379 réponses à ce sujet

[Bullets McDeath]

This is hilarious. Bioware made alot of money this one time, now all their products should be free! Oh to live in that America! Hey, anyone notice that McDonald's has sold over a billion hamburgers? They still cost 99 cents?!? What the f*ck?!

[Shadowwot]

Dragon Age is targeted to an older audience (17+) and I don't mind paying for DLC or expansions or whatever, I have enjoyed the DLC and I am willing to pay for more additional content - but I also have a full-time job so paying $5-$10 every few months for additional content doesn't bother me.



$5 isn't much money - It's less money than playing WOW for a month, any meal at a fast food resteraunt, going to a movie, or drinking Starbucks a few times a week.

[Shadowwot]

That $200M is sales not income. OP is forgetting the 5 year development cycle with no money coming in - that's 5 years of rent, utilities, salaries, computer equipment, and other expenses.



BioWare's actual income for their development of Dragon Age Origins will be significantly lower than $200M.

[Bullets McDeath]

This anger reminds me of the anger I felt when I first learned that your rent goes UP the longer you live somewhere, not DOWN. Oh, cruel world.

[Justin2k]

Did you know...



Optional Downloadable Content is Optional?

[GEWill]

Coldcall01 wrote...

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.

Now I haven't read all the complaint regarding Dragon Age or the downloadable content, but the gist of what I am seeing relates to the $5 charge for the time that it provides.

Question.

Do any of the people complaining actually think about what they are complaing about before typing it? Sure the content is 1 hour and you have a problem paying $5 (which isn't a lot of money by any means) for that
content. How long does it take you to eat a value meal from Burger King or a Big Bacon classic from Wendy's? Just about any fast food you buy (short of a double cheeseburger from Burget King) will cost you more
than the DLC from Bioware and be gone is much less time. I am sure you all waste more than $5 on things that you will never have anything to show for again, and yet with this DLC you can reply it over and over
each time you roll a new playthough.

So for the sake of all of us that don't want to see thread after thread after thread appear because you wish to complain, think about the money you are spending the next time you bite into some fast food because I am sure you aren't on the message boards of these other companies complaining that you ate the food too fast and you want your money back etc etc.

Modifié par GEWill, 11 février 2010 - 06:40 .

[GEWill]

Shadowwot wrote...

Dragon Age is targeted to an older audience (17+) and I don't mind paying for DLC or expansions or whatever, I have enjoyed the DLC and I am willing to pay for more additional content - but I also have a full-time job so paying $5-$10 every few months for additional content doesn't bother me.

$5 isn't much money - It's less money than playing WOW for a month, any meal at a fast food resteraunt, going to a movie, or drinking Starbucks a few times a week.

QFT

[AtreiyaN7]

Here's a simple solution: don't buy the DLC and save your money if you don't want it. Also, do we really need yet another thread on this clogging the forums up? Sheesh, I wish there were one big "I hate paying for DLC/I don't want DLC thread" so that other more worthy threads don't sink into oblivion.

[grieferbastard]

How many times have I seen this bad logic get stomped on? 

EA spends about $2 billion every fiscal quarter, give or take. That's 3 months. SPENDS, mind you, not earns. DA is one of a number of titles they currently produce and support - including the Sims 1-3 and a lot of sports titles, most popular being Tiger Woods Golf. EA keeps changing their business model. They do have a lot of crappy business choices in their history, no question of that. None of which has anything to do with the price of DLC.

DLC has historically been supported only briefly after a games release. Digital release of software however is on the rise - not as a development from the publisher but from the consumer. In fact consumer demand exceeds the current ability and/or will of publishers to move to a more digital release format. You don't have to like that but the rest of us do. I don't want to have to go to the store and have a disc in my computer to play the games I want. The market shows that most people don't.

BioWare is releasing large scale expansions. Awakenings being an example. In addition to that they're also giving those of us who would enjoy new content more frequently than every 4-6 months smaller DLC. We all know that due to economy of scale and inherent licensing/production/distribution costs that they'll be a little bit more expensive. Fortunately every piece of DLC has been clearly detailed on exactly what it is and contains before I hit the 'buy' button so to speak and can decide for myself if it's worth the cost.

I loved RtO. It's been my favorite expansion so far. Certainly feel like $5 worth of entertainment. Having played BioWare games for years I trust them to have the artistic integrity to release products I find worthwhile. It's the same reason I find a local restaurant I like and keep going back. I show them with my money what I like and they know that to be successful they just need to keep giving me that and things like it. If you don't like RtO that's fine. I don't like ME2. Does that mean that BioWare is clearly trying to cheat me, personally? Trick me into buying something I don't want?

There is a particular discussion about psychology that involves why some people feel, in fact NEED to feel, that everyone else (especially everyone they percieve as being richer or somehow better off than them) is out to get them or cheat them. That if they are not perpetually vigillant in watching out for THE MAN that all society will crumble. Often it's a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts which just drives the same mentality all the further along.

You get someone who for example calls in every single month about their cable/phone/TV bill and yells about everything on it and how it's over-priced or the taxes are wrong or I didn't go over my minutes until somebody somewhere decides that just to shut this person up they'll credit something or give them an extra something or another. Which complicates their bill; perhaps the adjustment was pro-rated or perhaps they short-paid their bill in expectation of an adjustment that won't show up for a month. So next month they see a notice that says they were past due (which they were, the credit amount they short-paid didn't show up until the new bill printed) and calls in screaming blood and thunder. The result? They continually screw up their own bill in an effort to protect themselves from THE MAN. Who, really, has no interest in screwing them over. It would cost them more to find some way to 'trick' everyone and get away with it than they'd make just running an honest business. Businesses are made up of people, just like everyone else.

Everyone at BioWare and EA are just people. They want to do work they can be proud of, they want to make enough money to feel successful, they want to be happy with what they do. To assume that everyone everywhere is ruthless, evil and out to get you all the time has got to be a sad way to live. Are there bad people out there? Of course. Being an aware consumer is a good thing. If you need to assume that DLC is somehow 'cheating you' to feel better or in control though, well, not sure what to tell you. I've made a dozen posts talking about it as a business model but I don't feel like everyone is talking on this thread for the 'facts'.

I like giving BioWare my money. They produce exactly the sort of product I want to see be successful. I want the people who produced it to be wealthy and successful and admired by their peers so more people are motivated to make the sort of product I want. Would I have paid $10 for RtO? Probably not. $5 was fine to me. I hope that it's profitable enough to justify BioWare continuing to generate more DLC and to continue this model on DA2.

[MaliceDelight]

I love bioware and this game, i think some things can be handled better, like the ps3 release of RtO and stuff, but with that said.....How does EA expect (allegedly) expect to get 10$ per used game?



I dont trade in games, and for good reason...ebay's much better. Now, lets say since dragon age came out in october that i wanted to go buy a used copy (i bought collectors edition ) Gamestop wants me to buy it for 55$....which they ripped some schmuck off and probly paid 25-30 for....now by that math, which correct me if im wrong, just turned a used game to $65.....5$ more then a new one....So i see one of two things happening, either this will never happen because its just rediculous....or gamestop (or other company's) will have to take less profit from used games or off less in trade in for them....Should this be right...only "man how greedy can you get?" comes to mind haha.



Malice

[Eurypterid]

MaliceDelight wrote...

I love bioware and this game, i think some things can be handled better, like the ps3 release of RtO and stuff, but with that said.....How does EA expect (allegedly) expect to get 10$ per used game?

They don't. That article is inaccurate. What they're trying to make money off is the extra DLC that new game buyers get for free. For DA:O, that's the Stone Prisoner. New buyers get the code for it for free with the game. If you buy the game used, and the code is already used by the former owner, your only recourse (if you want the Stone Prisoner content) is to cough up 15 bucks for a code from EA*. For ME2, it's the same deal with the Cerberus Network code. That's how they're trying to grab some extra cash from the used game market.

*unless the previous owner also gives you his EA account details that he used to activate the DLC. But that's probably unlikely.

[MaliceDelight]

Eurypterid wrote...

MaliceDelight wrote...

I love bioware and this game, i think some things can be handled better, like the ps3 release of RtO and stuff, but with that said.....How does EA expect (allegedly) expect to get 10$ per used game?

They don't. That article is inaccurate. What they're trying to make money off is the extra DLC that new game buyers get for free. For DA:O, that's the Stone Prisoner. New buyers get the code for it for free with the game. If you buy the game used, and the code is already used by the former owner, your only recourse (if you want the Stone Prisoner content) is to cough up 15 bucks for a code from EA*. For ME2, it's the same deal with the Cerberus Network code. That's how they're trying to grab some extra cash from the used game market.

*unless the previous owner also gives you his EA account details that he used to activate the DLC. But that's probably unlikely.

Ah, thank you for the clarification. That i see as reasonable, just like if i were to buy a used game i would not expect to have the 1 free month of live or whatever other promos in it.


Malice

[direwires]

Coldcall01 wrote...


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.

$5 for one hour of entertainment is pretty cheap.
As long as it wasn't a creative nightmare and actually had something about it that contributed to the story or experience in some way, or even tugged at hearstrings or something  little bit, it'll probably be something I buy when I get around to it. I've always looked at DLC as more of a "If I love this game, and can extend it by one hour for $5... I will do it!"

I implore you to find cheaper entertainment.


Although length can be disappointing when adopting that attitude, because you will still want more after.
I would of course be more excited about paying 10 or 20 dollars for multiple hours of entertainment, but i'll take what I can get.

[CaptainAlex2000]

I am tired of people complaining about the DLC. If you don't like it, don't buy it. That's the end of it.



You can go through the arguments:



~ The stand alone game gave you so much value 80+ hours of gameplay, its not like bioware shortchanged you on the original game



~ $5 is the price of a latte at starbucks, Less than a meal at Mcdonalds. etc etc



but it really comes down to. If you don't like it, don't buy it. I thought the extra money was worth it for the deluxe version of the original game. And I think the 5 bucks is worth it for a couple of extra hours with my favorite game.



If it was $4 instead would that extra dollar really change your mind? Come on...

[shreddog]

Omg, can you guys please stop complaining about DLC?! As someone said before; if you don't want it, don't buy it! Jeeeez. Just shut up and let the rest of us enjoy our fresh new content.

[Spitz6860]

Eurypterid wrote...


2)

Spitz6860 wrote...

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

This is completely untrue. For both DA:O and ME2, when you've authenticated your DLC once, you can play off-line (either a new game or loading previous saves) as much as you want. I've tested this. It works. If you're having problems doing this, then you're either not logged into the game with the account you used to activate the DLC or you're having some other issue that needs looking into.

just curious, how do you login to your EA account without connecting to the internet? when i tried it just says that i need to login first in order to access my DLC content and then gives me a list of all the DLC names. if there is a way around that, i'd like to know it.

Modifié par Spitz6860, 11 février 2010 - 11:32 .

[NvVanity]

I don't see the problem with 5 dollars. Five dollars for RTO which took me 20-40 minutes depending on difficulty. I pay 5 dollars for a subway sandwich that I devour in 2-5 minutes. Seems like a fair deal to me.

[Eurypterid]

Spitz: my apologies. Log OUT of your account and then start the game. You should still be able to play your saves and use the DLC, as it's already authenticated. I just tested this to be sure, and it works.

[Spitz6860]

Eurypterid wrote...

Spitz: my apologies. Log OUT of your account and then start the game. You should still be able to play your saves and use the DLC, as it's already authenticated. I just tested this to be sure, and it works.

oh wow, it works! i can't thank you enough. funny i never thought of trying that.

[Fexelea]

The free dlc for new buys is an acceptable customer bait.

The idea of licencing the usage of a game to one user is not something we gamers want to get into. Next thing you know, we will all be operating on yearly renewal licences and paying to install the game in more than one computer. It would be a good way to make money initially, but eventually people would just move away from gaming as such models are best for business targets than private ones.

I hope that, as Eurypterid said, the article is minsinterpreting what the project is about.

[Templar Vilmon]

Actually, I don't think the DLC is that bad. For example, I found Warden's Keep to be a better deal than equivalently priced DLC I bought for Oblivion (especially when you consider they were selling cheesy horse armor at one point). I also like DLC as it gives me yet another reason to do a playthrough on another character without having to backtrack to all the same old locations.



As far as the OP's arguments about profits. I'm pretty much an exclusive PC gamer (ok, I have a WII but it's mostly for the kids). The problem is PC titles can be hard to develop and are not always as profitable as console titles. DLC is one way that developers can make a nice profit beyond box sales, which means that studios like Bioware will continue to develop great PC titles. Would you prefer that the only games on the PC were subscription-based MMOs like World of Warcraft or cheap FaceBook games like Farmville?



Finally, I think it's absurd to claim that DLC is an example of out-of-control corporate greed. Go watch that new show Undercover Boss, where a waste management company decided to boost profits by not allowing garbage truck drivers to take bathroom breaks. The drivers carried around little cans to pee into. Now, that's an example of corporate greed gone amok.

[Yrkoon]

Justin2k wrote...

Did you know...

Optional Downloadable Content is Optional?

No.  I have Developer confirmation that  Dragon Age's  DLCs are  forced upon us by Gunpoint.

  Buy it or Die is your option.  That's why there's so many threads about DLCs on this forum.

[DAEFFY99]

Geez 2 slices of pizza are $5!!  Quit yer whining an pony up some loose chnage so we can get more DA content!

[spernus]

Shadowwot wrote...

That $200M is sales not income. OP is forgetting the 5 year development cycle with no money coming in - that's 5 years of rent, utilities, salaries, computer equipment, and other expenses.

BioWare's actual income for their development of Dragon Age Origins will be significantly lower than $200M.

Sure,but it didn't cost that much money either.It was said that for most of the development,10-12 people were working on DA.Bioware didn't have the pedigree to warrant a massive budget for DA or any of their game yet.Until you can prove that you can sell 6+ million copies of your game,I think your budget will be within industry standard which are probably 25-30 million.Given the lack of polish and all the rough patches around the edge,DA:O certainly isn't the most expensive game ever made.

It will turn in a very good profit for EA/Bioware,especially once you include the expansions+DLC+the eventual game of the year edition.The sequel better have more money injected into it however,since Bioware is at a point where they won't get away with an unpolished game or mediocre production values.