Over the last week EA have been taking a lot of flack from me. But now somebody else gets to step into the limelight, Activision.
Earlier today Nick posted about the “Day One Advantage†scheme that Activision are going to include as a feature in COD 5, a stupid idea to say the least. The greed doesn’t end there though; Activision announced yesterday that by 2010 they intend to have three times as many Guitar Hero titles on the shelves as well. If you work it out, you realise that this means that they will have to release 3 games per year to meet that target.
Obviously you don’t have to buy every title that they release but it doesn’t stop there, Activision are now looking at introducing a subscription service for Guitar Hero DLC as well.
They want to introduce annual subscriptions which will allow members to download a certain amount of songs per month. I just can’t see what is wrong with the way it is now, which leaves gamers with more choice and the ability to only spend money when something they actually want becomes available.
This concept of doing everything possible to maximize profits and keep shareholders happy is going straight to Activision’s head and I don’t like where it’s heading at all. Gaming is not cheap as it is, and that’s without all of this greed that seems to have started floating around the industry.
source: Kotaku
Last Updated: September 17, 2008
koldFU5iON
September 17, 2008 at 16:22
ok let me stop you there
while nothing has been confirmed or set in stone, this is not a bad idea and is actually a benefit for most gamers out there (I’m talking world wide) buying the subscription “could” mean cheaper pricing on songs and there are plenty of people purchasing songs on an ongoing basis to justify such a purchase, you also have to note that at no point did they say you can’t purchase additional songs separately again remember that none of this has been confirmed so I’m speculating.
so if you take what I’ve just told you into account you’ll see that Activision are looking to HELP the gamer get the songs easier and at a cheaper rate and you also have to remember that when they look at the gaming market their primary focus is the US and UK.
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Vamp
September 17, 2008 at 16:49
I’m no expert and I’m sure they’ve done their homework, but
it just sounds like they’re on the verge of flooding the market which surely can’t be good? I mean, COD5 now and next year COD6?
If COD6 is modern day warfare that’s fine, but if it’s another WWII title? Why? Then (if this is to be believed)
about 3 GH games a year? What’s the strategy behind it?
Unless they make a game each for a specific genre of music.
(ie. jazz, rock, pop) That would actually be pretty cool then as I won’t have to play all the crap shoved inbetween
the cool songs.
The only problem I have with the subscription service is that you can’t be sure that there’ll actually be something
you’ll WANT to download every month.
Milesh Bhana
September 17, 2008 at 21:17
Big publishers want to milk franchises. Look at what they did to the Tony Hawk franchise? At least they are being sensible with no TH game this year and the possibility of COD6 not making 2009.
The thing with Guitar Hero is that they really can release a game or two every year which are essentially a 70 song expansion. Heck that was my rationale for buying GH3 and will be my reason for buying Rock Band 2. (70-ish songs on disk of which I like 40 vs buying 40 DLC songs, the disk is still cheaper).
I’d subscribe, if the subscription was cheaper than the seperate AND say the subscription entitles you to 10 songs/month there better be 30-50 songs per month so that i have loads of choice for my 10 songs.
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