CptPatch wrote...
I believe that the one salient point BioWare (or more likely, EA) has learned from all this is that there are nowhere near enough consumers disgruntled enough to organize a boycott. A few hundred disgruntled _individuals_ is nothing for them to be concerned about. A few hundred that actively seek each other out with the intent of MAKING A LOT OF NOISE _could_ inspire others to join them. When it starts to look like they might lose tens of thousands of potential sales -- to not just DA:O, but other games as well -- THEN they will start to energetically address complaints to try to salvage their PR image.
The second thing they've learned is: For most people, $5 is pocket change. Most serious DAO players would actually be willing to toss that much money for NO quest at all. Just a neat sword like Starfang would be enough for them to part with that little bit of cash.
The second point is actually dangerous to the quality and cost of your future games. The game is pointedly solo, BUT with _a lot_ of online connectivity.
Do a little math quiz here: Using RtO as a benchmark (gameplay = 30 minutes = $5), if you took DAO and parsed it out, how many RtO units would you have? About 120 maybe? Times $5 = DAO would cost $600.
Now, upon seeing a $600 price tag, you go, "No way!!!!" Nobody is biting. BUT.....
Suppose DAO had been released at a $30 price tag, but with about 80 of those small subquests left out. (Which you wouldn't know they had been left out because approaching the game cold, you wouldn't have known what might have been included.) So you think, "$30; I can dig that." And you start playing DAO and you're seriously loving it (when it isn't annoying you with some quirk). And now you are made aware that, "If you want to expand your DAO experience, you can add on these fine DLCs, only $5 each!" Wow. _80_ of them. That's $400! But that's only if buy them all at once. So you rationalize to yourself, "It's only half the cost of a movie ticket for a movie that I might not actually enjoy that much. I _am_ enjoying DAO, though. Maybe I'll just spring for the Broken Circle DLCs. That's only...."
Then later, you convince yourself to buy the Paragon of Her Kind DLCs. And then the Urn of Sacred Ashes DLCs. And then.....
Maybe you _don't_ buy all 80 of the subquest DLCs. But just look at BioWare's/EA's Profit & Loss statement. Instead of getting $60 per unit, they're getting $30 PLUS $5 + $5 + $5 ....... The average in the end would be closer to >$100, I practically guarantee it. FURTHERMORE, it keeps people playing the game for _much_ longer than most buy-it/beat-it/move-on-to-next-game games. Players would be "freshening up" the game by adding new, unfamiliar content, so a year from know DAO is _still_ a heavily played game. Especially if they're smart enough to keep augmenting the DLC selection with another new DLC every few weeks.
All that is necessary is to get the consumers used to buying a base game and regularly adding DLC content.
And if this marketing strategy works well for BioWare/EA, how long before all the other manufacturers start to follow suit?
I see a lot of maybes, supposes, and hypothetical's in your post there. You also seem to derive a lot of stuff that is very subjective in nature, value of entertainment based products cannot be classified and examined solely from a longevity point of view. Really your posting your worst nightmare rather then basing things off of facts.
Here's my problem with your idea. Businesses are always there to maximize their business, to maximize profits through peak pricing. If what you were saying is indeed a direction the industry is heading don't you think we would have seen signs, trial runs, things of that nature. Don't you think if this was indeed viable the thousands of marketing directors and business analysts in the industry whose sole job is to find to premier way to turn a profit without alienating the majority of their customer base would be pushing for this change and we would have seen something different rather then almost the same strategy for the past 7 years? Like I said your theory seems to revolve around your personal nightmare of a worst case scenario then any practicality.
Ce sujet est fermé
Less Bang For The Buck. 30 minutes? For $5
Retour en haut
-
) but it really was just fighting darkspawn over and over again. It lacked any real plot, but of course it was nice to see how the King ended up and gather his armour. There's also a bit of touching dialogue in there, if you're as big a cheese as I am. And, as Lopper128 wrote, the armour isn't shiny; a real disappointment there. <_<
