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It's undoubtedly Microsoft's doing. Epic has pretty much come out and said so, and since they've never charged for additional content before, it makes me believe them.
Pretty ballsy on Microsoft's part, too - but also incredibly stupid. Seeing as Epic pretty much saved Christmas for the 360. I wonder how this might affect future relations between the two companies. Epic is a 300 metric ton gorilla now that everyone and their mother is using UE3 to make games. Microsoft would be wise not to piss off ANY allies at this point, but especially not Epic. Pissing off the people who made the best-looking game for their system seems incredibly short-sighted to me, especially now that we're seeing what Halo 3 looks like. Gears is still the benchmark for next-gen graphics, and without it, Microsoft would be in a much worse position perception-wise.
Then again, this is expected. Microsoft has proven that time and again, they are more interested in reaching into your pocket and nickel and diming you to death via Marketplace. It's not a matter of if, but when this practice will come back to bite them in the butt. But I will enjoy watching it happen.
It's undoubtedly Microsoft's doing. Epic has pretty much come out and said so, and since they've never charged for additional content before, it makes me believe them.
Pretty ballsy on Microsoft's part, too - but also incredibly stupid. Seeing as Epic pretty much saved Christmas for the 360. I wonder how this might affect future relations between the two companies. Epic is a 300 metric ton gorilla now that everyone and their mother is using UE3 to make games. Microsoft would be wise not to piss off ANY allies at this point, but especially not Epic.
Shame-usBlackley
BUt then agian Microsoft right now probably has enough power to run a small country :PÂ
It's undoubtedly BUt then agian Microsoft right now probably has enough power to run a small country :PÂ
Sparky04
Microsoft the company does, but Microsoft the console maker is about to find itself in second place before fall's end, and they aren't exactly doing a whole lot better sales-wise than the $600 hogtied PS3.
In other words, Microsoft is in NO position to go bullying developers into changing their business practices. They are still very vulnerable, and their direct competition has done a better job of hurting itself more than Microsoft has done a bang-up job of capturing marketshare. If Sony had come to the party at $400, Microsoft would've been tanked already, in my opinion.
To be honest...Im sure Epic if they wanted could have forced it to be free. But I'm guessing they saw this as a chance to rake in some cash and not look bad at it. They can sit back and blame MS, saying they were the ones who did it. When really Epic is just playing innocent and doing a happy dance. They keep face and get a nice cutAcensoI have to agree. Epic knows that there is money out there. They're smart to try and squeeze as much money out of Gears before Halo 3 drops, anyways. After that point, Gears DLC might as well become free because the returns will be much smaller.
This looks like a conflict of corporate philosophy between the two. The people at Epic should have know that by giving Microsoft the publishing rights to this game that essentially Microsoft would be the judge, jury and executioner when it cameto the downloadable content on XBox Live. This shouldn't have been a surprise to Epic as it's happened before. I believe Bungie wanted to give the Halo 2 downloadable maps for free as well, but had to compromise them as payed downloads for a few months as well.
I know Microsoft wants to maximize their return on this game and I don't know how annoyed Epic really is about this, but there is something to be said for keeping good relations with developers. Sure, Microsoft provided the platform for this game, but the talented people at Epic are the ones who created it.
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To be honest...Im sure Epic if they wanted could have forced it to be free. But I'm guessing they saw this as a chance to rake in some cash and not look bad at it. They can sit back and blame MS, saying they were the ones who did it. When really Epic is just playing innocent and doing a happy dance. They keep face and get a nice cutAcenso
How can Epic force it? It's Microsoft's service. And Epic wouldn't be going just against Microsoft, but also EA, Activision, Sega, and every other money-grubbing big publisher out there. There's too much corporate interest in this "downloadable economy" to succeed, a single independant developer simply doesn't stand a chance. Also, how do you explain the fact that Epic never, ever charged for any additional content before this?
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I think this is more the case of MS wanting to run a consistent service. If they start giving too many things away for free they begin to set a precedent that would lead their customers to expect more free stuff in the future and would alter what we thought of as value. Always remember that MS is a buisness and is trying to make money. If they could sell you an empty box they would. It's all about how people view value. MS saw value in the Gears maps and knew that their customers would as well. They just don't want to undermine the perception of value that they have developed with XBL.
I don't have a deep problem paying for additional content if such content was developed post release as opposed to developed before the game was shipped and then withheld.
I think this is more the case of MS wanting to run a consistent service. If they start giving too many things away for free they begin to set a precedent that would lead their customers to expect more free stuff in the future and would alter what we thought of as value. Always remember that MS is a buisness and is trying to make money. If they could sell you an empty box they would. It's all about how people view value. MS saw value in the Gears maps and knew that their customers would as well. They just don't want to undermine the perception of value that they have developed with XBL.
danmp18
Cliffy and Epic definitely wanted the content to be free, as he threatened to take Gears of War 2 over to the PS3 due to MS's restrictions on Epic's own content
It isn't really an opinion (as far as I know.).
Big companies like EA are charging MS Points for just about everything...then you've got a "competitor" who releases the stuff for free. It makes EA look like con artists.
MS couldn't handle that loss, I guess, so they made a compromise with Epic.
Free after September "some date," but 800 MS Points until then. Â
[QUOTE="danmp18"]I think this is more the case of MS wanting to run a consistent service. If they start giving too many things away for free they begin to set a precedent that would lead their customers to expect more free stuff in the future and would alter what we thought of as value. Always remember that MS is a buisness and is trying to make money. If they could sell you an empty box they would. It's all about how people view value. MS saw value in the Gears maps and knew that their customers would as well. They just don't want to undermine the perception of value that they have developed with XBL.
HiResDes
Cliffy and Epic definitely wanted the content to be free, as he threatened to take Gears of War 2 over to the PS3 due to MS's restrictions on Epic's own content
Actually...That was proven to be made up by some fanboy.
Epic responded to it already saying it was...Bull****Â
As long as Epic is getting some of the $$$ for the maps then Im happy cause they did such a good job on Gears. I have no problems with giving out money towards game companies as I personnelly know how hard it is to develop games and or break them on time. Everybody always complaines about the nickel and diming but yet, nobody is making you download them. Nobody said gaming is cheap, just expensive. We would all like hand me outs but thats gonna only happen far and few between.Wellfedmonkey
Which makes it all the more frustrating when a developer wants to spend that time and money and make the content free but is told no by the company whose hardware it's running on.
Epic has always done business that way, with the belief that the added content would equate to more people buying the game at retail and a happy base that continues to play it. This is a battle of business models, but it's also a battle of greed. Microsoft being the company that they are saw that 5 million copies of a game had sold and simply couldn't control themselves from making their one bona-fide smash hit into a goddamn microtransaction milk-fest.
It's almost akin to alcoholism, but with money. Five million Gears customers was like an alcoholic being asked to hold someone's scotch and soda for Microsoft.
It's undoubtedly Microsoft's doing. Epic has pretty much come out and said so, and since they've never charged for additional content before, it makes me believe them.
Pretty ballsy on Microsoft's part, too - but also incredibly stupid. Seeing as Epic pretty much saved Christmas for the 360. I wonder how this might affect future relations between the two companies. Epic is a 300 metric ton gorilla now that everyone and their mother is using UE3 to make games. Microsoft would be wise not to piss off ANY allies at this point, but especially not Epic. Pissing off the people who made the best-looking game for their system seems incredibly short-sighted to me, especially now that we're seeing what Halo 3 looks like. Gears is still the benchmark for next-gen graphics, and without it, Microsoft would be in a much worse position perception-wise.
Then again, this is expected. Microsoft has proven that time and again, they are more interested in reaching into your pocket and nickel and diming you to death via Marketplace. It's not a matter of if, but when this practice will come back to bite them in the butt. But I will enjoy watching it happen.
Shame-usBlackley
In fairness to MS, they have been better than anybody about offering free content. Sony Gamer's Day offered up a ton of new footage, but one wouldn't know that if one looked at Sony's online service (the only thing posted was footage of Uncharted). When MS publicly unveils something, then the footage hits XBL extremely quickly. MS just seems more committed to online then everyone else. Â
I agree with you getting into it with Epic isn't the brightest move MS could have made, but Epic are PC guys, so them not making the X360 their first (console) stop would be a huge hassle for them so I would be surprised if they bolted based on MS forcing them to charge for downloadable content.
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