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Ubi to Charge for Xbox Downloadable Content
bippy writes "Ubisoft just announced that a four map pack for Rainbow Six 3 Black Arrow will cost $5. This comes on the heels of THQ's announcement that they will be charging $4.95 for a downloadable mission on Full Spectrum Warrior."
*pull string* The consumer says: "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Keep milking.. >_
--- "End Of Line" - MCP
I just find it funny. One of the big things they touted about XBox Live was that you only had to pay one fee. Now with all these extras costing Its just getting more and more expensive. But I can't honestly say I didn't see it coming.
-Dan
This isn't new, PG2 has been charging for new content for a while now.
Don't complain. What's making this different from 'additional missions' you could buy for a PC game?
This is a good thing. People can release a game engine, and you can just download free or cheap games to play with that engine.
Garage developers can start doing total conversions on Halo etc now.
considering that the WHOLE game costs $50. Charging 10% of that for 4 maps or 1 mission (which is basically a bunch of scrips and design) is a great freaking way for companies to make money hand over fist.
:(
:D
I wonder if this will become a trend. Instead of releasing large expansion packs, will companies start just releasing smaller cheaper "mini packs" at more frequent intervals? I wonder if that would be more effective. It seems like you might be able to sell more $$$ amount of stuff that way. I mean, that way, you could gradually see the gaming geography of your game change -- requiring EVERYONE to buy the expansions.
Right now, it seems like for many games that have expansions, there are still servers that play the non-expansion game. But if you release a few maps at a time, those maps might just be incorparated into the map rotaion of more existing servers and then people would have to buy the expansion to keep up. OH man.
Anyways, i am really impressed (an irritated) that companies have found yet another way to more efficeintly milk the consumer. Too bad that enough people will pay this rediculous price/content ratio -- and it will probably stick around.
Yeah, just my random ramblings
I've gotten much more and $5 entertainment value from the two extra Spinter Cell: Pandora Tomrorrow maps.
Informal survey in a gaming group I belong to (200 members) shows that a slim majority will buy it eventually. The sticking point is that since this is a closed group, the normal hosts need buy this map otherwise why bother?
.01 more. Nice plain ordinary map but nothing to get excited about.
Horrible timing since Halo 2 is out in 33 days. The last map they issued for Black Arrow was good but not worth
....... Thus ends my attempt at wit or whatever
Additional content for sale is not a new thing on XBox Live. Dance Dance Revolution: Ultramix, which came out nearly a year ago, has had additional song packs available for $5 for a long time. As many other posters pointed out in the THQ article, a number of other games have had pay-to-download additional content on XBox Live.
Ubi should try diversifying their game selection in order to expand their audience instead of milking the Tom Clancy license.
Beyond Good & Evil and Prince of Persia are the only two Ubi games I've been interested in years.
THQ hasn't put out a game I've wanted to play since either the NES or SNES days I can't really remember.
No sig for you!!
Music has an understandable value because you have royalties to pay beyond the development company. I see people saying this has been going on for a while but no details on what was actually being sold. Has there been another game that sells maps using the pay service xbox live?
Microsoft already had the idea of 'premium content' well-established even before the Live service launched. It's part of while you have to have a valid credit card associated with your account, and is also part of the parental/protected controls, in that you can have a password associated with accessing a live account.
Like I said when talking about the Full Spectrum Warrior content, I definitely wouldn't pay five bucks for one map, but I have no problem paying five bucks for four. Can't wait for it to come out, along with the spawn-camping patch.
I've been following the XBL rhetoric since the beginning, and I remember them being ambiguous enough with the fee structure that it was obvious - to me anyway - that they planned to charge for content. Even when True Fantasy Live wasn't a fantasy, everyone knew that you'd pay to play. When Galaxies was rumored to be coming the Xbox, the same was also true. So where this "one fee" myth cropped up I'm not exactly sure. Maybe Microsoft's marketing was too effective?
This is just another step forward towards charging people for every single little detail of the game. Thank god mods are still free because I will never pay for something like maps, which anybody can whip up in 5 minutes. And granted, this is on the Xbox, but people should not buy this and show there is not a demand to pay for every damn little detail of a game.
Because you know what comes after that? Subscription. Not just for MMORPGs, but for any game that connects to the net. You want to be able to access their servers to connect with people to play that new FPS, SUBSCRIPTION. You want that new mod which "partnered" (sold out for a few bucks) with the game company? SUBCRIPTION.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Oh man am I mad......seriously. Rainbow Six 3 is the absolute best game on Xbox live. I'd say it's one of the best games I've played in years. When Black Arrow came out it was seen as an expansion. It cost $40 instead of the regular 50 and they weren't reinventing the wheel as far as graphics or gameplay were concerned. Black Arrow added clans through the game itself instead of having to go through an outside site like teamcompete.
Sadly, Black Arrow has felt like a failure to me, the maps aren't as fun and the clan portion of it is just silly and creates an unbalanced dynamic that wasn't as heavy in the first RS3. I see it as such a disappointment that I've stopped playing Black Arrow altogether and gone back into RS3 despite it's glitches...lean walking, grenade tricks, etc...I've noticed a lot people I play against were let down with Black Arrow as well.
To be a little more on topic, the $5 for a few maps reinforces my belief that Black Arrow doesn't share the same fun factor as the previous iteration. If they offered the first RS3 maps, unaltered, for download for $5, then I might consider it. But in the meantime I'm gonna put that $5 on a preorder of Halo 2, and I suggest you do the same.
http://www.commaecho.com
is looking more and more like a PC.
I switched to a console because I was sick of upgrading my hardware every six months. Now, I've got a different problem: only the company can make mods for the game, and they're going to charge me for it.
Maybe it's time to return to the PC fold--at least it's (marginally) easier to mod a game for that without the blessing of the company.
Giving up mod points here, cause I think this is an important point.
I think we're missing one of the BIG points here, and one of the big negatives of the Infinium Labs Phantom console...
It's the lack of any long term storage options for things you've purchased. What happens 5-10 years from now when your XBox hard drive breaks? What happens 2 years from now, when the XBox is all but abandoned?
Do you have any recourse for getting these levels that you've paid for BACK?
PC expansion packs come on DISC, or you can back them up to disc, at very least. What responsibility will these companies take to customers that lose their info, in the long run or even short run?
Video Game News, FAQs, etc
I think this is heading in a bad direction. Paying extra to be able to join a larger community of gamers on line is one thing and the value exchange makes sense. Buying small content expansions for 5 dollars here and there is going to take us down a dangerous path. Pretty soon you start getting crippled games that you have to pay extra for to enjoy. Then game retailers start negotiating exclusive deals to carry full versions while their competitors get the crippled version. They'll do this in order to get better shelf space, placement and ultimately volumes. This may be starting with good intentions but it's going to turn out bad for us in the end.