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Matt Bassos
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 Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 7:33 pm Post subject: Gears of Wars maps to cost at first, then free. |
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| Quote: | Here is a response to a thread over at EvilAvatar that I posted this morning. You can download the podcast at 1UPYours.com - this is the April 6th edition. The interview with Epic CEO and founder, Tim Sweeney, and myself starts a little bit after 38 minutes into the podcast.
Folks,
I think you guys are blowing this up into something bigger than it is. Please listen to the entire podcast before jumping to conclusions.
What we have here is simply a difference of opinion on how to maximize the return on Gears of War - something both Epic and Microsoft want to do. While we create products like Gears because we love games, and we have a passion for making them, at the end of the day this is a business for both companies and how we earn our living.
Epic thinks the way to maximize the return on Gears of War is to give the maps away for free and Microsoft thinks the way to maximize the return on Gears of War is to sell the maps. So what we’ve agreed to do is to put these maps on sale at a reasonable price then make them free a few months later. They did this with the original Halo2 map pack and it was a huge success. Lots of people bought the maps and lots of people downloaded them when they became free. That’s what is going to happen and it seems like a fair compromise for both companies and a win-win for Gears players.
Why does Epic not have control over this even though we created this content on our own time and our own dime? Quite frankly Xbox Live Marketplace isn’t our store. It’s Microsoft’s store. Like any retailer they have the right to figure out what goes on the shelves of their store and what price they sell it at. They spend the money to operate the store and deliver the content. They’ve also spent billions of dollars to create and build Xbox and subsidize it’s the price so you can afford it and we can make games for it. As our publisher, they also invested tens of millions of dollars marketing Gears of War, and have done an awesome job for us, so they have a right to a good return on that investment.
As Tim Sweeney and I said in the podcast, we want the download economy to work – it is something the industry needs, something we hope to use in the future, something that will help bring more variety to end-users and ultimately could help bring prices down for end-users. If we had to put this map pack on a disc and sell it in retail it would be more expensive to end-users and maybe we wouldn't have done it because of all the extra work and cost involved.
In the mean time we are planning to bring out an awesome new Gears of War multi-player gametype called Annex that works will all of the existing multi-player maps and the new pack we're talking about here. The 1UP guys who got to play it a few weeks ago left the office raving about how it could be our best Gears gametype yet and I think a lot of people will enjoy it. Best of all, it is totally FREE and will come in the new Gears update that we expect to see released this week. |
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NismoR34
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:23 am Post subject: |
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I suppose that's a smart compromise to come to but I do have to wonder as to whether gamers like us will get the maps as soon as they are released (and pay for it), or whether we will wait until they're free. To answer that question personally...
Well, I can't.  I guess it depends on how the maps are taken by gaming websites and stuff when they write their reports on them and perhaps if everyone else gets them upon release. I pay instantly for Test Drive content (cause I'm a TDU freak) and I love Gears just as much so yeah, I would be willing to pay for it. But only if it was worth doing in the first place, if that makes sense.
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Jim Dash
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:17 am Post subject: |
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That's a no brainer for me. I'll purchase in a heartbeat. When are these maps coming out?
I am slightly disappointed, Epic stated that all content in the future would be free. It better be a quality map pack then.
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Karai Pantsu
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:27 am Post subject: |
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| Jim Dash wrote: | | I am slightly disappointed, Epic stated that all content in the future would be free. It better be a quality map pack then. |
They want it to be free, Microsoft want it to cost - obviously they don't want a precedent set for quality content appearing at no charge.
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Jim Dash
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:44 am Post subject: |
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Oh, I know Karai. I read the article. I'm just saying I understand where they're coming from, they want it to be free.
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Karai Pantsu
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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Ah, right - sorry, mis-interpreted you.
really feel that this is a wrong move on MS' part, though. Epic wanted to give us free content, so it should remain that way. It's not like many devs are going to go around giving out freebies like that, and it isn't going to stop people paying for other DLC in the future. It'd be a damned nice thing to have a bit of good free content once in a while, sort of like a nice little bonus for Gold members.
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Jim Dash
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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^ Exactly. It's not like we don't pay for our membership. Thing is, they know everyone will pay up.
Will you?
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Karai Pantsu
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:16 pm Post subject: |
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Not sure yet - I haven't actually played Gears in... well, Hell... a month or more now. I just haven't been online with the 360 much at all lately, because of the buggering around with cables and is required for me to do so.
Who knows though, I might be tempted to grab it and have a few more rounds. We'll see on the day I guess 
Edit: But you're entirely correct - most everyone will still buy it regardless, it's Gears content afterall.
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Last edited by Karai Pantsu on Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total
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slapshakle
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:17 pm Post subject: |
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I'll pay. Gears is the best thing since sliced bread.... Seriously though, sliced bread isn't that fantastic. It's not like its hard to bust out a knife and cut the thing yourself.
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bluejay
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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^ or a chainsaw on the end of your rifle instead of a knife
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NeoSanity
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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Who was it that recently interviewed Epic games and then did a podcast winging about this?
Seriously they're fucking stupid, they did the same with Halo 2 and I'm sure other games, why should it be a surprise? From a business standpoint it makes perfect sense to do this.
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B3NBO
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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Best game on live i just hope its fairly priced ..
still sucks they said it would all be free though..
typical M$, they always do this.
do you know they charge $200 for repairs on a 360 outside of warranty?
anyway ill get the maps as long as they are fairly priced.
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BovineDeath
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| Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:13 am Post subject: |
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Epic are actually working towards some brand loyalty. I'm more likely to buy UT3 because of the excellent GoW support.
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NismoR34
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| Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 6:03 am Post subject: |
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Yeah who am I kidding? I'll also pay for it because it's Gears, it's awesome and yeah, that's all that needs to be said.
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Dutch Rootsman
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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This is a huge load. Sure I'll pay for them, but Epic claiming it was out of their control, PUHLEASE!!! I'm not really happy with MS at the moment but I still don't believe they decreed that Epic charge for the maps like the tyrants that they are.
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DarkYoshii
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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Meh, who knows? As long as it's all fun still, makes no difference to me really. As long as the payment is justified.
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NeoSanity
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:04 pm Post subject: |
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| B3NBO wrote: | Best game on live i just hope its fairly priced ..
still sucks they said it would all be free though..
typical M$, they always do this.
do you know they charge $200 for repairs on a 360 outside of warranty?
anyway ill get the maps as long as they are fairly priced. |
That's better than the $410 Nikon charged me to repair my camera.
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DarkYoshii
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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They reimplemented $poons, perhaps they'll take those to repair your camera next time.
Nevertheless, that's a damn lot for a camera...
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