Call of Duty: Black Ops

[Stu]

What a fucking rubbish analogy to throw in at the end hahaha

The map packs are worth whatever people are willing to pay for them. If Acti can get away with selling them for 1200pts, good for them!

[Mr. Spencer]

Can I just add, at this point people will just about buy anything if it's to do with Call of Duty. The popularity of the series is such that Activision can (and will) charge exorbitant amounts of money. At some point the bubble will burst, but for now it's the way things are and Activision are going to milk the franchise for every penny.

It's the way of business. As much as people want to hate on Bobby Kotick, he's a true realist, he probably understands more about the games industry than most people, he sees that there's a huge market out there and a lot of money to be made.

[Dracarys]

Why is it? People will still pay for it in their hundreds of thousands.

That makes the buyers stupid, it doesn't make the pricing not ridiculous.

Only need compare the pricing and content to other games to see that paying these prices is basically bending over and taking it up the rear.

Compare to say Battlefield Vietnam which is just out, same price and number of maps except that one map on Vietnam is probably the size of all the CoD maps combined, it also completely revamps the game and moves it to the VIetnam era, new weapons, specs, vehicles. All gets run on dedicated servers too.


You get a lot more for your money. For people who mainly play the zombie mode, or those who dislike the zombie mode it is even worse.

[Stu]

Can I just add, at this point people will just about buy anything if it's to do with Call of Duty. The popularity of the series is such that Activision can (and will) charge exorbitant amounts of money. At some point the bubble will burst, but for now it's the way things are and Activision are going to milk the franchise for every penny.

It's the way of business. As much as people want to hate on Bobby Kotick, he's a true realist, he probably understands more about the games industry than most people, he sees that there's a huge market out there and a lot of money to be made.

The force is strong in this one.

[Vector]

Only need compare the pricing and content to other games to see that paying these prices is basically bending over and taking it up the rear.

How are you 'taking it up the rear' if you really enjoy the game and play it almost every day with friends? For many people, price isn't an issue. I don't like paying that amount for just a few maps but if it adds more variety and more hours of online play for me, then I'm gonna go for it.

[Alexia_Ashford]

My opinion: If you don't like the pricing, don't buy it. Some people are prepared to pay the price for it and if so, good for them. At the end of the day, Activision are a business and they're going to make as much money out of this as possible while it lasts, and good on them. Why shouldn't they make as much money out of their product as possible? They've obviously not priced it out of the market otherwise people wouldn't still buy it. Activision = Business. Objective of businesses = profit. Expensive map packs = mmm profit.

[Mr. Spencer]

Labels sell. Why do you think Modern Warfare 2 is still selling for around £30, when games that came out much later are selling for much cheaper? Supply and demand.

[Kruspe12]

I have seen copies of Modern Warfare 1 (yes, the first one) selling for about $100- $120AU. Modern Warfare 2 is about the same. That's the price most new games sit at for 2-3 months, not 12-24 months! It's insane really.

[Darkmoon]

Something is worth the price you are willing to pay. No more, and no less. If you aren't willing to pay it then it's over priced. If it's something you'll buy begrudgingly, then it's highly priced. And if it's something you'll buy gladly then it's priced right.

The actual price doesn't make a difference, really. 1200 points is a bargain for some, and ripoff for others. So is 800 points and 400 points, or 1600 points and 2000 points. It depends on your view.

[Mr. Spencer]

Course, it doesn't help when the cost of living is exceeding income.

[Member_of_STARS]

That makes the buyers stupid, it doesn't make the pricing not ridiculous.

Only need compare the pricing and content to other games to see that paying these prices is basically bending over and taking it up the rear.

Compare to say Battlefield Vietnam which is just out, same price and number of maps except that one map on Vietnam is probably the size of all the CoD maps combined, it also completely revamps the game and moves it to the VIetnam era, new weapons, specs, vehicles. All gets run on dedicated servers too.


You get a lot more for your money. For people who mainly play the zombie mode, or those who dislike the zombie mode it is even worse.

I should smack you across the face for this one.

First things first. DLC-s are retarded, anyone buying a DLC is supporting the death of independant content creation. The sad thing is that the price of DLC-s these days is so miniscule (wait a bit, though), that people dont have a problem paying 5 bucks for something which took a single artist to draw up in 15 minutes.

Now back to BFBC2: Vietnam DLC. Back in the day we used to call these things "Expansion packs", and such an expansion pack as Vietnam, is small enough for a whole community to rise up and beat DICE verbally into dirt.

Vietnam is one of the greatest tragedies there is in videogame industry. Just as MW2 introduced P2P "awesomeness" to the PC gamers instead of proven, modern solution in dedicated servers, Vietnam takes a massive stab at the modding community. There was a time when such "DLC-s" were made by the community. Ten-twenty times bigger in content, maybe even better gameplay. But as EA and DICE didnt see a (direct and obvious) penny from it, they are now selling what used to be free, to those willing to pay a full games price for a visual mod with 5 maps (or was it 4?). The saddest part here is that those mods guaranteed sales and kept the community playing a game for 4+ years, building a very loyal fanbase. Fanbase which was loyal not to the brand, but to the perks which came with the brand.

Nowadays...

You know that theres a serious problem when people bring up Vietnam DLC as an example of "how to do things".

[Carnivol]

Back in the day we used to call these things "Expansion packs"

Actually, I tend to refer to most sequels these days as glorified expansion packs to their respective base games. That's about how highly I think of most sequels these days.

I just realized this was a Black Ops thread I'd accidentally entered and I'm about to leave in a second, but I couldn't resist making a reply to this;

First things first. DLC-s are retarded, anyone buying a DLC is supporting the death of independant content creation.

Unless there's just something wonky about what you interpret DLC as, I have to point out that the DLC solution is possibly the best thing to've happened to independent content creation and distribution. Both on the free and pay-to-play front.

I dunno where this in(s)ane train of thought of yours even came from, but I don't think it's worthy of more than a single chunk or two of my time...

While I can agree that some publishers lack a bit of self-criticism and such when it comes to pricing their content, Vietnam, whether you like it or not, offers plenty of bang for the buck (especially when pinning it up against the alternatives and their price points) and if it truly was just a 15 min project done by some wanker(s) at DICE (and totally just something a lazy modder could've done in his spare time), then why wasn't there at least a handful of equally popular alternatives of nearly the same quality (if not superior, going by your expectations) released in the same timeframe for pretty much any and every single game with a remotely active modding community out there?

Nothing's stopping people from doing "free" alternatives these days. The problem is that anyone who's actually half-capable of doing something useful actually gets him-/herself a job that pays them for doing what they're good at and what they enjoy doing the most.

The actual price doesn't make a difference, really. 1200 points is a bargain for some, and ripoff for others. So is 800 points and 400 points, or 1600 points and 2000 points. It depends on your view.

Pretty much. To me, the 1200 price point is where I get skeptical about pretty much anything. 800 is the sweet spot where I'll gladly bite without asking questions if it's a game of some sort. 400~560 is my sweet spot for most DLC/add-ons that actually adds any proper content and not just some 5 min costume wank or reskinned piss (I also rarely buy map packs for games... I just don't play enough multiplayer to warrant it... except from the Halo 3 + Reach map packs. Not that I play those often, but I just need 'em for the occasional LAN or online party every once a blue moon.)

[Branden_Lucero]

I should smack you across the face for this one.

First things first. DLC-s are retarded, anyone buying a DLC is supporting the death of independant content creation. The sad thing is that the price of DLC-s these days is so miniscule (wait a bit, though), that people dont have a problem paying 5 bucks for something which took a single artist to draw up in 15 minutes.

Now back to BFBC2: Vietnam DLC. Back in the day we used to call these things "Expansion packs", and such an expansion pack as Vietnam, is small enough for a whole community to rise up and beat DICE verbally into dirt.

Vietnam is one of the greatest tragedies there is in videogame industry. Just as MW2 introduced P2P "awesomeness" to the PC gamers instead of proven, modern solution in dedicated servers, Vietnam takes a massive stab at the modding community. There was a time when such "DLC-s" were made by the community. Ten-twenty times bigger in content, maybe even better gameplay. But as EA and DICE didnt see a (direct and obvious) penny from it, they are now selling what used to be free, to those willing to pay a full games price for a visual mod with 5 maps (or was it 4?). The saddest part here is that those mods guaranteed sales and kept the community playing a game for 4+ years, building a very loyal fanbase. Fanbase which was loyal not to the brand, but to the perks which came with the brand.

Nowadays...

You know that theres a serious problem when people bring up Vietnam DLC as an example of "how to do things".

this is why i hardly buy DLC. if there's a retail copy of DLC, i'll get that instead. but the sad thing is, is that you still don't "feel" like you have much control over it, especially if you're forced to sign into your Steam or GFW account.

another thing, is that i don't support Activision. out of all the games i own, i don't own anything by them. to me, corporations like Activision and EA are just greedy. want to sell game cut-scenes for $30, willing to raise prices on games even further. if i was a fuckin' CEO, i'd be at least fair about shit. not try to capitalize on peoples' money with the dumbest things ever. even though i have some EA games (not a single sports game by them) i'm glad that EA is getting sued over the NFL licensing and all that. but that took, what, over 5 years for them to do it?

and Blizzard needs to demerge from Activision. Blizzard makes quality products nearly every time, and i'd hate to see them go down in hell because Activision dragged them with them.

[Vector]

and Blizzard needs to demerge from Activision. Blizzard makes quality products nearly every time, and i'd hate to see them go down in hell because Activision dragged them with them.

Now, when you say "go down in hell," you mean "wiping their asses with hundred-dollar bills," right?

[Branden_Lucero]

well i had a fuckin' response until i had to sign in again, thus everything i typed had to disappear.