197 réponses à ce sujet

[TODD9999]

I don't remember BioWare asking for my opinion on how long they should spend on the Extended Cut, nor on how much it should cost. Thus, their decision is based entirely upon their own plans and knowledge of their capabilities. They think they can make a satisfying product under those conditions, and I'm willing to wait around and give it a try when they do. If they felt they needed more money or time, then they should have adjusted their self-set deadline and price point (and been willing to deal with the consequences).

Would I rather they took longer or charged more? Not really. If they had actually spoken to the community, and explained why they would need X time or Y dollars, then I would have listened, thought, and made a judgement. But as far as unilateral declarations of time and cost, I'm not sure how much longer I would wait and how much more I would pay for something about which we know virtually nothing.

[Muhkida]

Although I do see the great possibility of the EC shaping out better with money involved (from us) in the DLC, the repercussions from the angry mob mentality could damage EA even further.

So Bioware is pretty much damned if they do ; damned if they don't.

[Mr. Gogeta34]

Guanxii wrote...

It may be free but will it be as good or as ambitious as paid dlc? Will it be enough to salvage the franchise?

It'd better be good or they'll lose fans and reputation.  Their budget should've allowed for a full-flegded ending to begin with.

[ashwind]

=.=" pay for EC??

Seeing that Witcher 2's enhanced edition is a free patch.... =P

NO!

[Hejdun]

Bioware is raking in money from the multiplayer microtransactions. They could easily use a small portion of that money to fund whatever the extended cut needs.

[Drummernate]

Unless it has new gameplay, Geth cut-scenes, or weapons, I am not paying for a thing.

[-Area51-Silent]

If they actually want to sell any SP DLC in the future, it had better be free. I would say a good majority of people would simply sell the game back to their respective used game centers and move on to the next game on their list. Its a sad and true fact that if people are displeased with the end of a series the chances of them replaying it (or in the case of TV, re-watching it) is small, meaning that any peripherals or DLC sold probably wont be a lot.

[Zolt51]

Personally, I don't think the EC should even be made at all. It's a dubious proposal at best that they can make any more money from the ME franchise as things stand. Better just admit it and start working on their next game full steam.

[BluKardinal]

One thing I will add is that the true cost to Bioware of producing the extended cut is going to be significantly greater than the simple cost of production. The various press releases and statements put out since the game was released all say that the pre-release plans for DLC have been shelved until the Extended Cut is finalized. In all likelihood, this means that they were planning on releasing Retake Omega latter this year for the standard 10$ and will now not put out that particular bit of content until 2013 at the earliest. This is costly to them for two reasons:

1) Delaying DLC results in fewer sales. The longer a game is out, the less likely people are to buy DLC simply because they have moved on to another game. Six months from now only a fairly dedicated fan-base is still going to be playing ME3 and most gamers (myself included) will have moved on to The Witcher 2, Diablo 3, and holy cow that trailer for Dishonored looks awesome! Producing free DLC now=lost revenue later. The guys at Extra Credits had an episode on this recently if you want to see more.

2) Profit Margins. I am not in the industry but you would have a very hard time convincing me that DLC doesn't have insane profit margins compared to the rest of the game. Most of the hard work in the games development (under the hood things like physics engines) is already complete and you are basically just building a new level for an existing game. You also get to bypass some traditional distribution costs like disc production and giving GameStop their cut. And then you get to sell the new content for 1/6th the price of the original game. I highly doubt that Lair of the Shadow Broker cost 1/6th as much to make as ME2.

Overall then, the decision to produce a significant piece of free DLC instead of paid content represents a significant financial investment in Bioware's good name. Given the arrogance that has infused some of Bioware's conduct since release this investment is probably a sound decision as it is the only thing that could win back an extremely angry and alienated fan base. That said I do think we should appreciate the fact that Bioware is putting real money on the table here.

[Guanxii]

BluKardinal wrote...

One thing I will add is that the true cost to Bioware of producing the extended cut is going to be significantly greater than the simple cost of production. The various press releases and statements put out since the game was released all say that the pre-release plans for DLC have been shelved until the Extended Cut is finalized. In all likelihood, this means that they were planning on releasing Retake Omega latter this year for the standard 10$ and will now not put out that particular bit of content until 2013 at the earliest. This is costly to them for two reasons:

1) Delaying DLC results in fewer sales. The longer a game is out, the less likely people are to buy DLC simply because they have moved on to another game. Six months from now only a fairly dedicated fan-base is still going to be playing ME3 and most gamers (myself included) will have moved on to The Witcher 2, Diablo 3, and holy cow that trailer for Dishonored looks awesome! Producing free DLC now=lost revenue later. The guys at Extra Credits had an episode on this recently if you want to see more.

2) Profit Margins. I am not in the industry but you would have a very hard time convincing me that DLC doesn't have insane profit margins compared to the rest of the game. Most of the hard work in the games development (under the hood things like physics engines) is already complete and you are basically just building a new level for an existing game. You also get to bypass some traditional distribution costs like disc production and giving GameStop their cut. And then you get to sell the new content for 1/6th the price of the original game. I highly doubt that Lair of the Shadow Broker cost 1/6th as much to make as ME2.

Overall then, the decision to produce a significant piece of free DLC instead of paid content represents a significant financial investment in Bioware's good name. Given the arrogance that has infused some of Bioware's conduct since release this investment is probably a sound decision as it is the only thing that could win back an extremely angry and alienated fan base. That said I do think we should appreciate the fact that Bioware is putting real money on the table here.

It's going to have to be something extremely special to keep the wider audience engaged, though no matter what they do it's likely to garner a lot of attention [even] from outside the industry. I am concerned about how substancial it will be if there is no new gameplay. I'm not sure a slide-show is gonna cut it for people with minimal emotional investment at this point. By the time the paid dlc comes out I think you're right... the wider audience will have moved on.

If that's the case... this might be their last chance [to do big dlc numbers] and I think they might regret ultimately phoning-in this dlc and ultimately not charging for it... it's quite a [mike] gamble.

Modifié par Guanxii, 27 avril 2012 - 02:30 .

[Doctoglethorpe]

Creepter wrote...

I would've been willing to pay extra for a new ending if Bioware just came out and admitted that they made a mistake the first time and were willing to rework it.

And I'm sure I'm not alone in those feelings.

Agreed. 

[kglaser]

They must surely be sufficiently canny to realize that they're far better off spending the $$ now to provide a free DLC that may appease fans, than to charge now or release nothing and lose all those fan dollars in the foreseeable future.

[BiancoAngelo7]

oh look, another person brainwashed to believe that a game needs no more than under two years to be fully developed, and anything else needs to be paid for. EA is happy when they read these things.

So all the other extremely high quality dev studios out there that take 4-5 years to make one game are just crazy idiots right?

for the love of....

[blooregard]

They charged for Javik...A character that was already on the disc and semi-important to the narrative (when compared to Zaeed and/or Kasumi) on day one. If they chose to charge for an ending (that should have been there anyway) then that would probably be the last thing they release before going under as they'll either make:

A) no money at all because the fan base would be so revolted at the fact that they just charged for an ending or:

maybe a few thousand dollars (if that) because some of us are desperate for something better then the crap we got

Either way they won't be selling much more DLC if any at all if they charge for the EC.

[Banelash]

Many data miners have found evidence of a rushed ending. Are you actually thinking of rewarding companies for rushing out their games and then charging people later to fix a rush game?

[WeAreLegionWTF]

They already got payed for the EC as far as i'm concerned... if they're gonna charge 90$ for a collectors edition they should at least complete the ending,

[kglaser]

What kills me is how I know they'll never admit what most of us already realize is true...that they @#$%^d up.

[MrFob]

Whoever says we should be paying for the DLC because it takes money and resources to make it should be reminded that we paid between $60 and $85 for a game that was not finished properly and that BW acknowledges with the DLC that it need improvement. Therefore, we have already financed the DLC.

However, will BW use the same kind of funds and effort to make a free DLC as they would have to make a paid DLC? I hope though but that remains to be seen.
It's really tough to say until we see what we finally get but on a principle note, I would have been rather upset if they actually would make us pay for it.

[Mr. Gogeta34]

Banelash wrote...

Many data miners have found evidence of a rushed ending. Are you actually thinking of rewarding companies for rushing out their games and then charging people later to fix a rush game?

Or how about charging a premium + pre-release DLC and getting a rushed ending?

[ZombieChad]

If there is not gameplay added then it should really be free, especially if they have stuff that they've previously recorded and not used. If they sit down and craft an entirely new ending, build on Priority Earth I'd be okay to pay for it as I'd rather get additional quality from the extra attention it would receive.

I still wonder if they'll do a string of paid for DLC working with Fan theories/endings after the extended cut.

[Dendio1]

Time and Money. Both matter. I'm thinking that ultimately, time is more difficult to manage than money.

[incinerator950]

I don't see how Broken Steel saved the Fallout Franchise. Most of the people who played New Vegas are indifferent about the whole ordeal, most don't want a Broken Steel DLC for NV, and a lot of them are veterans from FO1 and FO2. There were people who actually thought FO3 was the anticrhist to the series. Which is funny, because FONV is really FO3.2, reminiscent of a COD sequel.

I agree that a real expansion should be paid for, but that's from the budget perspective. Most people from a normal company would have let the game dye with some dignity and refer to it as decent, good, or bad depending on the situation. This expanded cut is to try and shore up a small amount of damage that a rushed ending gave it without using too many resources. AKA, the amount of time, graphics, missions, and high profile VA's to pay and work with.

With the revenue they made off of ME 3, I would have said just let it go down. The only relation I find with this is the back in the day event with Shurlock Holmes and Doyle, and that only changed after Shurlock's death because he received a fair number of Death Threats, not just negative feedback.

[LKx]

dmath2 wrote...

From time to time, I think "I'd pay for a properly fixed ending". Then my brain kicks in and reminds me of the following:

The cost of my Collector's Edition

The utter lies we were told about the wildly different endings

More lies about our choices throughout the series being reflected in those endings

The total lack of any sense of triumph at the end of what had been the best sci-fi trilogy in the last decade

Bioware's refusal to accept that the ending was anything less than genius

Diana Allers

Tali's face

Eavesdropping fetch quests replacing conversation and exploration

One hub world to visit

More lies about multiplayer not being a requirement

More lies about the possibility of a "reapers win" bad ending

StarJar, with Shepard just bending over and taking it

That crass cash-grab DLC message at the end

Tali's face again

My sweet (shudder)

The obscene amount of money Bioware/EA will already have made from multiplayer microtransactions

Tali's damn face again

"A bigger fan reaction than any other videogame's conclusion in the medium's history"

Synthesis, proving that Kirk Lazarus was absolutely right in Tropic Thunder when he told Tugg Speedman why he didn't get the Oscar for Simple Jack

StarJar again

Those dream sequences telling me I should feel bad. My Shepard didn't.

The kid at the start, shoehorning in an attempt at evoking pity when it was actually hamfisted, heavy-handed, tacky, lame and cheesy

StarJar's stupid flawed logic

Artistic Integrity = cameltoe, stock images and photoshop, among other things

... and then I'm angry again.

Grrr.

This.
Expecially the part about the pre-release bull****.
I don't like to be treated as a a fool, so they have to sacrifice some revenue to make up for that, otherwise they are out of bussiness for me.

[Wintermaulz]

Its only free because other wise people wouldnt buy anymore DLC