We're so stupid I'm sometimes ashamed to be human

joxer

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EA Expects to Score Over $1 Billion (€760 Million) on DLC and Add-Ons This Year.

Electronic Arts is aiming to nab in excess of $1 / €0.75 billion this year in DLC and add-on content sales alone, the bulk of which is expected to come from the company's sports franchises.

The information comes from a recent Bloomberg report, and John Reseburg, an EA spokesperson, confirmed that Madden NFL add-on revenue noticed a 350 percent year-on-year growth during the financial quarter ending June 30.
Among its ongoing efforts to improve its add-on features so it can squeeze more revenue from its customers, EA aims to enforce stricter rules when it comes to trading and farming in-game currency, including severe measures such as banning coin sellers and card-trading bots.

Regardless your gender, prepare to get milked.
 
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I just bought madden and have no interest in paying for the cards to progress my players but if someone does want to pay for it and finds value in it who are we to call them stupid.

I'm i really stupid or getting milked if I spend a few bucks on some dlc or an item if I get hours of enjoyment out of it.

It all boils down to what people feel is worth their money. Plenty of people would feel its stupid and a waste to spend money on video games at all.

I buy DLC if I feel it's worth it. If I don't then I don't buy it. I don't see what the big problem is. These are company's that need to make money to continue to produce the content that we enjoy and I don't begrudge them that.
 
Yes I actually say, think and feel that you're utterly stupid if you spend a few bucks on a virtual item.
I'm sorry for that, but that's how things are.

The big problem you're deliberately not seeing is that it's not about "these companies". This is just one company that does things no other company would even dare to think about.

The good news is 2014. already kicked in a mass of great games, 2015. will put out perhaps even more of those. Among them are games without any kind of cut out material (for example The Stick of Truth, Trails in the Sky) and games with only day1 nongambling DLC without future DLC spam-o-rama (Original Sin, Risen 3).

It's definetly you who'll in the end decide if you'll spend ALL your money on one EA game with all it's DLC or you'll skip it and with the same amount buy dozens of other great games.
I choose to buy many great games and not just one. If I didn't, you'd hear me saying I'm stupid.
 
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Joxer, the thing you're not or might not be seeing is the following:

(Disclaimer: numbers are illustrative and serve for demonstration purposes only)
Imagine the fictional story of Supergame : The beginning and Game : The superb.

Supergame takes the average gamer 50 hours to complete and costs 50$.
It took 4 years to develop for a team of 20 people (~$4m). Add a marketing budget and we get to ~$5m.

So you need at least 100k sales to break even on the total retail price, since it's unlikely the developer gets the full 100%, no matter what deal they strike, this minimum is likely to be closer to 150-200k.

Let's imagine the game sells pretty well and they make a revenue on total retail of $20m - by having sold 400k units. That sounds great.

Now let's go to Game : The superb

Same starting scenario of game costing ~$5m. They also make a revenue of $20m.

Now that the game is done the developers have multiple options, but two of them are:
1. Be happy with their game and move on to the next
2. Be happy with their game and develop some more content for it.

Because option 2 is not only easier - due to having the base game already - but would also bring in more revenue and profit, choosing option 2 is quite a good way forward.

They then make extra content for $250k, they barely need any marketing anymore compared to the full game as it sold well and the gamers are likely to buy more content.

They sell the extra content for $10 per unit. If only 50% of people who bought the full game buy the new content, that's $2m more revenue.

What is important here though is that the return on investment is much higher.

$20m/$5m = 4xROI
$2m/$250k = 8xROI

This then would not only finance further development in future games, but also ensure more growth for the company.

While you might not like DLC, it allows for a steady flow of revenue to finance other projects which means you have more chance of getting more games from that company in the future.


Piranha Bytes for example almost lost it all after Gothic 3. If they had a steady stream of revenue being generated by Gothic 2 addons (small improvements or new quests) which would have not required much time to implement, they would have been less hurt by that ordeal.

Maybe they could have released a modkit for Gothic 2 and so on ...

Of course it makes money for EA and that's why they do it. If they stop earning money they would not be there anymore.
 
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While you might not like DLC, it allows for a steady flow of revenue to finance other projects which means you have more chance of getting more games from that company in the future.
Make a game that is fun, make sure you make a good contract with the publisher and you'll have a steady flow without scams.
Fallout 2 had no DLC yet it's still selling after decades.

Piranha Bytes for example almost lost it all after Gothic 3. If they had a steady stream of revenue being generated by Gothic 2 addons (small improvements or new quests) which would have not required much time to implement, they would have been less hurt by that ordeal.
I think you're wrong. Because of bad contract that stream would go to JoWood.
And PB lost almost all again because of JoWood rushing unfinished product on the market.
The good thing in this story is that JoWood today is pretty irrelevant name in gaming industry. The bad thing is that there are still some other (self)publishers that release bug-o-ramas claiming it's a polished product and instead of patching they are making MMOs. Thanks to modders (respect!) it's still not as bad as Interplay did back then, going consoles instead of cuddle with existing fans.

Maybe they could have released a modkit for Gothic 2 and so on …
IIRC again, they can't because of one contract.

Of course it makes money for EA and that's why they do it. If they stop earning money they would not be there anymore.
That'd be my wetdream.
Lemme ask you, would anyone shed a honest tear if they went bankrupt and had to sell IPs to other publishers?
 
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Why is it stupid to buy DLC?

I personally don't buy DLC but I spent money on lots of other discretionary stuff.

The local bar? Its an easy $20, sometime $30 or $40 when I go.
Bicycle stuff? Lets not even go there on prices ...

If the person enjoys the game and wants to drop another $5+ on whatever then why be a Debbie Downer on them?
 
Make a game that is fun, make sure you make a good contract with the publisher and you'll have a steady flow without scams.
Fallout 2 had no DLC yet it's still selling after decades.

Re contract: Yeah, that's easy to say. How often have you negotiated contracts with suppliers before ? Not only do these things take time, they are not easy and you're unlikely to get a good contract on both sides unless the people at the top both want a long-term partnership.
The only times I have been able to negotiate really good contracts was when we had more power in the relationship.

I think you're wrong. Because of bad contract that stream would go to JoWood.
And PB lost almost all again because of JoWood rushing unfinished product on the market.
The good thing in this story is that JoWood today is pretty irrelevant name in gaming industry. The bad thing is that there are still some other (self)publishers that release bug-o-ramas claiming it's a polished product and instead of patching they are making MMOs. Thanks to modders (respect!) it's still not as bad as Interplay did back then, going consoles instead of cuddle with existing fans.

Part of the stream would go to Jowood, but not all of it.
That's the same with everything though.

For example, some companies lose money on some products because selling them makes more money than not selling them.

PB would still be making more money by getting half of the $2m on the addons than not getting any money from not making addons.


IIRC again, they can't because of one contract.

I don't know about that, but again more of an illustration to point out you're not thinking enough from a business perspective.

That'd be my wetdream.
Lemme ask you, would anyone shed a honest tear if they went bankrupt and had to sell IPs to other publishers?

Well, yes, if all those publishers end up having bad business models and go bankrupt within the next few years without ever releasing those IPs.

EA is there because their business model works (for now). If someone devises a better one and they don't adapt they would also die out.
 
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Forgot the fallout 2 part:
Fallout 2 basically an expansion to Fallout 1 though. A very big one at that, but almost no gameplay element was changed at all. They didn't rebuild the engine, they didn't change any mechanic really.

It was a patched Fallout 1 with tons of additional content.

Don't get me wrong. I loved playing both, but it's not an amazing example.

Fallout 2 also did not sell that much from what I've read. Something between 80-500k is what I find depending on when and so on.

Fallout 2 still selling is a bad argument as the continued sales do not generate anywhere near enough to actually constitute a steady income.
 
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Yes I actually say, think and feel that you're utterly stupid if you spend a few bucks on a virtual item.
I'm sorry for that, but that's how things are.

No need to apologize if that's how you feel but I don't believe that's how things really are.

I'm a little confuse though as you do buy dlc. Why is the dlc you buy the right dlc and others are stupid and being milked?

The big problem you're deliberately not seeing is that it's not about "these companies". This is just one company that does things no other company would even dare to think about.

???
More companies than EA just do dlc or virtual items.

The good news is 2014. already kicked in a mass of great games, 2015. will put out perhaps even more of those. Among them are games without any kind of cut out material (for example The Stick of Truth, Trails in the Sky) and games with only day1 nongambling DLC without future DLC spam-o-rama (Original Sin, Risen 3).

That is good news. Unfortunately there's no guarantee they will all be great games. I've gotten more enjoyment from some $5 dlc's than I have full games. Dragon age for instance, I enjoyed all the dlc content much more than awakening and infinitely more than DA2. Also dark souls dlc was the highlight of the game and by itself would have been better than many full games I played.

I definitely didn't feel dumb or milked buying those.

It's definetly you who'll in the end decide if you'll spend ALL your money on one EA game with all it's DLC or you'll skip it and with the same amount buy dozens of other great games.
I choose to buy many great games and not just one. If I didn't, you'd hear me saying I'm stupid.

I'm fortunate enough to have plenty of disposable income to spend on games and dlc. So I will buy them all if I find them worth it.
 
I've called the DLC model the "Bic razor" model: the base game is cheap, and instead of being used to sell more blades, it is used to sell bits and pieces of software.

Crusader Kings 2 is an especially bad offender of this, how long are they going to sell add-ons based on this?

This is why I'm very wary of buying any new game, because I know I'm never going to stop paying.
 
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Heck, I still refuse to buy anything but the disk itself!

I'll probably try and catch up at some point in the 2020s :)
 
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There is no "we" on this planet, don't lump me in with everyone else.
 
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This exists because idiots continue to purchase the garbage DLC they roll out. I've only ever purchased four pieces of DLC and each of them were rubbish.
 
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