Post by malgus on Mar 13, 2017 1:53:35 GMT
(Before I start, English is not my first langage so I might make mistakes here and here. Also, I know this forum is not the official BSN and Bioware probably won’t read what I am going to post here. But I wanted to do it anyway)
Hello Bioware, here is a message from an avid fan who is eagerly awaiting mass effect Andromeda, and who want to advise you on the content you are going to sell after the release.
So I have been thinking about what will be the new dlc policy of mass effect andromeda. There is going to have downloadable content for both the single player and the multiplayer, all of bioware games had dlc since 2007 so its 99% sure this one is going to have it. There is no problem with that, dlc can be done right or badly but let’s look at the best way you could do and sell them.
Multiplayer
So here is the thing Bioware, you announced that every maps, guns and new content for multiplayer made after the release is going to be free dlc. Which is a good thing don’t get me wrong, but since EA won’t be making money by selling multiplayer dlc, you are going to have to make it elsewhere. So I am guessing there is probably going to have micro transactions in the multiplayer.
I am fine with that, as long as the multiplayer free dlc you give over the course of the year is significantly big in content, like REALLY big just like ME3 multiplayer dlc that greatly expanded the multi-mode. If a game makes the progression in multiplayer harsher to level up or to unlock things to make the micro transactions more attractive, you need and I mean you NEED to give something back to the customer in return. And that “something” is lots of meaningful content that do not split the player base because it’s given to everyone.
You can’t have both like activision does it with call of duty that sells a 50 dollars season pass and includes micro transactions. Either you make the new content available to everybody in the future and then you can make the progression a bit more difficult (it’s still needs to be humanly possible for someone to progress in the multiplayer without paying) for the micro transactions. OR you do it the old way, you sell the multiplayer dlc but in exchange, the progression is much easier for players and there are no micro transactions whatsoever.
Singleplayer
So for the single player content you will sell eventually, we don’t know what it is going to be about. But here is one big advice I can give you bioware or maybe EA in this case, do not and I repeat DO NOT sell armor, guns or costume for one dollar apiece.
I know it looks good on paper, a small dlc considering his price is more attractive to customer that can buy it for cheap, but it also put suspicion on the game itself and it also does not help your reputation to sell small content for a buck. People have been getting sick of it and you don’t look good when that happens.
When someone wants to buy the game on the psstore, xboxlive or origin, and he sees the huge lists of dlc for all of the little things you sell for one or two dollars besides the basic game, it will scare some of them. It will make them feel the game is not complete, even if they should not feel that for just costumes, weapons or armors, it’s going to happen because that is the human nature.
I can remember the wall (and I mean the fucking HUGE amounts) of small dlc when I bought borderlands 2 on steam. There was NO WAY I would have bought this game if it was not the goty edition (which did not even include all the dlc) considering everything that I saw.
And that is what people may try to do if you try to sell tons of little dlc for many things, lots of them shall wait for a GOTY even if you did not intend to release one, even if you say there will be no one, they will want to wait. Even if the only two goty edition from Bioware that were releases were DAO in 2010 and then there was none for 5 years before the release of the dragon age inquisition GOTY. It’s a reflex that many will have if they see a wall of dlc, and if they don’t see the goty available, they may just skipped it, thinking the goty will come one day and forget about it if it’s too long to come. And if that happens, you would have lost a sale.
So what is the solution? How do you sell the dlc but at the same time you don’t want to scare your potential customer? There are two possibilities that will make you stay on the right side in the opinion of the general public and also be profitable. Like I said, you don’t sell armor, guns, or costume separately, but what do you do with them if some of them are made after the release?
1) You can give them for free, people LOVE single player free dlc, and they praise it when they get it, they love when company give them something for nothing. By doing that you will invest in your reputation, general opinion about the company will rises a bit.
The bigger the content, the better it is for the reputation of the corporation. People will be more interested in buying the basic games considering your good attitudes and people will speak of MEA in a good light. So it won’t give you immediate money on that content, but you will get it back in sale of the basic game to more people. And when people get something for free, the paying dlc that you will sell after that shall become more interesting to them when they are happy that they just got a free one.
2) If you don’t want to do that. Here is the thing you should have done with DAI and the jaws of hakon dlc. It should have included the spoils of the avvar in it, the small dlc that contained barbarians’ costumes (and sold for five bucks); all of these costumes should have been there in the jaws of hakon without paying an additional 5 dollars. Considering it was about the barbarians, it would have fitted perfectly to get them with this story dlc.
And here is the thing, if you want to put the dlc costumes, weapons and armor in the bigger singleplayer dlc, YOU DON’T RAISE THE PRICE. Doing that will make the content sold bigger for the same amount of money, the dlc will seem more valuable because customer will get more for the cash they gives you. More people will be willing to buy the dlc itself considering the higher value for less cash.
You will make less money with some harcore fans that would buy everything, but you will sell it to more people. And it also makes you look good because a well done dlc is always well received by the community.
So if I take the jaws of hakon example, it should have included the spoils of the avvar content but stay at the price of 15 dollars. If you have something equivalent for MEA, you know what to do now.
So it’s up to you, do you want to invest in your reputation by giving this little content for free OR do you want to make the single player dlc more attractive?
Live or die, make your choice, let the game begin… Oh shit wrong story. Never mind
Now this way of doing dlc is probably the most effective at keeping you in the favors of gamers while still being profitable. But there is another one, a way that will be even better in gaining reputation.
The better solution
You see even if you give tons of free dlc for the multiplayer, they are many gamers who will still see the micro transactions as a bad thing, their presence in premium game is never seen well and you can compensate by giving free dlc, but even then it still has a bad reputation.
But what are you supposed to do? You need to receive money somewhere if you continue to produce content for the multiplayer, making it is not free, if you don’t have micro transactions in the multiplayer, you will have to sell the multiplayer dlc. The thing is you could do that and do it in the best way possible.
You could do the same thing I suggested you with the smaller single player dlc that includes armor, weapons and costume, you include the multiplayer dlc with the single player content and sell it in the same package.
And unless the multiplayers dlc has TONS of content, you don’t raise the price that much. And that kind of dlc that includes both single player and multiplayer, unless they are really huge should not be more 20 dollars or 25 dollars maximum because remember, the higher the price the harsher the criticism will be of the dlc itself. If you charge for more, you better have more.
But don’t forget if you do that, if you put the content of the multiplayer in the huge package that combines the single player content (story, armor, costume and weapon), you REMOVE the micro transactions from the multiplayer and make it easier for players to progress.
Because the free multiplayer content is your incentive for the micro transactions, it’s what pushes player to be tolerant of it because they get something in return; they get the content they would normally have to pay for with real money.
But what do you win from doing that? Well considering the huge amount of content the dlc will have, it will push more people into buying it. So just like the single player dlc, you will make less money from the hardcore fans, but you will have more people giving you money. But not only that, it will give you recognition; people will even start talking of your corporation in a better way. They will be surprised by what they get from buying a dlc from you, some of them will be happy to give you money and even will have a bit of word of mouth in your favor.
Because micro transactions have a horrible reputation among the gaming community, so if there is any in your game even if it finances the free dlc, you still get bd PR from having micro transactions in your premium game. The best way to avoid that and to win good publicity is to make no micro transactions in any of your future bioware game. That is the part where you gain a lot of reputation points from having no free to play mechanic in any game that are made by bioware after MEA.
This would be an investment in the future; it’s investing in your reputation. It might be a bit less profitable at release, but an investment in the image can be profitable in the long term. People remember the good things and if you want to have the best reputation where people will happily give you money. That is the best way to get the best PR possible.
Of course if it is too much, that the proposal to merge multiplayer and single player dlc would not work I would understand. It might be too expansive to do for the price; maybe the multiplayer content cost too much to make to only ask for 5 more dollars in the dlc package.
If that is the case, well the offer I made at the beginning is still valuable for the single player dlc, do not charge for skins, weapons or armor just for a dollar apiece, it makes you look bad even if you think it should not, gamers are far less trusting than they were before and selling that kind of little content piece by piece make them worried or angry. Put them in a single dlc package without raising the price, you will get good publicity while being still profitable.
Hello Bioware, here is a message from an avid fan who is eagerly awaiting mass effect Andromeda, and who want to advise you on the content you are going to sell after the release.
So I have been thinking about what will be the new dlc policy of mass effect andromeda. There is going to have downloadable content for both the single player and the multiplayer, all of bioware games had dlc since 2007 so its 99% sure this one is going to have it. There is no problem with that, dlc can be done right or badly but let’s look at the best way you could do and sell them.
Multiplayer
So here is the thing Bioware, you announced that every maps, guns and new content for multiplayer made after the release is going to be free dlc. Which is a good thing don’t get me wrong, but since EA won’t be making money by selling multiplayer dlc, you are going to have to make it elsewhere. So I am guessing there is probably going to have micro transactions in the multiplayer.
I am fine with that, as long as the multiplayer free dlc you give over the course of the year is significantly big in content, like REALLY big just like ME3 multiplayer dlc that greatly expanded the multi-mode. If a game makes the progression in multiplayer harsher to level up or to unlock things to make the micro transactions more attractive, you need and I mean you NEED to give something back to the customer in return. And that “something” is lots of meaningful content that do not split the player base because it’s given to everyone.
You can’t have both like activision does it with call of duty that sells a 50 dollars season pass and includes micro transactions. Either you make the new content available to everybody in the future and then you can make the progression a bit more difficult (it’s still needs to be humanly possible for someone to progress in the multiplayer without paying) for the micro transactions. OR you do it the old way, you sell the multiplayer dlc but in exchange, the progression is much easier for players and there are no micro transactions whatsoever.
Singleplayer
So for the single player content you will sell eventually, we don’t know what it is going to be about. But here is one big advice I can give you bioware or maybe EA in this case, do not and I repeat DO NOT sell armor, guns or costume for one dollar apiece.
I know it looks good on paper, a small dlc considering his price is more attractive to customer that can buy it for cheap, but it also put suspicion on the game itself and it also does not help your reputation to sell small content for a buck. People have been getting sick of it and you don’t look good when that happens.
When someone wants to buy the game on the psstore, xboxlive or origin, and he sees the huge lists of dlc for all of the little things you sell for one or two dollars besides the basic game, it will scare some of them. It will make them feel the game is not complete, even if they should not feel that for just costumes, weapons or armors, it’s going to happen because that is the human nature.
I can remember the wall (and I mean the fucking HUGE amounts) of small dlc when I bought borderlands 2 on steam. There was NO WAY I would have bought this game if it was not the goty edition (which did not even include all the dlc) considering everything that I saw.
And that is what people may try to do if you try to sell tons of little dlc for many things, lots of them shall wait for a GOTY even if you did not intend to release one, even if you say there will be no one, they will want to wait. Even if the only two goty edition from Bioware that were releases were DAO in 2010 and then there was none for 5 years before the release of the dragon age inquisition GOTY. It’s a reflex that many will have if they see a wall of dlc, and if they don’t see the goty available, they may just skipped it, thinking the goty will come one day and forget about it if it’s too long to come. And if that happens, you would have lost a sale.
So what is the solution? How do you sell the dlc but at the same time you don’t want to scare your potential customer? There are two possibilities that will make you stay on the right side in the opinion of the general public and also be profitable. Like I said, you don’t sell armor, guns, or costume separately, but what do you do with them if some of them are made after the release?
1) You can give them for free, people LOVE single player free dlc, and they praise it when they get it, they love when company give them something for nothing. By doing that you will invest in your reputation, general opinion about the company will rises a bit.
The bigger the content, the better it is for the reputation of the corporation. People will be more interested in buying the basic games considering your good attitudes and people will speak of MEA in a good light. So it won’t give you immediate money on that content, but you will get it back in sale of the basic game to more people. And when people get something for free, the paying dlc that you will sell after that shall become more interesting to them when they are happy that they just got a free one.
2) If you don’t want to do that. Here is the thing you should have done with DAI and the jaws of hakon dlc. It should have included the spoils of the avvar in it, the small dlc that contained barbarians’ costumes (and sold for five bucks); all of these costumes should have been there in the jaws of hakon without paying an additional 5 dollars. Considering it was about the barbarians, it would have fitted perfectly to get them with this story dlc.
And here is the thing, if you want to put the dlc costumes, weapons and armor in the bigger singleplayer dlc, YOU DON’T RAISE THE PRICE. Doing that will make the content sold bigger for the same amount of money, the dlc will seem more valuable because customer will get more for the cash they gives you. More people will be willing to buy the dlc itself considering the higher value for less cash.
You will make less money with some harcore fans that would buy everything, but you will sell it to more people. And it also makes you look good because a well done dlc is always well received by the community.
So if I take the jaws of hakon example, it should have included the spoils of the avvar content but stay at the price of 15 dollars. If you have something equivalent for MEA, you know what to do now.
So it’s up to you, do you want to invest in your reputation by giving this little content for free OR do you want to make the single player dlc more attractive?
Live or die, make your choice, let the game begin… Oh shit wrong story. Never mind
Now this way of doing dlc is probably the most effective at keeping you in the favors of gamers while still being profitable. But there is another one, a way that will be even better in gaining reputation.
The better solution
You see even if you give tons of free dlc for the multiplayer, they are many gamers who will still see the micro transactions as a bad thing, their presence in premium game is never seen well and you can compensate by giving free dlc, but even then it still has a bad reputation.
But what are you supposed to do? You need to receive money somewhere if you continue to produce content for the multiplayer, making it is not free, if you don’t have micro transactions in the multiplayer, you will have to sell the multiplayer dlc. The thing is you could do that and do it in the best way possible.
You could do the same thing I suggested you with the smaller single player dlc that includes armor, weapons and costume, you include the multiplayer dlc with the single player content and sell it in the same package.
And unless the multiplayers dlc has TONS of content, you don’t raise the price that much. And that kind of dlc that includes both single player and multiplayer, unless they are really huge should not be more 20 dollars or 25 dollars maximum because remember, the higher the price the harsher the criticism will be of the dlc itself. If you charge for more, you better have more.
But don’t forget if you do that, if you put the content of the multiplayer in the huge package that combines the single player content (story, armor, costume and weapon), you REMOVE the micro transactions from the multiplayer and make it easier for players to progress.
Because the free multiplayer content is your incentive for the micro transactions, it’s what pushes player to be tolerant of it because they get something in return; they get the content they would normally have to pay for with real money.
But what do you win from doing that? Well considering the huge amount of content the dlc will have, it will push more people into buying it. So just like the single player dlc, you will make less money from the hardcore fans, but you will have more people giving you money. But not only that, it will give you recognition; people will even start talking of your corporation in a better way. They will be surprised by what they get from buying a dlc from you, some of them will be happy to give you money and even will have a bit of word of mouth in your favor.
Because micro transactions have a horrible reputation among the gaming community, so if there is any in your game even if it finances the free dlc, you still get bd PR from having micro transactions in your premium game. The best way to avoid that and to win good publicity is to make no micro transactions in any of your future bioware game. That is the part where you gain a lot of reputation points from having no free to play mechanic in any game that are made by bioware after MEA.
This would be an investment in the future; it’s investing in your reputation. It might be a bit less profitable at release, but an investment in the image can be profitable in the long term. People remember the good things and if you want to have the best reputation where people will happily give you money. That is the best way to get the best PR possible.
Of course if it is too much, that the proposal to merge multiplayer and single player dlc would not work I would understand. It might be too expansive to do for the price; maybe the multiplayer content cost too much to make to only ask for 5 more dollars in the dlc package.
If that is the case, well the offer I made at the beginning is still valuable for the single player dlc, do not charge for skins, weapons or armor just for a dollar apiece, it makes you look bad even if you think it should not, gamers are far less trusting than they were before and selling that kind of little content piece by piece make them worried or angry. Put them in a single dlc package without raising the price, you will get good publicity while being still profitable.
