 13 janvier 2011 - 01:49 .

[Morroian]

Id of Ith wrote...

But really, the question is more about whether or not EA is doing everything they can to get this content delivered to as many users as possible. One of the biggest releases scheduled for 2011, and they can get it done on bit players (relatively speaking) like Impulse but not on Steam? Hard to swallow, but not as bitter of a pill as the fact that they don't feel the need to simply take the extra step to make it available delay non-withstanding, which I assure you, Steam would accommodate. 

I don't think its hard to swallow, the other digital sellers are small fry, they would likely roll over on EAs terms. Valve would likely want to impose their own terms, thus negotiation occurs.

[Meltemph]

EmperorNish, I'm curious... Assuming EA actually did do this(which is speculative, but I agree not something hard to believe), why do you have a problem with it(well outside of not being able to buy it on steam)? I mean, I could understand if you REALLY like steam(I do as well) but why would you not buy it because of this? You think it is wrong for being competitive with steam?

Modifié par Meltemph, 13 janvier 2011 - 01:47 .

[JBaconBits]

Either EA and Bioware are completely inept and unable to get the SE available on Steam, the largest Digital Distributor of games, or they held it back for other reasons.



Either way, it isn't good.

[StingingVelvet]

abbe6100 wrote...

Most of the things we feel angry and betrayed about can be easily redeemed by an extension of the SE sales period, extend it to the end of this week, thats 4 days, and I will GLADLY shell out my the €50 that it costs for me to buy it on Steam.
It isn't much harder than that.
And yes, technically it is harder for you to do that, but it would make MANY customers EXTREMELY HAPPY, which in the long end will give you more money. You're not only selling games, but you are selling a service, bad service stays in mind for a long time.

If they couldn't get the deal done before I doubt they can do it now.

[FearMonkey]

StingingVelvet wrote...

FearMonkey wrote...

When I pre-ordered it back in Sept/Oct, it was $50 at Best Buy. They've since raised the price to $60 like everybody else but since I pre-ordered it at $50, they can't raise it on me. I hope.

I don't know about Best Buy but as a frequent amazon shopper I can promise they do not change the price after you pre-order to raise it, only to lower it.  When you pre-order on amazon you get the cheapest price they list it for from your pre-order date to release.

I actually got it for $39.99, as I pre-ordered when it was $50 and got $10 off from my amazon rewards program.

Yeah, I usually order from Amazon but they raised the price to $60 before I could. So I had to look elsewhere.

Frankly, I'm considering cancelling my pre-order at this point because the Signature Edition isn't giving me a cloth map like Dragon Age: Origins did.

Seriously, if Bioware wants to charge me extra money for something, I won't complain if they include a cloth map.