EA declares day one DLC a huge success, finds it hard to overstate their satisfaction - Games

[quote=Shacknews]In a conference call Q&A after their earnings report, Electronic Arts executives waxed about recent successes and strategies with downloadable content. EA CEO John Riccitiello shared the motivation behind their inclusion of paid DLC in all their titles this year. "We sort of initiated our approach here originally with NBA Live with Dynamic DNA almost a year-and-a-half ago. In every case, what we've seen is a very positive response from the consumer and in each case, particularly with Dragon Age, a strong pickup in revenue per user. By and large, they like the extra content and we think it's a strong positive move...we've got similar strong PDLC programs with all of our titles this year." COO John Schappert embellished on the success of Dragon Age DLC. "We had downloadable content in addition to the pack-in content, if you will, available for purchase on day one. The first week, we did over a million dollars in sales on that title - that's just with DLC, obviously." With numbers like that it's understandable why both Schappert and Riccitiello strongly back paid downloadable content programs in 2010. "We think that the attach rate or usage [of DLC] is about at 70%, above all units sold," Schappert continued, "so it's obviously much higher for those online registered users." Paid DLC wasn't the only type being discussed. EA has also recognized the value of rewarding those who purchase new copies of their games with free downloadable incentives. Mass Effect 2's online-enabled Cerberus Network is the most recent and notable example, allowing a gamer with a brand new copy access to downloadable extras. Those who rent or buy the game used have to pay extra for access to the DLC in a clever attempt to encourage more gamers to buy titles new. EA believes that its DLC plans are a good fit for its current strategy of fewer, higher-quality titles. "Consumers are buying top titles and playing them longer," explained Schappert. "[DLC is] a great incentive when they first buy the title, but it also teaches them and shows them that there's additional content online and gets them used to that whole ecosystem in the marketplace."[/quote] [url]http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62281[/url] [img]http://imgkk.com/i/wSU.png[/img]

Bioware and DICE are the only good EA studios. So of course their products are going to sell well. Maxis was good untill they made SPORE, Pandemic was OK untill they went bust and they also Published Dungeon Keeper, which was one of the greatest games ever.

Interesting.. ..Not enough though, also, 1x agree to above.

The reason DICE and Bioware are good is because they operate independently, EA isn't always watching over their shoulder pushing release dates like they used to. Honestly, EA has gotten a lot better over the years. I think Activision will be the new EA.

Day One DLC is lame. But that New Game DLC is pretty cool cause I don't like Gamestop.

[QUOTE=radioactive;20119771]Bioware and DICE are the only good EA studios. So of course their products are going to sell well. Maxis was good untill they made SPORE, Pandemic was OK untill they went bust and they also Published Dungeon Keeper, which was one of the greatest games ever.[/QUOTE] I don't think the steep decline in the quality of Maxis' games is entirely EA's fault. I think Maxis let the success of The Sims go to their heads and decided to make everything else play more like The Sims, resulting in underwhelming and flat out embarrassing games like Spore and Sim City Societies. Even in Sim City 4, the features that involved interacting with Sims were kind of pointless but obviously a sort of predecessor to the interaction you had in Societies. Not to mention Sim City 4's adoption of The Sims-styled people kind of ruined the artistic style that developed in Sim City 3000. I don't know about you, but I prefer the silly 2D caricatures 3K had over the plain, low-poly 3D Sims models SC4 had.

[QUOTE=radioactive;20119771]Bioware and DICE are the only good EA studios. So of course their products are going to sell well. Maxis was good untill they made SPORE, Pandemic was OK untill they went bust and they also Published Dungeon Keeper, which was one of the greatest games ever.[/QUOTE] What about the Dead Space guys?

I want to point out, the guy in that picture drives the buses around my city now! I also don't mind day 1 DLC as long as it's free.

[QUOTE=Zezibesh;20120956]What about the Dead Space guys?[/QUOTE] And Skate, I guess. And Mirrors Edge.

Day one DLC really irks me but not nearly so much as DLC that's already on the disk and you just unlock it.

I'm find with day one DLC, as long as it uses the model BioWare has been doing for the past two games. You get it for free if you buy new, which is a good incentive.

[QUOTE=Banned?;20121702]I'm find with day one DLC, as long as it uses the model BioWare has been doing for the past two games. You get it for free if you buy new, which is a good incentive.[/QUOTE] Or you can buy the game used for $30 and get the $10 DLC and still come out on top. I agree the model Bioware used for day one DLC was better than most, but it still bugs me that they had day one DLC in the first place.

[QUOTE=Banned?;20121702]I'm find with day one DLC, as long as it uses the model BioWare has been doing for the past two games. You get it for free if you buy new, which is a good incentive.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I agree.

this is how they can overstate their satisfaction [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg6gb1cf2Lw[/media] [URL="http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xg6gb1cf2Lw"][/URL]

Not that I'm completely opposed to the idea of paid expansions and whatnot, but did they ever think that maybe more people would buy the [i]full[/i] game if they included all of that "extra" content in the first place?

[QUOTE=radioactive;20119771]Bioware and DICE are the only good EA studios. So of course their products are going to sell well. Maxis was good untill they made SPORE, Pandemic was OK untill they went bust and they also Published Dungeon Keeper, which was one of the greatest games ever.[/QUOTE] Maxis was good till EA took the handle and said "Okay you do this and that and no options k?"

[QUOTE=smurfy;20119708] [img]http://imgkk.com/i/wSU.png[/img][/QUOTE] Oh smurfy...

Future: DLCs before games' release! Far future: Buy DLC on disks, then download games for them on the PSN/XBL/Steam!

[QUOTE=benzi2k7;20121466]And Mirrors Edge.[/QUOTE] DICE was already mentioned.

[QUOTE=Aredbomb;20120621]I don't think the steep decline in the quality of Maxis' games is entirely EA's fault. I think Maxis let the success of The Sims go to their heads and decided to make everything else play more like The Sims, resulting in underwhelming and flat out embarrassing games like Spore and Sim City Societies. Even in Sim City 4, the features that involved interacting with Sims were kind of pointless but obviously a sort of predecessor to the interaction you had in Societies. Not to mention Sim City 4's adoption of The Sims-styled people kind of ruined the artistic style that developed in Sim City 3000. I don't know about you, but I prefer the silly 2D caricatures 3K had over the plain, low-poly 3D Sims models SC4 had.[/QUOTE] Maxis didn't make simcity societies, it was made by an external (from EA) developer called Tilted Mill (which is why it was completely awful, at least Simcity 4 was an entertaining game, and with mods and plugins it can be really great). From what I have read, the Maxis that developed Simcity 3000 and the first Sims is very much different from the one that exists today (different team etc). It should be noted that The Sims 3 was developed by EA's dedicated 'Sims division', and not Maxis.

[QUOTE=Zezibesh;20120956]What about the Dead Space guys?[/QUOTE] Dead Space wasn't that great to be honest.

Day-one DLC is kind of lame, in my opinion. I only take offense to it on the grounds that it can encourage developers to scale back or cut content planned for the game completely just to charge piecemeal for it later on. Yes, it does allow them to make their deadlines and allows them more time to polish things that need it, but sometimes it just makes you feel like you paid more for less. DLC-on-disc is just heinous though. I already paid for the content on the disc, why should I have to pay again to unlock things already on the disc?

[QUOTE=benzi2k7;20121466]And Skate, I guess. And Mirrors Edge.[/QUOTE] Mirror's Edge IS Dice, and Skate is EA Black Box. I'd agree, the Skate games have been fun, but honestly, I'm not too hyped over Skate 3. Seems like they should try something else for now and maybe put the Skate series on a temporary hiatus.

Cerberus Network: Good idea. Day one DLC: Bad idea. [editline]07:49PM[/editline] Should probably reiterate that I'm not adverse to DLC in general. I actually think getting some bonus missions/maps/weapons/whatever a few months after a release of a game I like is a great way to extend the game's life, paid or unpaid. But day-one DLC is just a way to squeeze money out of customers, often for what should have been in the game in the first place. (I'm looking at you, 7-dollar storage chest! :argh:)

DLC is a good idea but it's bullshit to me when you intentionally leave out something obviously useful (Such as storage in Borderlands) or Extra Missions that are released as DLC on the day of a game's release (Why not just put it into the game then?!) For the sole purpose of trying to grab more money out of people Storage...Borderlands...16Million weapons. Fuckin' DUH! Somewhere they decided to leave it out and put it in as DLC because it's definitely something people would buy, and that's bogus If they really wanted to make their games a huge success they'd release some actual mod tools for their titles... Look at Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout, Half Life, Unreal Tournament, Battlefield 1942, and 2... All alive and well because of the Modding community... Playermade content is abundant, and some of it is extremely high quality without the pressure of a date to release it Hell I went out and bought UT just so I could play the Red Orchestra mod

For those of you who don't get it, most day one DLC is because they already started producing the disks. And because of that, they have to release it as DLC.

[QUOTE=TheTalon;20130778]DLC is a good idea but it's bullshit to me when you intentionally leave out something obviously useful (Such as storage in Borderlands) or Extra Missions that are released as DLC on the day of a game's release (Why not just put it into the game then?!) For the sole purpose of trying to grab more money out of people Storage...Borderlands...16Million weapons. Fuckin' DUH! Somewhere they decided to leave it out and put it in as DLC because it's definitely something people would buy, and that's bogus If they really wanted to make their games a huge success they'd release some actual mod tools for their titles... Look at Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout, Half Life, Unreal Tournament, Battlefield 1942, and 2... All alive and well because of the Modding community... Playermade content is abundant, and some of it is extremely high quality without the pressure of a date to release it Hell I went out and bought UT just so I could play the Red Orchestra mod[/QUOTE] Dragon Age has a toolset that let's you make your own content.

It's not as open as a real toolset though, I mean one that lets you do full on total conversions, import with relative ease custom models, instead of make it like pulling teeth with your elbows

Finally Facepunch is a bit less anti-EA. And I think now that Dan Amrich is at Activision that might help (but I think neversoft and whoever made th:ride are beyond saving)

Nobody noticed the Portal joke yet? :wcc: