Sony are targeting the pre-owned market with the announcement of SOCOM 4 Pro. Apart from the usual DLC bobbins such as extra weapons those who buy the game new will have access to extra custom game types.
- Community Day Classic– Suggested by members of Zipper Community Day 2011, CDC offers a medley of different maps that support 8-vs-8 “Classic” variations on Suppression, Uplink, Last Defense and Bomb Squad with faster movement and no ranged explosives of any kind
- Last Defense Run ‘n Gun– Our incredibly fast-paced deviation from our Last Defense gametype that includes speedier player movement, reduced weapon damage, and limitations to sub-machine guns and shotguns only
- SCRUM– A Suppression mod that offers a “Classic” rules-inspired list of features that includes no respawn, no Sniper Rifles, no Concussion, Poison Gas, or Frag Grenades, higher damage and faster character movement
- Sniper Alley – Another 8-vs-8 variation on “Classic” Suppression that boasts higher damage values and weapon restrictions that allow players access to only Smoke and Poison Gas Grenades, Shotguns, and of course, Sniper Rifles
SOCOM 4 Pro will also have ranked custom game queues and a couple of extra weapons. So far, nothing to extraordinary but there is one last twist; Some of the future DLC including “multiplayer maps, various co-op additions and dedicated leaderboards” will only be available to those with the Pro package.
If you do decide to pick up SOCOM 4 second hand then you can purchase ‘Pro’ access for $14.99 (or the proper money equivalent).
Source: EU PS Blog
Death_In_Flamez
I don’t see the problem with it. If you really want the game, and really want the extra stuff, you buy it new. I understand money issues do enter the equation at some point, but surely thats the point of selling on games now :/
kivi95
Don’t get the hate of this. Developers don’t get any money in pre-owned games so this is a good way of doing it.
Bladesteel
Some people will not buy these games because they will get less on the second hand market bacause of this.
Some people will not buy these games because it pisses them off, and they don’t want to encourage devs to do that.
Some people will not buy these games because multiplayer will be a wasteland because less people bought the game for the previous reasons.
Its a gamble and developers may end up with less profit in the long run. I for one wish bankruptcy on anyone that actively ruins the resell value of their products, no matter what those products may be.
Kreisash
I can see why people don’t like it, but I don’t have issues with it really as long as there is enough in the game second hand to be worth what you pay for it. It’s not like it restricts you from playing online entirely, nor does it cut out things like being able to play with friends or anything from the single player campaign.
It is a way for them to continue to generate revenue to support their servers and to make money off later second hand trades.
If it was a case that they held back content from release only to charge for it as DLC later then I would have issues. But as it stands, it means that you pick it up new with everything, second hand with restrictions or second hand and shell out more if you want the extra bits eventually.
Unfortunately it seems that this is the way that more and more dedicated server games will go so get used to it.
squashme
it means people who buy the pro version are not entitled to dlc which is wrong dlc should be made for everyone for every version of a game not just for 1 specific version
minerwilly
I’ll pay £25 for it in about 4 months from release ,thats pretty much what i do with every game these days . I quite enjoyed the beta for this , i normally hate 3rd person but i was quite impressed with this game.
Foxhound_Solid
3rd person is my fave!
hazelam
i would assume they’ll be selling this dlc that comes out later, so restricting it is just plain idiotic.
but then greed and common sense rarely go together.
this really wont affect me as i didn’t care much for the game anyway.
however with white knight chronicles 2, they’ve gone for an online pass.
and that was a game i was really looking forward to, but i refuse to support this pathetic jihad these publishers have against the perfectly legal preowned market, so i will not be getting the game, not new anyway, maybe preowned if i find it cheap enough, but that will mean i won’t be playing online.
but given the choice i’d rather not play the game at all than support this kind of thing.
OneShotWook
So just to confirm,those who want to pay 25 quid for it later on don’t like the fact that those buying brand new at 40 get some free stuff?
Don’t get me wrong i agree the likes of EA and THQ forcing online passes on pretty much the industry as much as the individual is more than a little dubious but i really have zero complaint here.
Pete_UK
Damnit Sony, not you too – that’s another game off the buy list. Any argument regarding developers not getting money from the pre-owned market needs to be tempered with a look at how much money the Publisher takes from new sales, compared to what’s passed on to the Developer. I’m trying to find a link for this, but the only ones I’ve found are pie charts that don’t even show the Developer getting a penny.
http://www.theaveragegamer.com/2011/01/11/eurogamers-cost-breakdown-of-a-game/
Smallville2106
I don’t mind stuff like this. What I hate is stuff like ‘unlock all cars’ or ‘unlock all weapons’etc which I think ruins online portions of the games. All the content that is released for Tiger Woods etc. Stuff that makes people better at it just because they pay.
skibadee
I will get this at the weekend.