This is from the "Strategy & Competition" section of the February 10, 2010 issue of "Business Week":
""Project Ten Dollar"
Riccitiello reworked his strategy last fall at a brainstorming session
with his executive team. One major goal: Grab back some of the revenue
EA and others were losing as consumers flocked to used games. The
secondhand market now accounts for about a third of all games sold in
the U.S., or $2 billion annually, says Pachter. At the meeting,
Riccitiello green-lighted "Project Ten Dollar," a coupon program to
reward people who purchase a new game with downloadable content and
upgrades. People who buy used games pay an extra $10 or more for the
same goodies."
This is from an interview with Bioware's founders that appeared on computerandvideogames.com on March 18, 2010:
"BioWare founders Dr. Greg Zeschuk and
Dr. Ray Muzyka have said they don't view their DLC system, the Cerberus
Network, as a move against second-hand buyers of their games, but rather
wanted to use it do build a "good relationship" with customers.
The Cerberus Network, which delivers free and
paid for DLC, is free to all gamers who buy a new copy of Dragon Age:
Origins or Mass Effect 2 so long as they redeem the code within the box
but otherwise costs $10. This effectively adds an additional charge to
buyers of second-hand copies who want to gain full access to all the
game's content.
When asked if this strategy had
worked in curbing used sales of the games, Muzyka replied: "I think that
from our perspective, it's mostly around providing content, however
someone got the game. As long as we are providing a great content stream
for them to partake in, then I think that's great. We all win in that
concept."
Someone here is being disingenuous. I have to say that I have no real objection to a charge for additional content, but I do object to being condescended to.
Project "Ten Dollar"--who's being honest?
Débuté par
Guest_Bercilak de Hautdesert_*
, mars 19 2010 04:45
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#2
Guest_randumb vanguard_*
Posté 19 mars 2010 - 04:56
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no offence but whats your point?
#3
Posté 19 mars 2010 - 05:08
Seagloom
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The only thing that really bothers me about Project Ten Dollar is it makes me wonder if BioWare's claims about the Stone Prisoner DLC were actually true. I've always bought their excuse for that, and got it for free anyway by buying Dragon Age new. The part that annoys me is being directly lied to. Well, as directly as a dev making a public statement gets in any case. 
I used to always take conspiracy theories about Warden's Keep and Stone Prisoner with a grain of salt until this project came to light several weeks back. Now I can't help wonder if those cynics weren't so off after all.
As for Ten Dollar itself... I don't care. I never buy games used anymore unless it's an old out of circulation title that can't be found at eBay or Amazon Marketplace.
Edit: And yes I realize SP cost $15, but I can't help wonder if that was a test run. Ah well, it isn't that important either way.
I used to always take conspiracy theories about Warden's Keep and Stone Prisoner with a grain of salt until this project came to light several weeks back. Now I can't help wonder if those cynics weren't so off after all.
As for Ten Dollar itself... I don't care. I never buy games used anymore unless it's an old out of circulation title that can't be found at eBay or Amazon Marketplace.
Edit: And yes I realize SP cost $15, but I can't help wonder if that was a test run. Ah well, it isn't that important either way.
Modifié par Seagloom, 19 mars 2010 - 05:17 .
#4
Posté 19 mars 2010 - 05:19
Arbiter Libera
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I see no reason why I'd be against this practice, given that I don't buy used games anyway. Getting free stuff for the usual price of buying new games? Hell yeah, I'll sign that.
#5
Posté 19 mars 2010 - 05:24
Quixal
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WIthin an industry, what you can and cannot say often has little to do with what you would like or not like to say. Perhaps because I already hold Riccitiello in contempt, I find it pretty easy to lay the blame at his feet rather than calling out various people for doing their job.
To be fair though, I am not terribly fond of being lied to either.
To be fair though, I am not terribly fond of being lied to either.
#6
Posté 19 mars 2010 - 05:31
Loerwyn
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Arbiter Libera wrote...
I see no reason why I'd be against this practice, given that I don't buy used games anyway. Getting free stuff for the usual price of buying new games? Hell yeah, I'll sign that.
Agreed.
I think it's, honestly, only fair that developers (or should I say the publisher, i.e. EA) recoup some money on second hand sales. Not everyone who buys the game second hand will buy the "Project Ten Dollar" benefits, and so far in Mass Effect 2 it's been used to great effect but it doesn't have a huge impact on the game and THAT is what should happen. It should be non-vital to the game but still well integrated. You can do Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 easily without Shale/Zaeed, they just enhance the game.
#7
Posté 19 mars 2010 - 07:21
AshedMan
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That's the way I feel about it. I don't buy used games so it doesn't bother me. Even if I did buy used games, it wouldn't bother me except if I found out original content was cut in an effort to force second-hand buyers to pay the $10 for the original game. As long as it's additional content used to enhance the original product it's okay. Too bad it's pretty tricky determining if something is additional or extra when it all releases on the exact same day (like The Stone Prisoner or Zaeed - The Price of Revenge).Seagloom wrote...
As for Ten Dollar itself... I don't care. I never buy games used anymore unless it's an old out of circulation title that can't be found at eBay or Amazon Marketplace.
