#1
Today, 04:49 PM
Battlefront.com
Administrator
Join Date: Feb 1999
Posts: 15,820
To all of you who want something for nothing
It is not surprising that we have people complaining about the $10 charge for a MAJOR upgrade to CMBN. Also not surprising that it amounts to people wanting something for nothing. Let's look at the facts...
1. We offer CMBN v1.0 for those who want it. When you make a purchase you are buying only what is included, not what is not included. Crazy concept, I know, but it's a pretty standard transaction for the last few thousand years. As such, people can either buy our products BASED ON WHAT THEY ACTUALLY HAVE or not. There is no third option.
2. No game is ever without room for game experience improvements, new features, new content, etc. But since the initial purchase transaction is based on the features included, not those imagined for the future, there can be no expectations of future improvements beyond whatever the software developer promises. We promise technical fixes to existing features and occasionally some small improvements. That's all you get for your purchase price because that's all we're offering.
3. Since new features don't magically appear out of thin air, we have to instead find people to make this stuff. Now get ready for a surprise... those people actually... stay with me now... want to get paid. Money! Yeah, WTF is up with that? Crazy stuff, but trust me it's true. If you can follow that logic so far, then maybe you can see how an Upgrade like this actually costs us a significant amount of money. Where does that money come from? You, of course. One way or another you, the customer, must pay for this work or there will be no Battlefront at all. If you're still confused, might I suggest some schooling in basic economics?
4. The traditional game developer approach is to not offer Upgrades. Instead, when they add some new stuff they call it something different. Battlefield 2 players out there... how much did your upgrade to Battlefield 3 cost you?
OK, so where does that put you, the person complaining about the $10 upgrade? In a world of make-believe world, unreasonable expectations based on absolutely no concept of our costs or industry standards. You therefore have some options going forward:
1. Do no buy the Upgrades. They are for people who want new features not originally part of their purchase.
2. Buy the Upgrade and be thankful we offer it at all. Most game developers do not offer an extension of their existing product, but instead charge full price for a new experience.
3. Don't buy the game at all until you feel it is "finished". At some point we will stop making CMx2 games, and at that point you can pick it up for one price and have ALL the features everybody else paid for along the way. Of course they will have been playing for many years and you will have to instead wait many years. But that is your choice.
4. Get so disgusted with us you stop buying our stuff entirely and instead buy someone else's highly realistic, 3D tactical combat games. Or just don't buy wargames at all. Your choice.
The truth of the matter is we probably spent more making the Normandy 2.0 Upgrade than we will receive in revenues from it at $10 a unit. Does anybody think it's a good idea for us to lose money on what we produce? I mean, really... how long do you think we'll continue supporting a small, rather whiney niche market AND lose money doing it?
The market will decide if this is a good strategy or not. The alternative is to either not make the Upgrades at all (i.e. you will NEVER see an improvement to the games you buy) or we will simply charge everybody $100 per base game and offer 3 or 4 Upgrades at no extra cost. But under no circumstances will we go out of business trying to satisfy people who obviously take great joy in being unreasonable.
Bottom line here is if you don't value the features we've provided for $10 then don't buy it.
Steve