Echoing recent comments by Codemasters, the CEO of Namco Bandai has also candidly stated that selling full games is old hat and that games should really be nothing but vehicles for DLC.
Namco Bandai Holdings CEO Shukuo Ishikawa spoke about the role of DLC strategy:
Selling a game only once for $70-$80 [typical Japanese prices] is no good at all. If you sell it for $25, or even give it away free, then you can sell episodes and items online. They’ll soon be dropping $10 or $20 on these, and you can also do monthly charges.”
Of course, Namco Bandai already has a reputation as being a master of this venerable strategy, not that this seems to have helped their recent financial performance.
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If the game sucked on the first installments, then good luck trying to sell the rest to your consumers.
That kind of goes without saying, but yeah.
For me, I will play online game instead of offline console game then.
Think about Idolmaster. Monthly charge $10. New costume $10-20 each piece. All for looking for some unrealistic idol. I will just stick with Miku then.
I just finished Wanko to Kurasou, and there isn't any monthly charge on that masterpiece!!
Did you actually buy it though? If not, you just proved his point.
That's classic coming from a pirate such as yourself art.
Dude, I'd be upvoting you if I didn't need to create an account for it.
Wait what? You have to pay MONTHLY 10 dollars to play a game you bought?
Although I love the idea of dlc and think that more developers should strategically use dlc in their games, I don't however believe that games should be played entirely for dlc. Making a crappy game and forcing people to pay to make it better will never work, and the first company to try this; I will start pirating every game they make!
I have bought many Namco Bandai games over the years, but if they implement this shit, I'm never buying any of the ones that come.
There is a difference between embracing a new technique like DLC, which is supposed to enhance an existing game or lenghten its lifespan, to turning it into a glorified demo.
Fuck you, Ishikawa.
Totally! I have supported Namco Bandai for years, and this is the thanks we get?!
bandai are the worst. back in the ps2 days they were awesome. now in this next-gen age, they spent crapload of their time screwing us over. how many sequels have we gotten for our favorite namco games ever since they were bought. only tekken and pacman -_-
All those "free" online games have been doing this forever, just offering premium items and other shit that severely unbalances the game to people willing to pay money for them.
no soul calibur, no xenosaga, no ace combat middle finger to that old man his company.
Well, I for my part supports this. I concider this as some kind of "demo", and if I like the game, I could support it by getting some extra experience.
Well, for PS2 games, I bought them. But for PSP case, I NEVER bought any of them.
LOL
And I don't have PS3 and Xbox.
Planning to get them but always got canceled due to some problem.
Next month I will be moving to a new place. The new place got TV that I can use to play console game.
I think I will try to get money to buy PS3 rather than Xbox. Anyway, no Idolmaster at PS3.
^^^
Forgot to login.
^_^
is that mitsurugi vs. darth vader on the poster behind him O.o?
But what about those of us with shitty internet connections? we're pretty much fucked if we want to play the full game.
How about lowering down the price of the game by about 10 dollars or so to encourage gamers to actually purchase the game with pre-order physical swag as opposed to digital content.
Then apply low priced digital content that doesn't break the wallet so to maximize customer purchase as opposed to Pissing People Off.
How DLC should work:
"Would you like some more pie, sir?"
How DLC currently works:
"Would you like to have the rest of the pie, sir?"
senile old people being senile
I see massive gamer rage in the future if this does pan out.
i think he's blaming piraters for the companie's failures. so he's willing to try anything to get back on top.
While that may, or may not, be true, one can't take the obvious merit away from what's being said. It's a solid sounding plan.
ohh geez, this is becoming a trend now
Doesn't surprise me considering Namco Bandai are one of the worst DLC exploiters in the market.
Maybe they think they can spend less by using that system. If the game doesn't sell don't bother creating the next installment.
The problem is that the first installment will be the most costly to make whether you buy the engine or make it yourself.
Then will just make one generic engine and reuse it for everything they release.
@DFC
Indeed...This won't end well if other CEOs of various video-game companies decide to go with this strategy to 'fight' piracy...
actually what I can see happening more often than not, is the initial installment being great and the following pieces less than stellar.
I dont see why this idea is picking up momentum in the first place - I mean since when has DLC never been pirated? These guys are naive.
More DLC bullshit? The pirated games will have them all in one easy download. *sighs*
Heh, pretty much...How naive can you get...
One person buys it legally and then pirates the DLC...
On the other hand, isn't that a good thing? If the game sucks when you first buy it, then you haven't wasted as much money as you would have if you bought a full-priced game which sucked. Maybe you missed the part where he was talking about releasing the initial game for less than a third of normal game prices or even giving it away for free.
I am sure they won't be giving away free games anytime soon. And any price cuts will only be temporary; people will forget they were once able to buy complete games and the companies will argue that development of new games is just too expensive so they need to charge more.
That only applies if you are dumb enough to go and buy a game knowing shit about it. If you make informed decisions, your risk of buying rat shit goes down to nearly zero, if not completely zero.
Pirating the DLC of a game only applies to PCs, not consoles, so if they are going to screw us over, they will only lose people as customers. Not all of us keep our consoles connected to the internet nor give a shit about DLC. If those consumers get screwed by those methods, then they will just buy from a different company. And some of us who keep our consoles connected, dislike like the idea to buy a $20 game only to buy the rest online for $40.
Easy, first installment costs as one normal complete game to begin with. All installments = as 2 games.
Profit? If there`s enough idiots. But do not worry, these games will be pirated in complete packs.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
What if the game has 7 episodes, and episode 5 is considered the climax of the story by the fans and very few people buy the next two episodes?
I know that can be said for ALOT of JRPGs.
This means we are going to see Namco Bandai complain again because of low sales?
Hopefully companies working for NB do not do this. I enjoy my full games at full price.
/facepalm There goes the Tales Series... <_<
At least I have old finished games that don't know the meaning of the word DLC.I will be playing those for a looooooooooooooooooooooooong time.
good thing is that the first installed game will be in smaller size, thought DLC still can be cracked thought.
man,i hate his way of laughing in the picture
Another CEO genius that should have retired long time ago ...
Or never started in the first place. Namco Bandai is in a bad state, and I doubt he is without blame.
Or they should sell vaporware.. oh wait...
How about lowering down the price of the game by about 10 dollars or so to encourage gamers to actually purchse the game with pre-order physical swag as opposed to digital content.
Then apply low priced digital content that doesn't break the wallet so to maximize customer purchase as opposed to Pissing People Off.
Don't forget allow use of SD cards or memory sticks for downloaded content so it's not lost if the console dies.
Yes this would entitle use of the DRM features of these mediums to keep piracy to an acceptable level.
There will always be some but the key is reaching a compromise.
monthly fucking charges?
the fuck are you on?
This I imagine:
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/159482-wow.jpg
F**K OFF with strategy like that >,<