Wow, an Internet boycott actually worked! Thanks to the folks at Sarcastic Gamer and the voice of the Internets, EA will not be charging for weapons in Battlefield: Bad Company. Yes, a giant corporation actually listened to the public outcry and have opted for a different method in giving people these five extra guns. Now, instead of paying, people that want the extra guns will have to complete various marketing gimmicks campaigns:
- Demo Unlock - Play either the Xbox 360 or PS3 demo and receive a weapon unlock.
- Veteran Unlock - Register with the Battlefield Veterans program and receive a weapon unlock.
- Website Unlock - A weapon is unlocked when you first check your stats on the Battlefield: Bad Company website.
- Pre-order Unlock - A new sniper rifle is unlocked when you pre-order the game.
- Newsletter Unlock - Sign up for the Battlefield newsletter and you'll get a new weapon.
All that sounds fine except the whole Pre-order bit. I rarely ever pre-order a game. Especially with a title like this, which I wouldn't expect to sell out.
IGN also got some clarification to the difference between the Gold Edition weapons. They talked to Karl-Magnus Troedsson, Senior Producer on Battlefield and he explained that people who get the regular version of the game will still be able to unlock the five extra Gold Edition weapons after reaching the level cap of level 25.
And yes, this is totally Slowbro-ed here but we're still getting tips about boycotting the game so hopefully that stops now. Plus, I can take this time to ask you all if you have any questions in regards to Battlefield: Bad Company. I'm going to be playing the game when I visit EA this Friday and I'll have the opportunity to interview a producer from the game. So if you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I'll be sure to ask it.
[Image made by The Fronz]
04/13/2008 15:19
04/13/2008 15:22
04/13/2008 15:23
"It's cool Bob, the people who buy the game won't mind!"
I mean seriously.
When I worked at EA about a year ago, there was constant talk of 'micro transactions' and how it 'was the future.'
I think they misunderstood the purpose of them, though. If you want to charge 5 bucks for some additional camo, a different looking armourset, that's fine. But when you add gameplay changing things like weapons, just.. wow.
04/13/2008 15:23
04/13/2008 15:25
yessir cept the sniper class isnt built in. screw that, its time for some TF2 goodness on 360.
04/13/2008 15:26
There should be a pre-order bonus where you're allowed to kick, whoever thought of that crappy idea of the "pay for weapons" idea, in the nuts/ovaries.
04/13/2008 15:28
YAH! Boycott!
04/13/2008 15:29
04/13/2008 15:45
04/13/2008 15:49
04/13/2008 15:49
04/13/2008 15:51
04/13/2008 15:59
04/13/2008 16:00
04/13/2008 16:10
04/13/2008 16:13
Hey guys, am I too late to sock it to the Kaizer?
04/13/2008 16:17
04/13/2008 16:20
EA must have had a quota for how much money they expected to make from the charged downloadable weapons and now that they won't be making it this way I doubt they will simply write off all that cash, I mean this is EA we're talking about. Although I don't really care much for this game, I'm a bit worried about how EA may try to recoup this money in some other way.
But hell if this boycott worked then I wonder if a complete boycott of EU Rock Band will lead to a drop in price for that...
04/13/2008 16:28
04/13/2008 16:31
04/13/2008 16:31
04/13/2008 16:35
It's super-effective!
04/13/2008 16:45
I'm not enjoying this console generations tendency to arrange content for games prior to release and then charge us for it anyway. Whats next, EA releases an unplayable game, and then charges for the patch??
04/13/2008 17:32
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04/14/2008 09:47
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