Microsoft Forcing Epic To Charge For Gears Maps
I was wondering what caused the delay in the new Gears maps and now we might have an answer. The story is that Microsoft is forcing publishers to charge for all content downloads other than demos. This move does not surprise me at all and sounds exactly like something they would pull. Personally, I despise getting nickel and dimed to death, but it looks like that is exactly the direction the industry is going. It’s really a sad thing that is happening, but what can we do? Perhaps Sony or another company in the future can recognize Microsoft’s greed and offer us a cheaper alternative. To be completely honest, at this point I really have no brand loyalty whatsoever to any system due to the greedy nature of things. In the old days I definitely felt more loyalty towards specific companies and truly miss those times.
quote from Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney on the 1up podcast:
“We already released two (maps) and we have four more maps that we’ve built. We’ve been wanting to give them but actually Microsoft has been pushing back on us. They’re trying to build this business model around selling additonal content for games and that’s a valid idea, but we would definitely like to release more stuff for free, and we haven’t been able to do so yet.”
Gears of War has sold better than anyone could have ever expected and to this point is the killer-app for the Xbox 360, at least until Halo 3 releases. Epic is being forced to charge a fee for the maps though even if they wanted to do otherwise.
Many people have stated that Microsoft was pushing for content that has a price tag with it for the Xbox Live Marketplace for the reason that they want people to get used to having to pay for content online. This seems to have been confirmed and moved from being a rumor to now being a fact.
[Via NetMunch]
Gears of War, Maps, Xbox Live Downloads, Microsoft, NetMunch, 1PStart, Digg, Kezins, BB
April 8th, 2007 at 6:32 am
eventually as gamers I think we need some organization and possibly find ways to protest this sort of action. Even something as simple as organizing a week where no one plays a specific game online or organize a day where no one purchases content from Microsoft.. even one day on a large scale would grab their attention.
April 8th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
[...] [via 1pstart] - Jerome “the360loop” Francisco - [...]
April 8th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
[...] [via 1pstart] - Jerome “the360loop” Francisco - [...]
April 8th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
ARRRRRRRRRGHHH. This is blatantly wrong, because Gears of War barely has any maps to begin with. If there were a ton of maps and they were offering a new one that would be one thing, but to do this is aggravating.
April 8th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
[...] [via 1pstart] [...]
April 8th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I forsee this becoming a standard. A game will ship with about 4 maps, then every 6 weeks or so a new map will become available for a small (sic) price. This could keep a game such as Halo creating a nice influx of $, and actually aid in keeping the game around and more playable for a longer period of time. I mean, if they released a new map every couple of weeks, I’d still pay 4 or 5 bucks for each one. Still cheaper than renting a movie, and infinitley more re-playable. Kind of sucks, but this is exactly where the industry is headed. Buck-up and accept it now, because no protesting in the world will keep the marketing guys from finding new ways to grab our $.