1) MONETIZING DAY 1 DLCThat's all well and good, BioWare, but you completely miss the point. Fact remains that you have blatantly changed your business model. With your past games, the day 1 DLC has been a reward for anyone who legitimately purchased your game (which is fair imo), or even in the "worse" cases at least still available for anyone who pre-ordered your game.
With Mass Effect 3, this is not the case in the slightest. You are taking this actual piece of gameplay content and making it a Collector's Edition thing, thereby not only attempting to change the very industry definition of what a Collector's Edition constitutes (those usually provide a variety of out-of-game assets and only cosmetic things or simple items, if anything, inside the game), but also changing your business model in a way that directly attempts to get more money of your customers for the same type of content that you have previously provided as tokens of goodwill.
You have gone from providing day 1 DLC complimentarily as an incentive for people not to pirate or to pre-order your game, to blatantly monetizing it in an attempt to make people pay $10-20 more for the same type of content that they have gotten for free with your products in the past. And you wonder why people are getting pissed?In this industry, you can't expect to change your business model in such an obvious manner from one game to the next, and not be met with outrage and the boycott that's building up around you as we speak. I imagine that many people were already growing wary of seeing new ME3 cross-promotions involving various (though, to be fair, lesser and hence more acceptable) in-game rewards being announced on a semimonthly basis. And now this on top?
I can assure you that the moment people start to feel like they're being jerked around by a greedy corporation who is trying to nickle and dime them for the same content that they have gotten free of charge for being legitimate customers in the past, they will cease being legitimate customers. Either by boycotting your product or by simply pirating it. Let's leave the question of whether the piracy can be justified out of this discussion, because that's besides the point - the point being,
it will happen. As Gabe Newell from Valve puts it, piracy is a service problem - and you are trying to start charging money for a service (day 1 DLC) that you have provided freely to people for supporting your company in the past.
2) NATURE OF THE CONTENTNow that I've dealt with the monetary implications and the concerns about the shifting business model, I think it's time to have a look at the actual content of the DLC, as I believe this is a key part of the issue. However, this is much more of a subjective observation than the points raised under 1), so feel free to regard it with less gravity that you would the prior section.
Let me try to be concise.
We're dealing with a mother[beep]ing Prothean here. You know, the mythical, legendary aliens of ancient times that you've spent the past two games hyping up. Not only are they integral to the plot of the Mass Effect games, having played a major part in the storyline of both Mass Effect 1 and 2, a Prothean beacon being the primary reason Shepard stood out in the first place - they're at the very heart of the lore of the franchise.
Again, to reiterate; this is not another Zaheed. This is not another Shale. This is not another Lost Prince.
We're dealing with a mother[beep]ing Prothean here. I honestly do not understand how on earth you, as a company who rightfully prides itself on delivering immersive and story-driven gaming experiences, would expect to release this incredibly story-driven and unique character as DLC in the first place, especially when you then also try to make people pay extra for it.
3) IN CONCLUSIONI hope this post has helped BioWare better comprehend people's outrage, and understand how they are about to lose a whole lot of business over this affair. The situation is blowing up around you.
Totalbiscuit's video on the matter has received over 20,000 likes in less than 16 hours (and on youtube, that'll probably turn out to equal about 500,000-1,000,000 actual views). There are large threads (
1,
2) on reddit with thousands of people expressing their outrage and encouraging a boycott. The gaming press is starting to pick up on it. BioWare, you are making a
lot of customers upset.
Frankly, this is becoming a PR nightmare. It's time to go into damage control mode. How you deal with it is naturally up to yourself, but personally I would humbly suggest that you make the Prothean DLC available for free to anyone who preorders the game. That way, you can still make money off it, but at least without being as offensive.
Personally, as things stand, I will not be purchasing this game. This hurts me to say, as I've been playing BioWare's games avidly in the past. I was willing to put up with it being an Origin exclusive with no Steam version. I was willing to put up with the seeming cash cow state of milking this last game in the trilogy with the numerous cross-promotions for in-game rewards. I enjoyed the demo a whole lot and was genuinely looking forward to release. But I have to draw the line somewhere, and I feel I would be amiss if I let my personal wants stand over the potential future of the industry and, more particularly, where BioWare moves as a company.
I will not be pirating the game. I don't want to give you more leverage to use against your legitimate customers. But I will be boycotting it unless you change your approach to this DLC.
BioWare, the time has come to decide if causing a massive outcry, angering tens of thousands of previously legitimate and loyal customers and losing a correspondingly large amount of potential revenue is worth this blatant attempt to monetize your day 1 DLC. I can only hope that you do what's right for your customers, for yourself, and for the industry at large.
- W
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