379 réponses à ce sujet

[Coldcall01]

Gee guys i know you are now part of EA and the bottom line is everything but seriously i am starting to feel very jaded about the DLC strategy.

First of all I love DAO, great game and i was perfectly happy to pay the £35 here in the UK for the retail game. Its worth every penny.

However I've been angry about the DLCs for a while considering how little extra gameplay they offer, especially when compared to the original game.

But this morning i heard that EA is looking to set up a system which also charges second hand game owners an extra $10 when transferring owenership of a previousl paid for game. If this is wrong perhaps EA's PR people should get out there an deny it damn quickly because it is raising some eyebrows.

What is going on? Once the 4 million DAO sales mark is hit you wil have earned approx $200million in revenues just on DAO. I dont begrudge you that as it deserves commercial success but the extra length of greed involved in charging such ludircous amounts for nothing DLCs and now the alleged EA plans to start stiching up the second hand games market is just too much to take.

I suggest Bioware start treating their customers with some respect and not treating them like a infinite cash machines.

If EA/Bioware continue on this track you will only encourage bitter feelings and more piracy. This is exactly what happened with the retail misic cd indistry and it will happen to the games industry once enough punters feel they are being ripped off.

Sorry but had to be said.

[Grossbard]

I'd be more mad at EA tbqh

[nestorprado]

Only thing I can say is don't buy the dlc if you're not ready to pay the extra money.
As for me let me say I also love this game and bought the collectors edition where the stone prisoner and some other dlc was already includet.
Then I bought the warden keep dlc and was somewhat disappointed that I had to pay $7 for about 1hour of gameplay.
So now I know what it is, what I have to expect and how much I have to pay...
To make a long story short: I will not buy RtO. As simple as that!

Edit: BTW I won't buy DA:A either

Modifié par nestorprado, 11 février 2010 - 11:21 .

[Coldcall01]

Just so no-one thinks im going crazy about EAs plans to charge a $10 fee for second hand game transfers. I founf the link:



http://www.tomsguide...,news-5797.html



Totally unacceptable EA/Bioware.

[Onyx Jaguar]

EA has been operating at a loss recently :/

[melkathi]

Yeah, so many copies earned, but they don't have the resources to not make the new Awakening companions look like cheap copies of the Origins companions...



And regarding your piracy comment:

Various TV channels like Scifi for example, host small webseries to keep people interested during breaks between seasons. Sadly yo can only watch those from an USA IP address. Which leads to resentment from fans around the world and forces them to use "piracy" to access free stuff.





There was some point I wanted to make, but absendminded as I am I forgot wha it was.

[Coldcall01]

Onyx Jaguar wrote...

EA has been operating at a loss recently :/

Well that just shows you what a badly run company it is because how they can loose money is a mystery.

However the Bioware side of the business is highly profitable, so perhaps EA is looking to squeeze every penny out of Bioware consumers.

I see no other explanation for the vastly over-priced DLCs and this new plan to charge second hand game owners.

Thing is people's patience is like a piece of string - finite.

[Sabriana]

Onyx Jaguar wrote...

EA has been operating at a loss recently :/

Geee, I wonder why. Keeping your customers happy is indeed an art. Unfortunately, the old business college teaching of "the money is in the returning customer" seems not to be heeded by some.
And then they try to make up for losses by angering even more customers. Sound strategy - that is, if your trying to go out of business.

[Spitz6860]

supply and demand, as long as people keep buying them they'll keep making them until it's not profitable. let's face it, being nice doesn't send food to your mouth, it's a grim world, but that's the way it is. although i have to say the fact we can only load saves with DLC content while connected to internet is pretty distasteful. so after you get a DLC pack you have to log on your EA account in order to load that save file, they are pretty much penalizing people who bought the DLCs

[metatheurgist]

You know one has nothing to do with the other. How much money they've made on DAO doesn't influence how they set the price for DLC. It's business. They want as much money as they can get. If they can sell DLC at $5, they do so.



Fairness, "giving back to the fans", fan expectation is irrelevant. That's just not the world we live in.



If you think this is wrong, please join the revolution. I think we are overdue for one.

[Stompi]

The DLC idea was born when MMOs became popular. It's a similiar concept, developers are trying to make some extra money, while working on the next game. I don't have a problem with DLC, as long as I can choose what to buy.

DAO really doesn't feel like an unfinished game, I would bet that most games don't even cost half the developing efforts but are sold at the same price.

[melkathi]

Sabriana wrote...

Onyx Jaguar wrote...

EA has been operating at a loss recently :/

Geee, I wonder why. Keeping your customers happy is indeed an art. Unfortunately, the old business college teaching of "the money is in the returning customer" seems not to be heeded by some.
And then they try to make up for losses by angering even more customers. Sound strategy - that is, if your trying to go out of business.

You should see what Cryptic did with Champions Online.
Never seen a company that greedy. I fully expect them to start charging people for taking their money.

[Yrkoon]

$200million in DAO sales and you still charge $5 for 1 hour DLC?

Is this a serious question?

Is there supposed to be some "moral" or  fiscal  line that, once a company crosses it, they should no longer feel the need to make any more  money?

Right.  I can just imagine the executives in a board room having a last quarter meeting:  "well, look at that,   our company just made  a huge profit  in q3.  What do you say we fire our accountants now, and start making FREE products!      Money is SOO over-rated, we  should try to make sure we never make another penny again!

Modifié par Yrkoon, 11 février 2010 - 11:37 .

[Coldcall01]

metatheurgist wrote...

You know one has nothing to do with the other. How much money they've made on DAO doesn't influence how they set the price for DLC. It's business. They want as much money as they can get. If they can sell DLC at $5, they do so.

Fairness, "giving back to the fans", fan expectation is irrelevant. That's just not the world we live in.

If you think this is wrong, please join the revolution. I think we are overdue for one.

Well it does have a correlation between DAO vanilla game sales and what they charge for DLCs. The reason being its very easy to see how much more expensive the DLCs are priced on a pro rata basis. I'm not the only one kicking up a fuss about DLC pricing as ive seen loads of similar comments on rpg/games forums. So there are a fair amount of punters who are value consicous, even if they love a particular game.

The comparisons will be made and Bioware can stick their fingers in teir ears and claim not to notice but eventually it will hurt their brand if enough gamer opinion is that they are fleecing their customers.

So whether they feel the DLC pricing is relevant to the original pricing of the game or not, many gamers will and its they who pay the piper.

[Coldcall01]

Yrkoon wrote...

$200million in DAO sales and you still charge $5 for 1 hour DLC?

Is this a serious question?

Is there supposed to be some "moral" or  fiscal  line that, once a company crosses it, they should no longer feel the need to make any more  money?

Right.  I can just imagine the executives in a board room having a last quarter meeting:  "well, look at that,   our company just made  a huge profit  in q3.  What do you say we fire our accountants now, and start making FREE products!      Money is SOO over-rated, we  should try to make sure we never make another penny again!

Listen pal, you keep buying those overpriced DLCs, be my guest :-) There's one born every minute.

[purplesunset]

Coldcall01:

The arguement that people will use against you is: "If people want to spend $5 for 1-hour DLC, then they have a right to. If you don't want it, DON'T buy it."


However, what this fails to take into consideration, is that  Bioware could potentially  release the cheapest-to-make,  lowest possible quality content that they can for $5.

Then even the people who choose not to buy will suffer, because the company will have no incentive to increase the quality of the content at that price. A company could start making 10-minute long DLC and sell it for $5,and if enough people bought it, they will have no incentive to give players more content at that price.

It's kindof like saying, "if people want to spend $40 for snake oil, then they have a right to. If you don't like snake oil, DON'T  buy it."

This fails to take into consideration the fact that even the people who choose not to buy the snake oil will suffer because the salesman will have no incentive to start selling  a better quality product at that price (in this case real medicine.)

I tried my best to spell this out better at the bottom
of this thread , but I guess I wasn't clear enough.  

Modifié par purplesunset, 11 février 2010 - 11:57 .

[Coldcall01]

purplesunset wrote...

Coldcall01:

The arguement that people will use against you is: "If people want to spend $5 for 1-hour DLC, then they have a right to. If you don't want it, DON'T buy it."


However, what this fails to take into consideration, is that  Bioware could potentially release the cheapest-to-make,  lowest possible quality content that they can for $5.

Then even the people who choose not to buy will suffer, because the company will have no incentive to increase the quality of the content.

It's kindof like saying, "if people want to spend $40 for snake oil, then they have a right to. If you don't like snake oil, DON'T  buy it."

This fails to take into consideration the fact that even the people who choose not to buy the snake oil will suffer because the salesman will have no incentive to start selling  a better quality product at that price (in this case real medicine.)

I tried my best to spell this out better at the bottom
of this thread , but I guess I wasn't clear enough.  

I know the argument people use against my type of criticism. And its reasonable to say "well dont buy it then".

Problem is that is exactly what happened to the retail music CD industry and why piracy almost ruined it within a 5 year period.

So my counter-argument against that is that peoiple will just pirate the games. Simple solution,  and then companies like Bioware will wonder where many of their old paying cutomers went. If  Bioware are still producing games worth playing at that point there will be many not paying for them.

[Yrkoon]

Coldcall01 wrote...


I suggest Bioware start treating their customers with some respect and not treating them like a infinite cash machines.

Oh, but we ARE infinite cash machines my dear. So long as Bioware keeps putting out amazing game content, I'll gobble up every 45 minutes of it, like the junkie I am,, and they'll take my $5.... every time.

In the real world, that's called a partnership of mutual neccessity.

Of course, the only difference between me and you is that I ADMIT all of this, while you privately hand over your 5 bucks for every DLC, then publically deny it, and claim  it's  "wrong"

Modifié par Yrkoon, 11 février 2010 - 11:49 .

[Coldcall01]

Yrkoon wrote...

Coldcall01 wrote...


I suggest Bioware start treating their customers with some respect and not treating them like a infinite cash machines.

Oh, but we ARE infinite cash machines my dear. So long as Bioware keeps putting out amazing game content, I'll gobble up every 45 minutes of it, like the junkie I am,, and they'll take my $5.... every time.

In the real world, that's called a partnership of mutual neccessity.

Of course, the only difference between me and you is that I ADMIT all of this, while you privately hand over your 5 bucks for every DLC, then publically "wrong"

The first points you mention are perfectly fine, as some folks like you will buy just about anything with the right branding or whatever.

But please dont assume i am buying DLCs secretly while criticising their pricing. I am not.

The last DLC i purchased was Wardens Keep and i was totally unsatisfied form a vlua epoint of view. I still have something like 2000 Bioare points on my accoutn and i am not spending them.

I refuse to buy RTO, and the reviews for it have seen such as RPG watch are damning about the value.

So you go ahead and spend all your pocket money on these DLC but please dont think we are all like you. Some of us have some self control.

[Yrkoon]

Coldcall01 wrote...

Onyx Jaguar wrote...

EA has been operating at a loss recently :/

Well that just shows you what a badly run company it is because how they can loose money is a mystery.

It's not a mystery at all.

They "lost money" due to their recent expensive acquisitions.  Like purchasing BIOWARE...

Link


However, both sales and revenue growth were decent for the company, beating analyst expectations. Crunching the numbers, it appears as if EA could have made around $30 million, if not for the costs largely due to its acquisitions - specifically the $620 million purchase of BioWare and Pandemic in October 2007, finalized in January 2008.




So if you're wondering why  we're seeing them still charging  5 bucks for DLCs even though they just made $200 million for DA:O... there you go.  The answer.

Glad I could help.

Modifié par Yrkoon, 11 février 2010 - 11:59 .

[Coldcall01]

Yrkoon wrote...

Coldcall01 wrote...

Onyx Jaguar wrote...

EA has been operating at a loss recently :/

Well that just shows you what a badly run company it is because how they can loose money is a mystery.

It's not a mystery at all.

They "lost money" due to their recent expensive acquisitions.  Like purchasing BIOWARE...

Link


However, both sales and revenue growth were decent for the company, beating analyst expectations. Crunching the numbers, it appears as if EA could have made around $30 million, if not for the costs largely due to its acquisitions - specifically the $620 million purchase of BioWare and Pandemic in October 2007, finalized in January 2008.




So if you're wondering why  we're seeing them still charging  5 bucks for DLCs even though they just made $200 million for DA:O... there you go.  The answer.

Glad I could help.

Well they got Bioware for a steal at that price, as both DAO and ME2 will gross about the same amount for what EA paid for the whole company a couple years ago. Even if proftibaility is only 50% its still a great deal.

However its no excuse to rip customers on nothing DLC content. EA will make their money back thefold within 10 years and they are more likely to do it sustainably if their customers dont start feeling very cynical towards the group parent.

[Yrkoon]

Coldcall01 wrote...


Well they got Bioware for a steal at that price, as both DAO and ME2 will gross about the same amount for what EA paid for the whole company a couple years ago. Even if proftibaility is only 50% its still a great deal.

However its no excuse to rip customers on nothing DLC content. EA will make their money back thefold within 10 years and they are more likely to do it sustainably if their customers dont start feeling very cynical towards the group parent.

First off, you're stating your singular opinion as fact.  The last  DLC I bought (RTO)   had *great* content, imo.  Of course, you wouldn't know anything about  RTO's content, since you haven't  actually Played RTO.... as you recently admitted.

Second,  How many times do we have to pound the following point into your head:  WE WERE TOLD EXACTLY WHAT WE WERE  ABOUT TO PURCHASE, then  given a choice as to weather to purchase it or not.  By definition,  we haven't been ripped off.  We were told that   RTO would be about 1 hour long, that it was combat-centric, and that it would cost us exactly 5 dollars.  EVERYTHING we were told was accurate.



And lastly, please, do me a favor. Unless you've suddely become  an industry sales analyst, stop making moronic fiscal predictions  based on "emotion" and "hatred for the evil EA"

Modifié par Yrkoon, 11 février 2010 - 12:21 .

[Coldcall01]

Yrkoon wrote...

Coldcall01 wrote...


Well they got Bioware for a steal at that price, as both DAO and ME2 will gross about the same amount for what EA paid for the whole company a couple years ago. Even if proftibaility is only 50% its still a great deal.

However its no excuse to rip customers on nothing DLC content. EA will make their money back thefold within 10 years and they are more likely to do it sustainably if their customers dont start feeling very cynical towards the group parent.

First off, you're stating your singular opinion as fact.  The last  DLC I bought (RTO)   had *great* content, imo.  Of course, you wouldn't know anything about  RTO's content, since you haven't  actually Played RTO.... as you recently admitted.

Second,  How many times do we have to pound the following point into your head:  WE WERE TOLD EXACTLY WHAT WE WERE  ABOUT TO PURCHASE, then  given a choice as to weather to purchase it or not.  By definition,  we haven't been ripped off.  We were told that   RTO would be about 1 hour long, that it was combat-centric, and that it would cost us exactly 5 dollars.  EVERYTHING we were told was accurate.

And lastly, please, do me a favor. Unless you've suddely become  an industry sales analyst, stop making moronic fiscal predictions  based on "emotion" and "hatred for the evil EA"

I dont need to be a sales analyst to do simple maths. Its very simple just multiply the retail cost with how many units they've sold. Its easy, try it sometime, Use a claculator if you are having issues.

And of course its my opinion. I dont know where i said otherwise.

Look im not here to convince fanbois like yourself. I posted my remarks for Bioware, not for you, so dont take it personally if you dont agree with me.

Thats your right but please dont whine about my opinion just beacuse i am not a fanboi like you.

[Yrkoon]

Coldcall01 wrote...

Yrkoon wrote...

Coldcall01 wrote...


Well they got Bioware for a steal at that price, as both DAO and ME2 will gross about the same amount for what EA paid for the whole company a couple years ago. Even if proftibaility is only 50% its still a great deal.

However its no excuse to rip customers on nothing DLC content. EA will make their money back thefold within 10 years and they are more likely to do it sustainably if their customers dont start feeling very cynical towards the group parent.

First off, you're stating your singular opinion as fact.  The last  DLC I bought (RTO)   had *great* content, imo.  Of course, you wouldn't know anything about  RTO's content, since you haven't  actually Played RTO.... as you recently admitted.

Second,  How many times do we have to pound the following point into your head:  WE WERE TOLD EXACTLY WHAT WE WERE  ABOUT TO PURCHASE, then  given a choice as to weather to purchase it or not.  By definition,  we haven't been ripped off.  We were told that   RTO would be about 1 hour long, that it was combat-centric, and that it would cost us exactly 5 dollars.  EVERYTHING we were told was accurate.

And lastly, please, do me a favor. Unless you've suddely become  an industry sales analyst, stop making moronic fiscal predictions  based on "emotion" and "hatred for the evil EA"

I dont need to be a sales analyst to do simple maths. Its very simple just multiply the retail cost with how many units they've sold. Its easy, try it sometime, Use a claculator if you are having issues.

   

Nice try, but as ANYONE here can clearly see from this quote pyramid, you weren't commenting on retail costs and units that have already been sold.  You were making a prediction about FUTURE fiscal success... over a 10 year span, in fact.  And   you did so   without  putting up ANY numbers or figures that can be "crunched" on a calculator  (like, production costs, labor costs, inflation,  how many games they have slated to be released, industry trends etc.)

Be a little more honest, next time.

Look im not here to convince fanbois like yourself. I posted my remarks for Bioware,

Then you should have sent Gaider, Priestly and Woo a  Private message or  email, instead of creating a thread  out in the open in the public forums... where anyone with an iota of knowledge   has the right  to   shred  your "remarks"  to ribbons.

Modifié par Yrkoon, 11 février 2010 - 01:02 .

[Tresca Mizzrym]

Its nice to see you calling him a fanboi when all hes done is defend a game he enjoys. No ones called you a troll so we see who the more mature one is so far. Since your so wonderful with math show us the development costs of dao show us its advertising costs. Show us the ACTUAL profit thats been made. Surely you can CALCULATE something along those lines since you can see the profit made 10 years hence. Though I imagine im wasting my breath asking for facts from you and your supposed easy math that you through what youve said will be FACT or close to it.



Sincerely

Tresca