Poll: Was it a mistake to include DLC in Portal 2?

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Jordi

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Jun 6, 2009
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This topic is not about the morality of including DLC with Portal 2. If you want to talk about that, please do so elsewhere.

Probably everybody knows what this is about, but to recap: Valve included a store with Portal 2 where you can buy purely cosmetic (meaningless) items for the co-op part of the game. These items are disproportionately expensive compared to the rest of the game. There has been a lot of discussion here and elsewhere about whether this day 1 DLC is evil and Valve is betraying/extorting gamers etc. Some people have "bombed" the game's Metacritic score because of this.

I don't want to talk about the evils of day 1 DLC in this topic. There are already plenty of places where that is being discussed. What I wonder is whether making this DLC will turn out to make good or bad business sense. It will almost purely be speculation, but let's think about this.

On the one hand, every sold hat probably has an incredible ratio of profit to development costs. However, those development costs are still there, and presumably a certain number of items have to be sold to break even on the DLC. As Shamus Young points out in the text accompanying the latest Stolen Pixels [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/stolen-pixels/8827-Stolen-Pixels-A-Hat-for-Every-Head], there isn't exactly a lot of incentive to buy these items. They are relatively expensive, and you will only be able to "enjoy" them in the ~5 hour long multiplayer campaign that doesn't really have a lot of replay value.
Additionally, it seems that including the controversial day 1 DLC might have cost them some sales of the game itself. Some people may have boycotted the game, and some may have been turned off from buying it due to all the criticisms and (lower than it would otherwise have been) Metacritic scores.

So, regardless of how you feel about the inclusion of this DLC, do you think it was a wise move by Valve?

Edit: Some people have pointed out that the "game stuff" is technically not DLC. It doesn't matter. It's extra game stuff (apparently it can't be called content either) that was included with the game, and you have to pay extra to use it.
The point is that there is a controversy about it, and this thread is meant to speculate about whether that controversy will cost Valve money (that they're not making back with profit from the store/DLC). I only included the evil/non-evil clauses in the poll because I figured people may have biased views on the profitability of this based on what they think about the DLC to begin with. That was probably a mistake.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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No it wasn't. Unless you think that making more money is a mistake. Valve found an audience thats willing to buy hats. This audience is apparently significant enough to warrant a store.

Valve is one of the few companies thats doing this right. There are plenty of ways to do it wrong. Portal 2's store is out of the way, un-obtrusive, and only sells cosmetic items. Nothing it sells changes the game's story or gameplay in any way.

What I want to know is, why the fuck is nobody complaining about how Bioware is selling costume packs [http://social.bioware.com/page/me2-dlc] in Mass Effect 2, along with weapon/item packs.

Or how they're selling weapon sets for the classes in Dragon Age 2 at $3 a pack [http://social.bioware.com/page/da2-dlc].

Or how the DLC for Dragon Age 2 can only be obtained for free by pre-ordering the game way in advance, rather then use Project $10.

Seriously, why is Portal 2's fucking hat store the "big one", and not the craploads of other crappy DLC schemes?
 

PurplePlatypus

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Jul 8, 2010
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They are probably just trying something out, and one that as far as they could know might even go well since it worked well in TF2. You can?t predict people?s reactions and reactions or not we don?t even know if it?s going to be successful yet or not. The worst that can happen is it doesn?t work out, that piss some people off and they learn from it and try to figure out why it worked in TF2 but not here.
 

Jordi

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Jun 6, 2009
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Irridium said:
No it wasn't. Unless you think that making more money is a mistake. Valve found an audience thats willing to buy hats. This audience is apparently significant enough to warrant a store.

Valve is one of the few companies thats doing this right. There are plenty of ways to do it wrong. Portal 2's store is out of the way, un-obtrusive, and only sells cosmetic items. Nothing it sells changes the game's story or gameplay in any way.

What I want to know is, why the fuck is nobody complaining about how Bioware is selling costume packs [http://social.bioware.com/page/me2-dlc] in Mass Effect 2, along with weapon/item packs.

Or how they're selling weapon sets for the classes in Dragon Age 2 at $3 a pack [http://social.bioware.com/page/da2-dlc].

Or how the DLC for Dragon Age 2 can only be obtained for free by pre-ordering the game way in advance, rather then use Project $10.

Seriously, why is Portal 2's fucking hat store the "big one", and not the craploads of other crappy DLC schemes?
You didn't read the opening post, did you? This topic isn't about that. It's about whether or not you think it's going to turn out to be a financial mistake. In the sense that it might cause Valve to lose more money (because of lost sales and development costs) than it will bring in (due to hat sales).
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Jordi said:
You didn't read the opening post, did you? This topic isn't about that. It's about whether or not you think it's going to turn out to be a financial mistake. In the sense that it might cause Valve to lose more money (because of lost sales and development costs) than it will bring in (due to hat sales).
I already covered that a bit before I went into my little rant. They obviously found a market big enough for them to include the store in Portal 2. But I'll talk more about it if you want.

Making these hats and stuff would be really, really cheap. Wouldn't be surprised if most of them were done by a couple of guys on their spare time. They're selling cheaply made goods for a couple bucks. I'd bet that they already made back any development costs associated with making these hats. And if not, they're hats, they wouldn't have put much money into it anyway.
 

Bags159

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Mar 11, 2011
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There was no DLC included with Portal. Just frilly hats and skins. Now the item shop however may make VALVe some extra cash.
 

Bretty

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Jul 15, 2008
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That found that with TF2 they could create a store for fans who like cosmetic differences. Not just did they like them, they were willing to pay for them. The Portal store is just the continuation of this trend.

By the way, this will be very profitable for Valve. And good for them, still my favorite Dev out there.

Shame about the emo bastards metacritic bombing it.
 

Bags159

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Mar 11, 2011
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Kukulski said:
or "Here's a chapter of the game that makes up for the shitty ending. That would 25 American Dollars. I want to make 1500 illegal copies of their game and hand it out to people on the street.
I heard VALVe did just this. I got to the final chapter and it asked for my credit card information to proceed.

Oh wait no they didn't. I got 100% enjoyment out of the game for the sale price of $40. I'm sure they'll make up any lost sales and then some with their shop.
 

AlternatePFG

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Jan 22, 2010
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I think Valve would do fine. Those that suddenly decided to not buy it because of the store, probably were iffy on buying it anyways.

Also, I think while the way Portal 2 does it is fine (cosmetic stuff), games like Dragon Age 2 having actually day one content that was announced even before the game was released was bullshit.
 

Amarok

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Dec 13, 2008
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Pretty interesting take on the topic. The internet tends to blow things out of proportion so I can't say how many sale they'd be likely to lose over this baffling, baffling rage over the most innocuous DLC of all time. For me, there's a lot of normal (read: non-internet-dwelling-slave-to-internet-news) types that won't know about this store beforehand and won't care. And Valve's marketeers don't just make shots in the dark, I'm sure they've estimated with a reasonable amount of education behind them that these hats will have an audience.

I think it'll net them profit.
 

gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
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No, all of the Portal 2 DLC is insignificant to the game. That whining you hear on Metacritic are just a bunch of Valve haters using rising DLC ire to try and depose Valve.
 

Matterer

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Mar 17, 2011
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This DLC is silly, I have to admit. Nothing to cry and be angry about, its only a hat you dont get, but I fail to see a need. Maybe they have been making TF2 content for too long. Anyone who is Boycotting the game probably wouldnt have bought it anyway.
 

Bags159

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Mar 11, 2011
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Kukulski said:
Bags159 said:
Kukulski said:
or "Here's a chapter of the game that makes up for the shitty ending. That would 25 American Dollars. I want to make 1500 illegal copies of their game and hand it out to people on the street.
I heard VALVe did just this. I got to the final chapter and it asked for my credit card information to proceed.

Oh wait no they didn't. I got 100% enjoyment out of the game for the sale price of $40. I'm sure they'll make up any lost sales and then some with their shop.
I'm not talking about Valve right now. I haven't played Portal 2 yet. I mean DLC in general and I think you can guess what offenders I have in mind from my examples.
Oh, I assumed we were talking about Portal 2 because this is a Portal 2 thread. My bad.
 

bob1052

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Oct 12, 2010
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Anyone who thinks that the store in Portal 2 is anything similar to Day 1 DLC is an idiot.
 

Bags159

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Kukulski said:
Bags159 said:
Kukulski said:
Bags159 said:
Kukulski said:
or "Here's a chapter of the game that makes up for the shitty ending. That would 25 American Dollars. I want to make 1500 illegal copies of their game and hand it out to people on the street.
I heard VALVe did just this. I got to the final chapter and it asked for my credit card information to proceed.

Oh wait no they didn't. I got 100% enjoyment out of the game for the sale price of $40. I'm sure they'll make up any lost sales and then some with their shop.
I'm not talking about Valve right now. I haven't played Portal 2 yet. I mean DLC in general and I think you can guess what offenders I have in mind from my examples.
Oh, I assumed we were talking about Portal 2 because this is a Portal 2 thread. My bad.
This is Kukulski's mom. He cannot reply, because he's been sarcasmed to death. Shame on you young man.
I hope he makes a quick recovery. :^)

bob1052 said:
Anyone who thinks that the store in Portal 2 is anything similar to Day 1 DLC is an idiot.
I'm pretty sure one of the puzzles in co-op requires you to have a hat! And if you place your portals right you can see the hat on your head.
 

Vault boy Eddie

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Feb 18, 2009
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It's just another thing for people with no life to ***** about. If it doesn't affect the game in any way, and you're not obligated to buy it to finish the game, what's the problem? Most likely people that weren't even planning on buying the game. I bet they paid 15 bucks for the shitty first strike map pack, and yes, it was extremely shitty.
 

LetalisK

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May 5, 2010
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I LOVE that Valve did this. I am not a purchaser of DLC, but this whole issue and BS hate about the hats has made it a lot easier to identify people with their heads so far up their ass they're playing tonsil hockey with themselves.