I originally posted this over the weekend, where it was pushed off the main page by meme posts. I've also added to the original to address the recent comments by Capcom and news of Godfather II's multiplayer.
Capcom, you’re pissing me off. I don’t like the crap you’re pulling with Resident Evil 5. No, I’m not talking about the
controls this time.
I’m talking about this
versus mode bullshit you’re trying to pull.
For years games have had multiplayer and single player together as one product. Because that
makes sense. Even crappy tacked on multiplayer in budget games gets included in the retail release.
But I guess you guys thought you were too cool for that. You actually have the balls to charge for a basic multiplayer game mode.
And it is
basic multiplayer. This stuff is not going to blow anyone away. I mean it only supports 4 players total. What is this Goldeneye? And the way it was described in the PR release is even more insultingly stupid:
“In Survivor's Rule, players hunt the most dangerous game, each other!"
Players hunt…. each other???!?! Wow, thanks for the deathmatch, Capcom. You are certainly bringing us some revolutionary shit. If this was 1995, I might be impressed.
OMFG playing against real people!!!
Look, plenty of developers make the choice to not include multiplayer, or even to not have any form of single player. That’s fine, whatever suits the game.
But your decision to charge for multiplayer so soon after the game is released is a slap in the faces of your fans. Even more so because of your lame excuses.
First of all, the fact that you even had to come out and defend your choice should show you how retarded this is. When most companies announce a multiplayer mode in a game, they don’t have to defend it, because they don’t have the audacity to charge separately for it.
Anyway, your reasoning is that:
“the functionality is not currently in the game and is above and beyond the initial scope of Resident Evil 5.”
The game has been in the works for over
4 years and you're trying to convince us that this DLC that comes out a few weeks after release was beyond the initial scope? Hmmm. And who cares if something was in the initial scope of a game? Things are added or taken away all the time throughout the course of game development.
I guess the “initial scope” of the game included more vital things that had to be worked on in lieu of multiplayer. Yes very important things. Like a whore costume for one of your main characters.
“This is essential to the RE5 experience” – Capcom
Then you went on to say:
“We have never included a versus mode in Resident Evil before, and as well as the costs of development of the feature, there's also additional bandwidth costs associated with it."
Bullshit. RE5 will sell millions of copies, so I have no doubt you can cover your development costs with the $60 game. I’ll even go out on a limb here and guess that you will (gasp!) make a profit.
And it doesn’t matter that Resident Evil never had competitive multiplayer. Sequels always introduce new game modes. The original Godfather was only a single player game, and now Godfather II will have
five multiplayer modes. In fact the most recently announced multiplayer mode is going to be a free download the day the game is released. Sorry, Capcom, your excuses are all officially worthless.
Now the real kicker is what your own Christian Svensson said:
"This is the part where I get to say "BS","
BS? Really? A valid opinion held by many of your target audience is BS? That is beyond retarded and simply insulting. Obviously this guy is gonna toe the company line, but to come out with such a remark is simply inexcusable. Protip Capcom: If you want someone to give you their money, don't call them bullshitters.
Pictured: Christian Svensson
Christian the douche then said:
"RE5 is well worth every penny of $60. A huge game, with tons of replay value, loads of unlockables, new weapons, co-op, mercenaries mode, etc. If any game warrants its price point, it's RE5."
If any game huh? Actually I'd say if any game warrants its price point, it's the Orange Box. Technically, however, that was 3 games and 2 episodic games. But that wasn't even $60 when it came out. I'm sorry but this line doesn't hold water. Plenty of games offer more content for a standard price.
You are sending us down a slippery slope, Capcom. This isn’t about the price of your versus mode, this is about the precedent you are setting.
If this plan succeeds, what will the incentive be for companies to include interesting and new modes of gameplay in their releases? Would a company like Epic be inclined to include co-op, competitive multiplayer, and horde mode again in Gears of War 3? They would have no reason to, if they can charge extra for access to each of those game modes.
It’s only a matter of time before other companies start holding game modes back for future DLC. It may be limited to multiplayer modes, but who knows. I could see it getting to the point where consumers only buy a portion of the single player levels on a disc, and then have to shell out for DLC to finish the story.
And your plan will unfortunately succeed, because lots of people love Resident Evil. People can say we vote with our dollars, and that’s true, but I have a hard time blaming the people who buy this. As much as I’d like to tell people not to download this versus mode, why shouldn’t Resident Evil fans get to check out something they might be interested in? It would be admirable for them not to buy it, but RE5 fans shouldn’t have to miss out on fun just to send a message. No, the blame lies squarely on
you, Capcom. You’ve put these fans in this position.
So Capcom, this one’s for you:
Jesus says: “Greed is one of the seven deadly sins, bitches.”
PS: I would consider boycotting your products, but unfortunately I’m way too excited for Dark Void and Lost Planet 2. You assholes.
Question though, what would you have said if you were Christian? His job is to represent Capcom as best he can, though he doesn't actually make any decisions for the company,
He could have just said "Yeah, the RE5 DLC sucks, right? What a rip off! Capcom of Japan sucks ASSSSSS!" and signed up for unemployment, but that wouldn't have changed the fact that Capcom Japan would still be pulling dick moves like this
As for the whole DLC topic, Capcom has always been this way. Remember when they charged $20 for "Resident Evil: Director's Cut" that featured one new cinema, a few new costumes and camera angles, and a demo of RE2? Or how about all the SF2 "sequels" that added minimal new content but still cost full price?
If Capcom hadn't released this DLC like this, they would have just slapped it onto future retail discs of RE5 and called it "RE5: Director's Cut" and charged a full $60 for that.
Either way, they are going to hold back on giving us the full product until they absolutely have to.
It's the Capcom way.
Yeah, I'm well aware that he's going to put his company in a positive light. But it's over the line for him to get so indignant and say that a valid point of view is "BS." I don't like that kind of arrogance.
And yes unfortunately I'm aware that Capcom likes to extract as much money as possible from people. It's just that charging for a game mode separately soon after release is a new phenomenon, and I'm afraid of what this will lead to. Especially in light of the growing trend of companies nickle and diming people with DLC.
If I were Christian, I would have said something like "I hope that in the end, people think the products we offer are worth the money. We give out as much free stuff as we can, like the RE5 demo, which didn't just come into existence on it's own." or something like that.
Sorry for the cap locks but I wanted to join in on the rage. Plus these bastards have too much control over my wallet :(
Call me naive/gullable/part of the problem, but I'm willing to believe there was some tightening up required for the Versus mode that necessitated keeping it out of the release window. Wasn't ready, so they didn't add it to the release packaging or (in full perhaps) on the disc. Now, having had an extra month to tighten down the bolts, this mode's ready, at the price of overtime (and at their risk: if fewer people buy it than they project, they just worked out the kinks on a moneysink...)
But certainly, it would have been great not to have to spend extra for a mode you're interested in.
This is one part of the game that I think moving and shooting would be better, though, so we'll see. Don't know if I want to pay for it.
I SMELL ANOTHER STEAMING PILE OF D-L-C!
4/10
Less self righteous bullshit, more interesting next time.
I mean..a new Final Fight? hello? new Ghost n Goblins? hmm...see where we're going capcom?
though i'm gonna laugh at most of the people who buy this and expect some Gears/Halo/call of duty type crap.
RE5 Dev Team - "Uhhh, I don't think will have that ready by March."
Capcom - "Why?"
RE5 Dev Team - "You can't move and fire at the same time, numb-nuts. It'd be a stand and shoot affair, which turn into a complete snipe fest. That would suck."
Capcom - ".....you get to work on that multiplayer."
This is how the RE5 Dev Team (which is Capcom, I know) releases it's anger. They charge us for a multiplayer mode (that I'm still not so sure will work).
If it's DLC, why is it in the game guide, which is usually created prior to the game's release?
I'm part of the "if you don't like it, don't buy it" DLC camp, but this is one of those instances where it just sounds like Capcom is taking a page from Namco and trying to squeeze money out of gamers.
Not that its right. :) He should be very pro about his explainations But one could understand the frustration from the voracity of the feedback.
Um, thanks?
@Zombiekiller:
That's hilarious, I had no idea.
@Tubatic:
Exactly. I took only one basic PR class, and even I know that you shouldn't be insulting or condescending to your customers.
I didn't buy RE5, and I don't plan on buying it. I made my mind up about the game itself long before this versus news came out.
You're missing the point. People will buy this, and who can blame them? They shouldn't have to deprive themselves because Capcom is greedy. The blame is on Capcom, because the precedent that this action sets will have negative affects for all consumers.
I for one don't want companies to charge full price for a game and then charge extra for game modes that should be standard.
Like I say in the article, not every title needs multiplayer, but if you include it, it should not cost extra. When I drop $60 of my hard earned money on a game, it better be a complete product.
And I don't mind paying a couple bucks more, I mean come on, its not that much, and its pretty much a separate product.
Best regards, Mary, CEO of small business seo and iscsi mpio windows 2008