Remember Mx Vs. ATV Alive? THQ decided to experiment with the game and release it at a slightly lower than normal RRP, with less content on the disc. The player could then buy DLC they were interested in to supplement what was already there. Well, it didn’t work.
THQ CEO, Brian Farrell, had the following to say:
“Our takeaway there is it’s not a great model in the console market because with the high fixed cost of goods in the current console model, you can’t get the price point low enough to drive that installed base for the client out there to drive the DLC.”
Farrell then went on to say the actual game wasn’t of a high enough standard anyway (a thought that matches our review), but he still thinks the idea is appealing and would like to see if it worked with a more desirable franchise such as CoD.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Lower RRP with micro transactions, or the full experience straight out of the box?
Source: Gamasutra.
nofi
Yeah. They needed to launch it for like a tenner for the test to have any weight. Naturally, on consoles, you can’t do that.
Fairly sure doing this with the likes of Call of Duty would be a much more impressive experiement.
aerobes
I’d take part in that, I have zero interest in the multiplayer but always enjoy a blast through the campaign of every CoD outing.
skibadee
feel the same play multiplayer first week then move on love the SP Spec Ops.
CNWLshadow
Personally I think more platforms should look at what is happening on the iOS market. I’m not suggesting PS3 games should be 69p, more around the £20-£30 mark on release. Its not only the price of iOS gaming that makes it popular, I believe its also the support from the devs.
Apps are being constantly updated with new content for free (just think of how many times angry birds has been updated with new content or many other games that get whole new game modes, tracks etc for free). I think its very rare to get this support with many other platforms. Instead developers on other platforms give you a cut back experience and make you pay for additional content. Take DiRT 3 as a recent example, most of the cars in the DLC were spotted in early videos of the game and then disappeared from the full game only to reappear as DLC. The Monte Carlo DLC was overpriced, and the MK II DLC was a rip off. Paying to unlock the car in one class and then again for a another class.
In short more developers should; sell game at lower price point, don’t hold back content and then charge, provide some free content afterwards and lower the price of any payed DLC. Not that this is ever going to happen with the likes of Activision and the yearly overpriced titles.
3shirts
I agree that the mobile app market is a breath of fresh air. I am an Androidphile and have some brilliant games for free. I also have some which clearly took a proper team a good few weeks/months to produce and cost me around £2!
All are updated frequently with with new levels or suggestions from the users. It feels like you are part of a community not just a statistic that the big publishers throw their shit at.
CNWLshadow
For iOS there’s a site called toucharcade with really active forums made even better by the fact that the game developers are on there as well. Find a bug, tell them they’ll say thanks and in days a fix will be available. Give them a good enough suggestion and they’ll ask for more details. Only the other day I had a suggestion for a game called Dream Track Nation which has been implemented in the next update :)
Really do hope that more developers on more platforms can drag their eyes away from their bank balance and towards buyer feedback.
Voganlight
I had the same experience with the developers of Comet Crash, their Dutch translation was flawed, so I gave them a proper one.
KeRaSh
Hey 3shirts, got some suggestions for good games on Android? I’m always looking for something new.
3shirts
It’s not a bad idea IF the price was right but it rarely is on DLC.
I can imagine something like COD where you pay £15 but only get one of each gun with the rest being DLC might work IF the guns were a quid each or less. Problem is that people soon learn to make do when they have to fork out real cash so I think a lot of people would get one they like and stick with it. That means the price would have to be higher and that would kill the whole thing anyway.
There is also the issue of levelling up. You have a bit of a moral landmine if you need to use different weapons to level up as you are basically saying you have to pay to advance. Not good.
Smallville2106
I think the problem with a model like this is that the price of games drops after a few weeks anyway and then the longer it is out the cheaper it gets.
Whereas with this the DLC will more than likely stay the same price.
TSBonyman
Once again, I pine for the good ol’ PS2 days, before micro-transactions broke up all our games into tiny pieces.
bacon_nuts
Me too, when I buy a game, I want it all.
Starman
I think they needed to price it lower than it was. £25-£30 is what I’ve always seen it for, not really a big discount for a cut down game.
sabbat7001
I’d rather pay full price for a game that’s worth playing than pay less for a half-assed game that I need to upgrade and end up paying the same price for anyway. If the game is good, people are going to buy the DLC. If the game sucks it’s going to tank. There’s no secret formula to it. Quality = Customers. You can’t trick people into giving you money… well, you can I I suppose but you can’t early loyal, repeat customers with pricing curve balls.
sabbat7001
*earn
bg
This is what loads of companies are doing already, except they still charge the full £39.99 RRP. 2 recent examples are MotorStorm: Apocalypse and LA Noire, MS:A has pretty much all the vehicles cut out* and sold as ‘dlc’. LA Noire had a handful of the cases cut out too and used for pre-order bonuses and later on as so-called ‘dlc’. Like TSBonyman, I hate what devs/publishers are doing to games in that they cut out large chunks of what would have already been on the disc in the PS2 days, and then letting you pay extra to unlock it at a later date.
*MS:PR had like 100 vehicles, MS:A has about 20 or 30 on disc, with more on the PlayStation Store as ‘dlc’ *cough!* unlocking content already on the disc! *cough!*.
Starman
If games weren’t still viewed as a niche by the mainstream media the on disc dlc unlocks wouldn’t be allowed. If a musician released a album at full price, then on release day announced the same cd was coming out again in a week with double the tracks it wouldn’t go down well