CAPCOM, the Ultimate Rancher: A Rant
Guest post by Ophidion.
I’ll first start off by saying, I love CAPCOM. In terms of third party developers, they’re one of the best. From Dead Rising all the way back to Super Puzzle Fighter, they’ve got a great catalogue of games. More specifically, they’ve got an excellent stable of franchises from which they will glean many, many more millions of dollars (a little game called Resident Evil 5 comes out 2009). Not only that but with the advent of digital distribution they can now reach into their past and make even more money off of games they’ve already made. With Mega Man 9, CAPCOM has managed to create the “Perfect Storm” of profitability. Leveraging retro appeal, a franchise resurrection and the modern day concept of DLC, CAPCOM is sure to make a huge bundle of cash from the blue bomber.
Herein lies my complaint with the mega-corp. A shining example of a developer “milking” the consumer, CAPCOM is allowing people the option of paying for game modes. Not only that, they’re charging for additional characters and even character placement. Generally this doesn’t sound very much different from any other developer but when was the last time content this trivial was released within the same month of a game’s release? Their use of DLC is so insulting it blows my mind that they would even try this kind of crap with consumers. What follows are the features that should have been included you have the option of paying for (in estimated Earth dollars):
- Endless Attack, $2.99: “Test your skills on a stage without end. Try to break the record for getting the farthest. Results will be displayed in the Rankings. Not compatible with Challenges.”
- Proto Man Mode, $1.99: “Play the game as Proto Man. You can use the shield while jumping. Some of Proto Man’s abilities may differ from Mega Man’s. There is no story for Proto Man. Not compatible with Rankings or Challenges.”
- Hero Mode, $0.99: “Play the game with a more difficult level of enemy distribution. Not compatible with Rankings or Challenges.”
- Superhero Mode, $0.99: “Play the game with a super difficult level of enemy distribution. Not compatible with Rankings or Challenges.”
- Special Stage, $0.99: “Gives you another Time Attack Stage to try, including a new Boss at the end! Results will be displayed in the Rankings. Not compatible with Challenges.”
Remember how Mega Man 9 only cost you $10? Well should you want the “complete” experience the cost has now almost doubled. Lots of companies justify DLC by saying that there wasn’t enough time to implement all that they wanted. A legitimate albeit lazy excuse. But, when CAPCOM releases these additional modes within weeks of the original release, it is clear that this is just a cash grab. While I’m not in the biz myself, I would hazard a guess that this additional “content” would not have required much additional development time. In fact, I would bet on the fact that this scheme was brainstormed right at the conceptual stage. If that’s not the definition of milking an audience then I don’t know what is.
Examining the DLC a bit closer reveals that most of the content simply ramps up the difficulty. Smartly, CAPCOM realised that this is the only way they could capitalize on something like this. All of those video game masochists out there (you know who you are) will be paying CAPCOM for that additional challenge that they crave. Will the 10-year old kid who can barely defeat a single Robot Master consider getting Hero Mode? NO. Will the hardcore gamer (who is obviously a dumbass for considering this) who grew up on these games consider getting Hero Mode? YES. CAPCOM is hoping that life-long Mega Man fans are jumping at the chance to experience the “true” Mega Man 9 experience. However, let’s consider an opposite scenario now. What if CAPCOM had released a “Wimp Mode”? Would they get away with charging for an easy mode? Of course not! So why is it acceptable for them to release a hard mode?
CAPCOM is trying to charge people for what has been historically included in the game. Boot up a copy of Doom and what do you get after starting a level?
- “I’m Too Young to Die.”
- “Hey, Not Too Rough.”
- “Hurt Me Plenty”
- “Ultra-violence.”
- “Nightmare.”
Well look at that. I bought a game and I can choose my difficulty level. Fast forward to present day and CAPCOM is attempting to charge you for these options. Don’t buy in to their scheme. By not purchasing their content you can take a stand against this nickel and diming operation. In all seriousness, I’m pretty sure that even if this plan doesn’t pan out, they will still try this with their next project. Why? Because not including this content is no sweat off their backs. In fact, it’ll save them time if they don’t need to think about harder scenarios. However, by making a ruckus on the internet, maybe we can make a loud enough buzzing to at least irritate CAPCOM.
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