Now that Mass Effect is done (or at least the Shepard trilogy), I've nothing to stop me from boycotting EA altogether. Their always online shit (a little over a month ago, the EA network was down and I couldn't play Mass Effect 3 single player on my 360), on-disc DLC, and their views like this...

That's not the future of gaming I want to see continue. I'm not crying evil or anything here. Just saying they have a business practice that I don't want to support.

"So not only are the micro-transactions completely optional, but all packs are available to purchase using in-game resources that you find", micro transactions are shady but at least they are optional.

This has to stop. I'm tired of developers charging $60 for a game and then expecting me to spend more on top of that just to get a complete product.

As has always been the case, the final product is all that matters and I'll reserve judgement until then. Anyone who does otherwise is clearly a different person than me.

Ain't care. I'll still buy it, just won't use the micro-transactions.

ME3 tested the waters. People bitched but apparently not enough people didn't participate in this "beta" if you will. This in a way seems to be EA's plan to keep games at 60 possibly going into the next gen. That said, it's scummy and really shows how greedy they are. Game development is more expensive than ever, yes, but when your franchises sell in the millions there should be no need to resort to tactics like this.

The interesting question to me is would Dead Space 3 have these micro transactions if Dead Space 1 or 2 had been profitable?

Games are changing and evolving.

@Salarn said:

The interesting question to me is would Dead Space 3 have these micro transactions if Dead Space 1 or 2 had been profitable?

Games are changing and evolving.

If Dead Space 1 and 2 weren't profitable, there wouldn't be a Dead Space 3.

@Legion4WeRManny said:

I seriously don't understand why people are bitching so damn much about this game! oh no, boo hoo, OPTIONAL co-op. Ok, don't like it that way, don't play it that way. Oh no, micro-transactions. If you don't want to spend real world money then DON'T. Given Dead Space's track record (being two incredible games!) I have no reservations that DS3 will be amazing!!!! Can't wait to get my Dev Team Edition!!!!!!

You created an account to post this? This? That doesn't seem suspicious at all. Nope.

@Kerned said:

@Salarn said:

The interesting question to me is would Dead Space 3 have these micro transactions if Dead Space 1 or 2 had been profitable?

Games are changing and evolving.

If Dead Space 1 and 2 weren't profitable, there wouldn't be a Dead Space 3.

The expanded 'Dead Space' universe has kept overall earnings up, and EA is willing to take a loss in order to try and build a brand which would pay off later down the road.

The first two dead space games didn't get much past 2 million units each, considering the cost to produce the games, that is not profitable.

"In general we're thinking about how we make this a more broadly appealing franchise, because ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space ... Anything less than that and it becomes quite difficult financially given how expensive it is to make games and market them ... We feel good about that growth but we have to be very paranoid about making sure we don't change the experience so much that we lose the fanbase."

EA's Labels president Frank Gibeau, from a recent interview.

They'll give up if they can't make Dead Space 3 profitable.

There goes EA trying to appeal to every single demographic with one franchise. Just make a new all-game franchise that appeals to everyone instead of trying to augment an existing franchise in a very specific genre to be all things at once.

I love Dead Space 1 and 2, but Dead Space 3 seems like it could easily be the FEAR 3 of the franchise, meaning not the best. Anyways I haven't been following any trailers or gameplay of the game since that E3 demo left me groaning. Maybe the co-op will be phenomenal in sacrifice of the single player experience. Or maybe they'll both be awesome. But nothing I've seen or heard has persuaded me otherwise.

The microtransaction stuff doesn't bother me much as long as I can unlock everything and upgrade everything without having to dip into that stuff.

Wow, EA.

I don't think "mobile gamers" will be playing a Dead Space game

@MiniPato said:

I love Dead Space 1 and 2, but Dead Space 3 seems like it could easily be the FEAR 3 of the franchise, meaning not the best. Anyways I haven't been following any trailers or gameplay of the game since that E3 demo left me groaning.

Well, FEAR as a franchise also wasn't profitable.

@Brodehouse said:

I would wonder if they had made Dead Space with the same general idea, the same combat and narrative stuff... But totally skimped on art, sound, polish, etc.... I wonder if people would like it as much. Would it get the same reaction if the lighting system wasn't as advanced as it is?

Amnesia was a profitable horror game (although definitely not dead space), that skimped on art/sound/polish/etc... However, it's not big enough to float an EA studio on such a small amount of revenue.

I'm not sure if this is unique to horror games, many people don't like being scared. Hard to justify 40~80m budgets on a game that can only realistically sell to a slim market.

They had them in the first one as well. I remember buying a heavy damage pack or something as I was passing it for the 3rd time.

What we found, actually, is that Mobile Gamers actually LOVE being nickel and dimed. "We think it's fun to pay the money" says mobile ga

I have not played the demo yet

@Demoskinos said:

I dont know why everyone is getting in such a big uproar. If you dont like what they are doing with the microtransactions then dont participate. No harm done to you.

It's a bad road to go down, I think. First come the microtransactions, and then come games that are built around microtransactions on top of a full priced purchase, and then come fragmented games which require the purchase of multiple pieces of content to get a full experience. It's just dirty, and it's not a practice I feel comfortable supporting.

Triple A video games I guess. This is the future of them I suppose. Was never a big Dead Space fan. The past games are good but I don't love them or anything.

Oh yeah, folks "love" this in their $0-$1 mobile games. Why not put it in $60 games as well. Genius!

Yep, that's a dumb justification, specifically because mobile games are of a nature so drastically different from Dead Space 3 that it simply doesn't work. I'm not sure how well microtransactions would work in a narrative-based game, since the very concept draws your attention to the fact that it's a game. With something like Team Fortress 2, it works because what narrative might be there is largely unimportant; with Dead Space 3, on the other hand, it abruptly takes you out of the moment.

@Klei said:

It's sad that those shady business practices are forced upon good devs like Visceral. 100% chances they have absolutely nothing to do with it.

My thoughts exactly. Ironically, a lot of bad business decisions seem to come from the higher ups.

Why does it have to be EA publishing SimCity? I have had an EA boycott for about 2 years and I am going to have to reluctantly break it to play that. Stuff like this makes breaking it even harder. They're so scummy but they own Maxis so I don't have a choice.

I believe in hex editors.

@Ben_H said:

Why does it have to be EA publishing SimCity? I have had an EA boycott for about 2 years and I am going to have to reluctantly break it to play that. Stuff like this makes breaking it even harder. They're so scummy but they own Maxis so I don't have a choice.

That doesn't sound like a boycott, that sounds like they just didn't make anything you wanted to play.

ill still play dead space 3, i wont take part in those micro transactions as their justification is bullshit.

done

@Demoskinos said:

I dont know why everyone is getting in such a big uproar. If you dont like what they are doing with the microtransactions then dont participate. No harm done to you.

@Brodehouse said:

Heh, I usually try to play devil's advocate against consumerist agendas here... But yeah, that rationalization doesn't hold up whatsoever under even the lightest scrutiny. It's a cheat code, if you don't like paying for cheat codes you won't like it. If you don't care, you won't care. There are people who will _tolerate_ paying for cheats, but there are not people who would _prefer_ paying for cheats.

nailed it

I just hope it won't be another Mass Effect series where 1st game was great, 2nd game was awesome, amazing and 3rd one was kinda "I have no idea what the fuck have you done".

I liked the first one, and liked that EA took a chance on publishing a sci-fi survival horror game, two genres that aren't known for being particularly lucrative; they then decide to take it and run it into the ground with 3 sequels in about 4 years. The addition of all this DLC seems like just a last attempt to squeeze every bit of money out of the franchise before the hang the IP up in the freezer - until the eventual reboot.

I'll just not touch EA stuff until they regain their senses, if ever. :)

It makes me laugh how disgusting that reasoning is, and at the same time makes me really worry about the future of games. The shittiest part is people will pay for this crap.

From the article,

There's also the hardcore Dead Space players, who are reluctant to spend money outside the purchase of the game. Honestly, most of the dev team are that way, we're kind of old school, a little bit older. So not only are the micro-transactions completely optional, but all packs are available to purchase using in-game resources that you find.

This is why I don't see the problem.

OMG LET'S ALL FREAK OUT! ...or do the logical thing and not freak out because there's literally nothing to freak out about.

In reading the article, I think I'm actually FAR MORE interested in the game than I ever was previously. The Asymmetrical Dementia mechanic sounds FUCKING AWESOME and fits well into the world of Dead Space. Meanwhile, I love weapon crafting systems (Vagrant Story and Dark Cloud 2 are two of my favorite games just for that aspect alone). Therefore, hearing that they have weapon crafting and a reason for me to KEEP PLAYING THE FUCKING GAME...YES PLEASE!

This article actually got me stupid fucking excited about a game I literally had no interest in. Moreover, they flat-out say "you don't have to spend any real-world money if you don't want to, so don't worry about it - everything can be obtained through in-game shit," so I'm more than fine with that. They actually justify it incredibly well: we are living in a time and age when people want instant gratification and don't want to grind for that shit. If people want to spend more money on a single player game like that, I don't give a flying fuck. It literally does not affect me in ANY way. If someone wants to dump an extra $50 to be OP as fuck, by all means - be the idiot that spends that extra money.

Anyways, thank you to the OP for linking that article which makes me actually FINALLY give a shit about this game.

Vote with your wallet if you disagree. Otherwise, just don't pay attention to it and leave it there for those who do want to buy into the microtransaction stuff. It's their money, not yours. Let them do what they want with it.

The justification is shitty but it's not like this is the first full priced game to have micro transactions. I remember everyone eating that shit up when Mass Effect 3 had it.

You could just not buy them? That is an option. I am sure you can unlock stuff without paying for it.

@jsnyder82 said:

Yeah, well I was just reading an article talking about how when you're actually in-game, these micro-transactions are really intrusive. Also, the game makes it really difficult in parts to actually find the items in-game, and constantly reminds you that you have the option to just give up and purchase them in the store. I didn't find too much to complain about until I read that article. It seems genuinely sleazy now.

I'd be quite interested to read that article, if you have a link. That's basically confirming all of people's fears and it all just sounds far too convenient.

@Kerned: Do you actually think that Visceral has any control over this?

@SolongWrex said:

@jsnyder82 said:

Yeah, well I was just reading an article talking about how when you're actually in-game, these micro-transactions are really intrusive. Also, the game makes it really difficult in parts to actually find the items in-game, and constantly reminds you that you have the option to just give up and purchase them in the store. I didn't find too much to complain about until I read that article. It seems genuinely sleazy now.

I'd be quite interested to read that article, if you have a link. That's basically confirming all of people's fears and it all just sounds far too convenient.

I intentionally didn't post it because it's a Jim Sterling article, and people around here seem to have a ridiculously irrational hatred of him. But here it is.

http://www.destructoid.com/dead-space-3-has-microtransactions-because-mobile-gamers-243152.phtml

@jsnyder82 said:

@SolongWrex said:

@jsnyder82 said:

Yeah, well I was just reading an article talking about how when you're actually in-game, these micro-transactions are really intrusive. Also, the game makes it really difficult in parts to actually find the items in-game, and constantly reminds you that you have the option to just give up and purchase them in the store. I didn't find too much to complain about until I read that article. It seems genuinely sleazy now.

I'd be quite interested to read that article, if you have a link. That's basically confirming all of people's fears and it all just sounds far too convenient.

I intentionally didn't post it because it's a Jim Sterling article, and people around here seem to have a ridiculously irrational hatred of him. But here it is.

http://www.destructoid.com/dead-space-3-has-microtransactions-because-mobile-gamers-243152.phtml

I see. Thanks for the link.

I was willing to give EA the benefit of the doubt here but this doesn't look good at all. Can't wait for the reviews.

@big_jon: No, sadly I do not.

@Demoskinos said:

I dont know why everyone is getting in such a big uproar. If you dont like what they are doing with the microtransactions then dont participate. No harm done to you.

Awareness?

Not everyone in the video game community is as informed as those of us that regularly visit video game news websites and participate in active discussion of current topics. In fact, we're a minority. The problem with practices like this, is that not everyone is going to know that this exists in the game before buying it. I can't imagine them advertising this feature. (Did Mass Effect 3 advertise their multiplayer transactions? I honestly don't know.) So it's going to be a hard surprise for a lot of people. Creating an uproar creates awareness that spreads to the general gaming public. None of my 'normal' video game friends know about THQ being sold, but over half of them have heard about the Mass Effect 3 ending and the controversy because of the size of the response.

This is also the first game that's being so blatant in the regard of paying full price and also allowing micro-transactions. It's very easy for middle-managers to justify this practice if the game doesn't a decent amount in sales. They'll try this again. So getting word out about this, and letting people vote with their wallets, can create a significant turn of events. Of course, it's still up to people to choose on an individual basis if this is something they want to support.

@Viking_Funeral: Awareness? All you have to do is read what your buying. Simple.

@Demoskinos: Read it where? On the back of the box? On IGN? On GameSpot? On Giant Bomb? Where? Where is the average person going to be informed about this stuff? Are you suggesting that people rely on EA's marketing department to inform them about how to best spend their money? I'm not trying to be difficult with you, I just don't understand where you think the average video game consumer (i.e. not you or me) is going to get their information.

The thing that bugs me is that the crafting system seems like a completely needless and completely convoluted addition. It seems like it was added for the express purpose of having micro-transactions, which really rubs me the wrong way.

I'm not even one of these people who complains about optional things I don't require costing money, on-disc DLC etc etc, but there's just something about this specific case that really gets on my nerves.

Everything can be purchased with in game currency, those are the magic words that make me feel better about it. It could be really poorly handled, like you have to spend five hours to purchase the equivalent of a dollars worth but until people play it we wont know. Im still in for this game.