Activision going full retard and trying DLCeption. Paid DLC for a paid remastered DLC game?

[Master Disaster]

So if your confused by the title your not the only one, let me explain...

 

On the back of a COD that by Activision's own admission underperformed Activision somehow decided that charging users for a map pack DLC for the already paid DLC HD Remaster of COD4 was a good idea.

 

So to clarify

 

To access the COD4 Remaster you must own COD IW and pay $20 more than the games base price

To access the HD Map Pack Remaster you must pay an additional $15 (which is $5 more than it cost originally)

Users who bought the $120 Edition or the $50 Seasons Pass still have to pay because the SP covers IW and not COD4 RM

 

Now HD Remasters are becoming commonplace and in every other case they come with all DLC included, heck the Halo Master Chief Collection had 3 remastered games included and they all included all DLC. Activision are the first ones to try and charge for a remaster of something they already charged for once to be played on a remaster which they already charged for and they're charging more than it cost the first time around. The worry is once one company does it others soon follow.

 

What a time it is to be a gamer.

 

Video source hence the no quotes

 

Holy fuck, Activision have always been greedy cunts but this is just taking the piss now. Honestly I expect the next step will be a $60 game that you must pay $5 to them if you want to access the next level.

 

 

[Starelementpoke]

Man, it's almost like they're known for this. Oh wait.

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, Starelementpoke said:

Man, it's almost like they're known for this. Oh wait.

And that makes it OK does it? I mean we should just ignore it because they have a reputation of behaving this way?

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

And that makes it OK does it? I mean we should just ignore it because they have a reputation of behaving this way?

It was sarcasm. Never said it was okay, just not surprised.

[79wjd]

Wait, can you not run MW without IW? I thought there was no direct way to buy a MW license separately, but I figured you could still play MW without owning IW yourself (i.e. buy a MW key -- from a friend/grey market).

[Master Disaster]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

It was sarcasm. Never said it was okay, just not surprised.

Yeah, sorry buddy, didn't mean to get pissy with you but I'm genuinely at a point where I'm ready to quit playing video games entirely. Its gotten to the point where these publishers are just taking the piss out of us and there's nothing we can do to stop it.

[Master Disaster]

2 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

Wait, can you not run MW without IW? I thought there was no direct way to buy a MW license separately, but I figured you could still play MW without owning IW yourself (i.e. buy a MW key -- from a friend/grey market).

Nope, MW requires the IW disc in the drive or the game installed if it was purchased on Steam.

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

Yeah, sorry buddy, didn't mean to get pissy with you but I'm genuinely at a point where I'm ready to quit playing video games entirely. Its gotten to the point where these publishers are just taking the piss out of us and there's nothing we can do to stop it.

It's called Capitalism. Literally, this is going to happen as long as it's a thing.

[Castdeath97]

With the state of steam with "indie games" and now the playstation store following suit plus the DLC craze I have a feeling that we are moving towards another video game crash......

[JoseGuya]

2 minutes ago, Starelementpoke said:

It's called Capitalism. Literally, this is going to happen as long as it's a thing.

If they succeed with this, is entirely on the consumer. Don't like it? Don't buy it. Is thanks to capitalism you get to play video games in a PERSONAL computer to begin with, so...

[Master Disaster]

2 minutes ago, Starelementpoke said:

It's called Capitalism. Literally, this is going to happen as long as it's a thing.

There are a few good guys left, CDPR are doing things the right way for example and actually UbiSoft have gotten much better recently and I have no issue with the way Rockstar handle DLC either but mostly yeah, publishers only care about money.

 

8 minutes ago, Castdeath97 said:

With the state of steam with "indie games" and now the playstation store following suit plus the DLC craze I have a feeling that we are moving towards another video game crash......

Yep, I've said it many times before. I think in some ways we're in a worse place now than the US was in the 80s when the crash happened. 

[Dylanc1500]

2 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Yep, I've said it many times before. I think in some ways we're in a worse place now than the US was in the 80s when the crash happened. 

So does that mean Nintendo is going to come back with some "revolutionary" console again to bring it all back?

 

slightly a joke and slightly not.

[JoseGuya]

9 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Yep, I've said it many times before. I think in some ways we're in a worse place now than the US was in the 80s when the crash happened. 

A crash is very much needed, to cleanse the over investment and over valuated companies that are hurting the industry, and government should let it crash by not bailing out any of them. 

[Master Disaster]

10 minutes ago, Dylanc1500 said:

So does that mean Nintendo is going to come back with some "revolutionary" console again to bring it all back?

 

slightly a joke and slightly not.

Serious note...

 

It wasn't the NES that revitalised the gaming sector in the US (as I point out very often on YT the crash only affected North America, the ROW was largely unaffected but I digress) as much as it was Nintendo themselves.

 

Remember how NES carts had the Nintendo seal of approval on them? It was that scheme that gave consumers confidence to buy games again as Nintendo assured customers that games with that mark had been quality tested before being put on general sale. The NES was just the vehicle, not the horse that pulled it.

 

 

Ironically it was the same scheme that was responsible for Nintendo's draconian policies of zero violence and nudity in games that stood until very recently too.

[Dylanc1500]

8 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Serious note...

 

It wasn't the NES that revitalised the gaming sector in the US (as I point out very often on YT the crash only affected North America, the ROW was largely unaffected but I digress) as much as it was Nintendo themselves.

 

Remember how NES carts had the Nintendo seal of approval on them? It was that scheme that gave consumers confidence to buy games again as Nintendo assured customers that games with that mark had been quality tested before being put on general sale. The NES was just the vehicle, not the horse that pulled it.

 

Ironically it was the same scheme that was responsible for Nintendo's draconian policies of zero violence and nudity in games that stood until very recently too.

Good point, which I agree with entirely. I'm just on mobile so I didn't want to tap it all out since I wasn't serious. It was just a nudge at Nintendo.

 

It is funny how the game crash did largely unaffect the rest of the world, I don't really remember why it has been a long time since I read up on the crash.

[Master Disaster]

6 minutes ago, JoseGuya said:

A crash is very much needed, to cleanse the over investment and over valuated companies that are hurting the industry, and government should let it crash by not bailing out any of them. 

Not sure I agree with this, not in this day in age.

 

Lots of things have changed, for a start the amount of people employed in making video games has increased by 100s, if not 1000s of times and all those people stand to lose jobs. That would like cause some serious repercussions for economies.

 

Gaming is much more global now and a gaming crash might just be enough to start another global recession.

 

Also remember that most of the modern issues stem from greedy publishers, not developers and I don't think its fair to punish the talent because of decisions made by the suits upstairs.

 

Finally think how a crash would affect things like YouTube & Twitch? I'm sure YT would survive but Twitch? I doubt they'd survive losing the large majority of the providers overnight.

 

5 minutes ago, Dylanc1500 said:

Good point, which I agree with entirely. I'm just on mobile so I didn't want to tap it all out since I wasn't serious. It was just a nudge at Nintendo.

 

It is funny how the game crash did largely unaffect the rest of the world, I don't really remember why it has been a long time since I read up on the crash.

Basically Atari oversaturated the NA market with shovelware. Most of Europe and South America had micro computers (Spectrum/C64 etc) so the crash didn't touch them and as for Asia, well I have no idea what was going on over there in the 80s. Mostly Arcade machines I would imagine.

[JoseGuya]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

Not sure I agree with this, not in this day in age.

 

Lots of things have changed, for a start the amount of people employed in making video games has increased by 100s, if not 1000s of times and all those people stand to lose jobs. That would like cause some serious repercussions for economies.

 

Gaming is much more global now and a gaming crash might just be enough to start another global recession.

 

Also remember that most of the modern issues stem from greedy publishers, not developers and I don't think its fair to punish the talent because of decisions made by the suits upstairs.

Yes, I know, it would be harsh to people that have little to do with the decisions made by the publishers, but the market corrects itself, sooner or later, and it won't discriminate. 

 

The same will happen with the app economy. One example is Snapchat, a company valued in billions, but with no revenue, that is not sustainable.

 

 

[Master Disaster]

6 minutes ago, JoseGuya said:

Yes, I know, it would be harsh to people that have little to do with the decisions made by the publishers, but the market corrects itself, sooner or later, and it won't discriminate. 

 

The same will happen with the app economy. One example is Snapchat, a company valued in billions, but with no revenue, that is not sustainable.

 

 

The app market is like the dotcom bubble of the late 90s, eventually it will burst.

 

The difference between them and gaming studios is gaming studios have assets that can be valued, studios and offices, equipment, talent, intellectual property etc all have a value which can be assigned to it.

 

If Snapchat went away tomorrow the market wouldn't care, if 10 of the largest game studios went away it would cause literal chaos.

[HarmFull]

Activision, EA......FeelsBadMan

[Dylanc1500]

23 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Basically Atari oversaturated the NA market with shovelware. Most of Europe and South America had micro computers (Spectrum/C64 etc) so the crash didn't touch them and as for Asia, well I have no idea what was going on over there in the 80s. Mostly Arcade machines I would imagine.

Oh yeah, that's right, I'm remembering E.T. being absolutely awful. Arcades are still popular Asia from what I understand, maybe not like it used to be, but none the less.

[goodtofufriday]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

Serious note...

 

It wasn't the NES that revitalised the gaming sector in the US (as I point out very often on YT the crash only affected North America, the ROW was largely unaffected but I digress) as much as it was Nintendo themselves.

 

Remember how NES carts had the Nintendo seal of approval on them? It was that scheme that gave consumers confidence to buy games again as Nintendo assured customers that games with that mark had been quality tested before being put on general sale. The NES was just the vehicle, not the horse that pulled it.

 

 

Ironically it was the same scheme that was responsible for Nintendo's draconian policies of zero violence and nudity in games that stood until very recently too.

That seal is small part of the story. 

The nes' design with the slot loading games was intentional to feel familiar with a VCR. Its marketing also portrayed it as an entertainment system, not a video game console. Then you had deluxe versions that had a robot gimmik. 

Then nintendo had, at least early in the Nes' life, very strict control over the games. 

Its those things together that let Nintendos quality seal matter. 

If people didnt own the console then the seal would mean nothing at all, as Nintendo were reletively unknown besides a few arcade games. 

 

As for it not affecting other markets, thats untrue. Its why the EU pulled so closely to computer gaming and why it blossomed there at all. Didnt help thst VAT made the Nes largely unattainable fot most. The japanese market most lost out in potential revenue an investment by american companies, and industry confidence. 

[Misanthrope]

Somebody forgot to tell them that when we said "Keep digging Ubi!" we didn't mean it as a positive thing.

[michaelocarroll007]

2 hours ago, djdwosk97 said:

Wait, can you not run MW without IW? I thought there was no direct way to buy a MW license separately, but I figured you could still play MW without owning IW yourself (i.e. buy a MW key -- from a friend/grey market).

If you bought the Disk you must insert IW to play MW otherwise it wont launch and if digital youll need to own both on the account basically. Every part of this launch from the price to how locked down it is to the DLC this year cod was much more of a mess then typically. 

 

I Didnt buy it this year because i want Modern warfare 4 but they dont sell it seperatley so i passed not paying $80 for a remaster then $15 for the DLC and they added RNG guns that weren't even in the original game THE FUCK...

[Master Disaster]

5 hours ago, goodtofufriday said:

That seal is small part of the story. 

The nes' design with the slot loading games was intentional to feel familiar with a VCR. Its marketing also portrayed it as an entertainment system, not a video game console. Then you had deluxe versions that had a robot gimmik. 

Then nintendo had, at least early in the Nes' life, very strict control over the games. 

Its those things together that let Nintendos quality seal matter. 

If people didnt own the console then the seal would mean nothing at all, as Nintendo were reletively unknown besides a few arcade games. 

 

As for it not affecting other markets, thats untrue. Its why the EU pulled so closely to computer gaming and why it blossomed there at all. Didnt help thst VAT made the Nes largely unattainable fot most. The japanese market most lost out in potential revenue an investment by american companies, and industry confidence. 

I'm sorry but your wrong about the EU, the Spectrum was already well established in the UK by the mid 80s and over in mainland Europe the Commodore Vic 20 and later the C64 ruled almost exclusively, the NES didn't start to become popular over here until the late 80s/early 90s. The Spectrum and C64 both launched during the height of the market crash and both went on to be incredibly successful sellers.

 

Not to mention that a very large number of successful gaming studios and talented coders from the 16 bit and 32 bit eras started out coding for the micros over here in Europe. Rare, yes that Rare, started out making Spectrum games in the mid 80s. Ocean software started out in the mid 80s and became one of the worlds largest video game distributors, Gremlin Games also started out in the mid 80s, DMA Design (who turned into Rockstar), Pysgnosis, Delphine, CORE, DICE all started up in Europe in the mid 80s.

 

The market crash was an American thing, I'm sorry but Atari just weren't that big of a deal here in Europe or in South America to have an impact on our markets. Why would we spend £400 on an Atari 2600 when you could buy a Spectrum for £175, an Amstrad CPC464 for £250 with a colour monitor included or a C64 for £299?

 

Heck Wikipedia has it listed as the Video Game Crash Of North America.

[escape093]

I would be extremely surprised if Activision did not cave in to the horrid reception of both games and sell them separately some time around the release of Sledgehammer's next entry.