Home Gaming Evolve’s vanity DLC costs more than twice the game itself

Evolve’s vanity DLC costs more than twice the game itself

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Evolvehats

The next big thing in multiplayer gaming, Evolve, is out – and it’s really fun when played with friends, or under the right, fortuitous circumstances. Back in January, Turtle Rock and 2K Games came under fire for the game’s DLC plans; a criticism that they took umbrage at. People are raging about the game’s DLC anew. The reason? All of the extra content in the game – the stuff not included in the season pass – would cost a player more than double the base game itself.

The folks at Shacknews did the math (because I clearly can’t), and found that the game’s superfluous DLC, tallied up, would come to a total of $136; more than twice the cost of the game. Before you raise your pitchforks, remember that this is all cosmetic stuff; skins and the like – which have no bearing on the game itself, and are only there for aesthetic purposes. [Edit] Shacknews can;t do the maths either, as their tally includes single and combo packs hich duplicates much of the content]

This is the sort of DLC I can get behind, because it’s not necessary, and is only there to serve as vanity fare for narcissists with more money than sense. Where I do have a problem with Evolve’s DLC is in locking characters behind pre-orders and season passes. It’s the same sort of thing that fighting games have been doing of late, and it gets right up my nostrils. Why all this DLC though?

NeoGAF user, Agrius, tried to explain it all last month – before being exposed as a Turtle Rock employee.

First lets talk about game prices. It is no secret that the amount of time and money it takes to make a game has gone up exponentially since the SNES days of 2D sprites. Creating 3D models with animation, 3D worlds and all the online components takes a freaking ton of work. This leads to huge budgets but the price of games has actually DROPPED by a significant margin over the years. The price of an SNES game on launch day was $50 or $60 depending on the game. If you adjust for inflation that is about $80 – $95 in todays money. Most games now cost $60 which is about two thirds LOWER than they were in the SNES days. In short we are getting a HUGE discount right off the bat.

Now lets talk about DLC. Since game makers can’t sell the games at a high enough price to make their money back they have to make that up in DLC. This obviously leads them to push DLC hard because they need it to sell or the game won’t make enough money. One of the most well loved and respected games this generation is League of Legends. They have over 100 different DLC champions now, each costing roughly $7. If someone bought all of them they would have spent over $700. Yet people are ok with this. Sure, you can unlock them by playing the game but the vast majority of people don’t have the time to spend to unlock all the characters. For most people, if they want to play a certain character the only option is the buy it and they do it all the time. Lets compare that to Evolve. They have 15 characters in the base game for $60. That is $4 each, cheaper than LoL, AND you get the rest of the game, all the modes, maps etc. The DLC characters, assuming you don’t preorder and buy the season pass, are $35 for 5 characters which is $7 each, roughly the same as LoL. If you pre-order that drops the price to $20 for 5 characters, $4 each. Using a little math and rational thought you can see that these prices are very reasonable, especially if you pre-order.

A common misconception with DLC is that it is done before launch, put on the disc, and then they charge people to unlock it. I will give you guys a little glimpse into how the game development process works so you guys can understand why this is. A character’s development generally starts with a design document and some concept art. From there it goes to modeling and programmers start working on prototype code using another model or sometimes just a sphere. After the model is done it goes to the animators to be animated. Once they are done the programmers hook up the model in game and get all the animations playing at the correct times. After that there is a lot of playtesting and balance work done. Then the AI needs to be done, if the game has bots. This whole process usually takes about 6 months, sometimes more. Marketing will usually start after the character is modeled. At that point they can start making cinematics and other promotional material. The announcement is made to “buy the DLC character!” but interally the character is most likely still 2-3 months from completion with lots of animation, playtesting, balancing and possibly AI to be done. Once all the content for the base game is done the build is sent to MS and Sony for approval. At this point DLC work has already started, with some of the models done and probably a prototype in place. A few weeks later they tell you that you weren’t approved and give you a list of things to fix, then you fix them and resubmit. More weeks go by then they approve you and the game has gone ‘gold’ and starts being printed on discs. BUT the build they printed had the DLC character model on it! The download is only a new EXE and a few script files, thus very small, and people freak out because “they sold us DLC that was already on the disk!!!”. The model was finished when the game was printed on discs, but it was MANY months from actually being finished.

So what about pre-orders? Most would say they are a scam to get you to shell out before the reviews hit. In fact they are something created by Gamestop and other retailers to help them judge demand and make sure they order enough copies. Do you notice that games hardly ever sell out anymore? It is because of pre-orders. Retailers are much better able to judge demand for a particular title if they push pre-orders. Retailers demand pre-order bonuses from developers to give people more incentive to pre-order. In exchange they create signage and other in-store marketing for your game. If you give them EXCLUSIVE pre-order bonuses then they will push your game for you even more. That is why so many games are doing pre-order bonuses, sometimes retailer exclusive ones, because it gives the title a LOT of cheap marketing. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with tricking people into buying bad games; that is what review embargoes are for!

It’s an interesting, inside look at how DLC is handled, even if it does seem to stem from drinking the marketing and PR Kool-aid. Evolve’s most egregious, dare I say anti-consumer marketing tactic is in its characters; locking certain characters out and only having them available for purchase or included in DLCs and season passes is just ludicrous. (Via Kotaku’s Jason Schreier)

EvolveDLC

That’s not okay. Not only is it confusing for the average consumer, but it automatically segregates the player base in to haves and have nots. What makes it all so odd is that Turtle Rock and 2K have said that they’ll be offering all of the game’s upcoming maps for free, as a way to to stop the community from fragmenting. To sum up: vanity DLC, in the form of skins and other non-essential gear is perfectly fine. Locked characters aren’t.

Last Updated: February 12, 2015

54 Comments

  1. So Hard (Umar)

    February 12, 2015 at 08:41

    Cosmetic things cost that much………wow

    Reply

    • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

      February 12, 2015 at 08:59

      Ask JJ. He knows.

      Reply

  2. Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

    February 12, 2015 at 08:45

    It is very easy. Just buy the cheapest version. I have yet to see anyone perform better on a specific hunter/monster …. except for wraith players. Those guys can go ….. themselves and Wraith needs a massive nerf!

    Reply

    • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

      February 12, 2015 at 08:49

      THAT BLOODY WRAITH

      Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      February 12, 2015 at 08:59

      I bet the cheapest version has one thing in common with the vanilla version of Destiny. After a few weeks you’ll be scratching your head thinking. Where’s the rest of the game?

      Reply

      • Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

        February 12, 2015 at 09:46

        Not nearly as all maps and modes will be free DLC. I mean I personally can live without my character looking like a pimp as long as the gameplay is awesome. I suppose I would have had more of an aesthetic issue if the game where 3PP.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          February 12, 2015 at 09:51

          This is true and the one thing they did right, but the amount of hunters and monsters combined that are locked away behind a pay wall seems excessive

          Reply

          • Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

            February 12, 2015 at 09:53

            3 Hunters and 1 monster (that was a pre-order bonus technically) so you are left with 12 hunters and 3 monsters. I don’t see too much fail there.

      • RustedFaith

        February 12, 2015 at 10:18

        Its already starting 10 hours in the game …. gonna prob last another week before it becomes to repetitive. I am level 21 already in 10 hours play and only need to unlock 1 more character.

        This game does have a solid base but the contents sorely lacking. Matchmaking thats broken, if you search for a match alone it joins instantly. If 2 or 3 players in a party search for a game then you never get others to join because of matchmaking bugs.

        Its very common, for a game that’s got so little content its a joke that it cant even get its core right which is matchmaking.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          February 12, 2015 at 10:56

          The content is there. You just need to pay extra. I’m sorry but I ‘ll wait for a while for the price to drop or for the game to show up on the second hand bin, like most Destiny games these days.

          Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      February 12, 2015 at 09:14

      Pfft, are you hunters taking on deadly monsters or sight-seeing TOURISTS? *run*

      Reply

  3. saneman

    February 12, 2015 at 08:55

    morons keep buying dlc, kunts keep selling it.

    shame on you pathetic turd casual gamers who pay $$$ for hats and skins created during dev and held back for DLC.

    Reply

    • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

      February 12, 2015 at 08:58

      Shame on them? Really? For what?

      Game development is a business, like any other. You’re at least given the choice as to whether or not you want those hats and skins.

      Our banks? Yeah they charge whether you like it or not, for shit. They’re raping your bank accounts, and they’re legally allowed to do so. For basically nothing.

      So turn that dumb as fuck rage to something more appropriate, otherwise you’re just a waste of a rage.

      Reply

      • Ceyber, The Metal Rabbit

        February 12, 2015 at 09:02

        Both arguments seem a bit extreme 😛

        Stupid people are just… everywhere! At least it seems that way.

        Reply

        • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

          February 12, 2015 at 09:05

          lol, not just a bit extreme.

          But I don’t like a wasted rage. And look at his reply. LOL!!!

          Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          February 12, 2015 at 09:06

          EA is targeting A Billion Dollars From Microtransactions & DLC this year and they’ll make that amount easily enough guaranteed

          Reply

      • saneman

        February 12, 2015 at 09:05

        apologist apologizes…

        Look other people do bad things, so these people are entitled to do bad things. we should not comment.

        go fuk yourself moron

        Reply

        • SojournZA

          February 12, 2015 at 09:11

          that escalated quickly

          saneman no need for name calling, if you disagree with a practice you more then welcome to your opinion, but really no need to freak out

          back on topic, I agree DLC for skins etc should be fine, Im more happy with the f2p model (dota 2) where skins can still be randomly won and traded and the base game is free. Evolve has done it differently, yes but it doesnt phase me in the least. Love the game

          Reply

          • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

            February 12, 2015 at 09:12

            Exactly, the skins here are fine. They’re optional, and I think it’s DLC / Micro Transactions done right. No benefit other than vanity, so there’s no need to ever purchase them. People do though, and it works. Everybody wins.

        • Gideon Venter

          February 12, 2015 at 09:30

          You sport an anarchist symbol. Your logic cannot be trusted.

          Reply

  4. Tosh "Did he just say that?"

    February 12, 2015 at 08:56

    Pfff. These guys have nothing on Valve.

    Reply

  5. Blood Emperor Trevor

    February 12, 2015 at 08:59

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      February 12, 2015 at 09:02

      *Buys something else

      Reply

    • saneman

      February 12, 2015 at 09:19

      no but.. banks gouge us and if they can do it then surely we should turn a blind eye to this

      Reply

  6. Hammersteyn

    February 12, 2015 at 09:01

    Do they have a tl;dr version of all the DLC or can we get it on a spreadsheet as with Watchdogs?

    Reply

  7. Ceyber, The Metal Rabbit

    February 12, 2015 at 09:01

    These ideal consumers the bigwigs keep targeting must be absolute nutters. Easy access, low standards and minimal cerebral engagement appear to be the hallmarks of this aesthetics and instant-gratification addiction, which seems (to me) to be a spectrum filled with nothing but graphic-whores and well-off kids/social joystick warriors.

    Very dreary for a Thursday morning, but thought-engineering is quite real and I wish people were more consistently aware of it.

    Reply

    • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

      February 12, 2015 at 09:03

      You say that, but I am 100% behind buying cosmetics for dota2. I buy a lot of stuff. And yes, I know it’s for no real benefit, but it’s my way of supporting a game I really enjoy, and get to look cool on my favourite heroes while I’m at it.

      You need to understand, it’s not just about raping the wallets. You’ll find that a really low % of the player base will ever buy those skins. But people will, and it’s that tiny % that keeps the dev team funded to continue adding new stuff to the game.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        February 12, 2015 at 09:13

        Maybe this should have been F2P as well. With four hunters and one monster and then sell us the rest?

        Reply

        • Tosh "Did he just say that?"

          February 12, 2015 at 09:13

          That could’ve actually worked. I would have actually gotten the game then. XD

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            February 12, 2015 at 09:14

            Same here.

        • Ir0nseraph

          February 12, 2015 at 09:17

          That could have worked , then I might have been playing evolve now.

          Reply

      • Ceyber, The Metal Rabbit

        February 12, 2015 at 09:26

        I can understand the love for shiny things as well as anyone! Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine when it’s implemented as an appealing “additional” function, I have a problem when it’s an obvious money-grabber (the game is barely out) and it’s treated like this is supposed to be the norm. I’d prefer these ‘mechanics’ to stay the exception to the rule, as it were.

        CDPR was poking a stick at this exact behavior with their “free” DLC campaign.

        Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      February 12, 2015 at 09:10

      The perfect example is people buying ships in Star Citizen. While a lot of people only have the starter pack, there’s a few who’re happy spending $200+ on a single ship, sometimes more than once.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        February 12, 2015 at 09:11

        Stupid and insane

        Reply

  8. oVg

    February 12, 2015 at 09:05

    • Hammersteyn

      February 12, 2015 at 09:13

      And he kinda looks like a turtle

      Reply

  9. Frost

    February 12, 2015 at 09:29

    That was a very long explanation of how game prices should be higher, but to combat that, they’ll ask consumers to pay for a demo and a second down payment for the full version.

    Reply

    • Frost

      February 12, 2015 at 09:35

      To add to this: I’m fine with a pre-order bonus that doesn’t change the game, like Hitman Absolution did, which gave me a free mini game. The moment pre-order bonus gives me an extra character or special abilities, that’s the moment I don’t pre-order. If I remember correctly GTA V did this as well as Mass Effect 3.

      Reply

  10. RinceThis

    February 12, 2015 at 09:35

    Bugger that.

    Reply

  11. Admiral Chief

    February 12, 2015 at 09:39

    “Buy it in one year with ALL DLC for $20”

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      February 12, 2015 at 09:46

      I did this with Borderlands, buying the Handsome edition with all the DLC, didn’t think the would include B2 with all the DLC but there you go. Think I’ll do the same here.

      Reply

  12. RinceThis

    February 12, 2015 at 09:52

    Doing an Ubi much?

    Reply

  13. WitWolfy

    February 12, 2015 at 10:03

    Could’ve just as well released it as a F2P game then if they inteded to do this from the start.

    Reply

  14. Guild

    February 12, 2015 at 10:04

    Never bought a cosmetic DLC ever. I see no point to it, waste of money.

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      February 12, 2015 at 10:29

      LIES! You bought a COD sequel.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        February 12, 2015 at 10:31

        *GASP*

        Reply

      • Guild

        February 12, 2015 at 10:42

        Lol 🙂

        Reply

  15. Admiral Chief

    February 12, 2015 at 10:26

    My hype has done an eskom and powered off

    Reply

  16. Victor "Vicky" Moolman

    February 12, 2015 at 10:27

    This would all be fine and dandy if you could use in game currency to also buy these DLC and cosmetic stuff. That’s the reason LOL is so successful, it’s the same thing with Clash of Clans. If you are skilled and patient enough you get a currency that can be used to buy the latest characters and extra cosmetic stuff that makes the game more fun to play.

    I haven’t played Evolve yet but I am sure they don’t have something like that. Can someone support this statement?

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      February 12, 2015 at 10:29

      You unlock monsters and hunters by playing more and more

      Reply

      • Galbedir

        February 12, 2015 at 10:33

        I believe they mentioned new Monsters and Characters added into the game over time will be paid for dlc?

        Reply

  17. Galbedir

    February 12, 2015 at 10:31

    Love how he compares it to League of Legends DLC. The difference is that league of legends has 123 Characters, and I’ve pretty much unlocked more then half of them, as when given the chance to play the others, I haven’t liked them. Does Evolve gives me a test run of the new characters every week? And I cant grind to unlock any of the dlc characters if I did so happen to want them. In the end, Evolve and LoL have COMPLETELY different payment models. League is true f2p, Evolve wants to rip your hard earn money straight from your pocket. I can tell you now if Evolve made all maps, monsters and characters free or grindable, then only charged for Skins and Cool Weapon effects ect, it would have sold alot more and probably made more in the long run.

    Reply

  18. PICK A NAME

    February 13, 2015 at 16:58

    The amount of misinformation being spread on this subject is staggering, not just in the comment section here but around the web. As of this moment, no game content other than re-texture packs (2 for each hunter, and 3 for each monster) is available for purchase.

    At this moment there are 12 hunters (split evenly into 4 archetypes), and 3 monsters, all of which can only be unlocked by completing in game assignments, none of these characters are locked off behind a paywall, and none of these characters can be unlocked early by paying an upfront fee. In short, every character on the disc at launch is available to every person who bought the game. If you do not believe this is worth the retail price then it would be unwise to purchase the game right now.

    The texture packs are a way for 2K/Turtle Rock Studios to make easy money from people with deep pockets without compromising the enjoyment of the game for everyone else. I don’t particularly like it, I would obviously prefer to have the skins for free, but it’s ultimately not that big of a deal, it only appears that way due to our inherent nature to covet everything.

    Reply

  19. Fuck in game purchases

    April 5, 2015 at 17:05

    SHAAAAMEEEE on 2k games. I won’t be buying another 2K game for as long as I live.

    Reply

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