New Features Aren’t All Free in NCAA Football 12

[mattbooty]

Quote: Originally Posted by kbmnm247

but they still want a fully featured game that they paid for.

Hehe, this is where you and I really don't see eye to eye. Nowhere on the NCAA 12 box (well... I assume so anyways, I haven't seen the box yet, EA could really screw me over on this one) does it say you are getting these web-enabled features as part of the box product, so they ARE getting the game they paid for. If these hypothetical people think they are getting them with their $60 it is THEY that are mistaken, and that's not EA's fault.

You can disagree with their decision to charge for these features but they aren't tricking anyone into buying one thing and getting another.

[kbmnm247]

Quote: Originally Posted by mattbooty

Yes they absolutely paid for the development of the web-enabled features, but there is no direct correlation between your NCAA 11 $60 and that getting done. Yes, I understand budgetting 100%. And yes, McDonald's needs to make money to stay in business, but you are not buying development time, you are buying a burger, plain and simple. McDonald's sets a price based on what they need to cover their costs and make a profit, but this isn't like the old "I pay your salary with my tax dollars" argument, you chose to buy a burger, you can't call up McDonalds and demand they change the way it tastes because you have some stake in their company having spent a few bucks there. Same with NCAA, you are entitled to nothing because you bought a previous game. That $60 bought you NCAA 11, there are no future guarantees.

How is money paid for NCAA 11 paying for the development of the NCAA 12 web features NOT a direct correlation? You basically said it yourself that it's a direct correlation, cmon man.

YOU ARE BUYING THE DEVELOPMENT TIME. What do you think happens with that? The companies just eat the costs of development as a loss? No. They price the burger at a price that they can get consumers and cover all of their costs (ALL OF THEIR COSTS) and still make profit. That's the whole point of budgeting, to set costs and create a profit from the end unit.

[mattbooty]

Quote: Originally Posted by kbmnm247

If no one in the world bought NCAA 11, I mean 0 people, do you think they'd make an NCAA 12? If you answered yes, then your logic is fine and we did not have anything to do with NCAA 12. If you answered no, then YES we pay for NCAA 12, and our proceeds from NCAA 12 will go towards NCAA 13 and so on and so on. The money doesn't just disappear. It pays payroll, and production, and is reinvested in next years version in some way. I figured this was common knowledge.

Absolutely, if sales figures drop enough they'll stop making NCAA, absolutely, but you did not pay for NCAA 12. If I buy a 2011 Toyota Camry, I did not pay for the 2012 model also, regardless of where that money went...

Yes, I'm not stupid, I understand that money that is mine, when given to someone else, will then go on to do many wonderful things in the world, that does not mean I-ME-MYSELF paid for them. I pay interest on a mortgage every month, the bank takes my interest money and used that money to fund loans to hundreds/thousands/lots of other loans to a very diverse group who then uses that money to buy/build/develop lots of diverse items, just because someone down the line gets money that in theory once belonged to me does not mean I funded him.

If you give me money for some service/product/whatever, that money becomes mine. You have divorced yourself from it. From that moment on whatever I do with that money has nothing to do with you and you are in no way involved with where that money goes. You can't come to my house a year later and take my coffee maker or tell me what kind of coffee to make in it because some of the money you gave me may have eventually became the money that bought that coffee maker.

You act like we are stupid for not agreeing with your logic which IS making this debate go beyond a healthy discussion.

[mattbooty]

Quote: Originally Posted by kbmnm247

How is money paid for NCAA 11 paying for the development of the NCAA 12 web features NOT a direct correlation? You basically said it yourself that it's a direct correlation, cmon man. YOU ARE BUYING THE DEVELOPMENT TIME. What do you think happens with that? The companies just eat the costs of development as a loss? No. They price the burger at a price that they can get consumers and cover all of their costs (ALL OF THEIR COSTS) and still make profit. That's the whole point of budgeting, to set costs and create a profit from the end unit.

First of all, to make sure my quote is not taken out of context by someone reading this and not my original post, when I said "Yes they absolutely paid for the development of the web-enabled features, " I was referring to EA, not people who bought the game.

And no it is not a direct correlation because EA has set the budget for NCAA 12 before you even spent that $60. EA knows that the NCAA games are an established franchise... they know that NCAA football (the league, not the games) are a popular franchise... they knew before NCAA 11 dropped approximately how much sales they will see. Those actual numbers will do very little to change their budgeted amount until they see a large drop off in sales because they know market conditions affect the sales of this game more than the actual added features do. A majority of their audience won't even know what the new features are until they pick up the box in the checkout line.

YES EA needs to make a profit, and they cannot spend more MAKING the game than they get SELLING the game, but they were budgeting $XXX on NCAA 12 whether you personally bought the game or not, no one at EA saw you bought it and added another 60 bones to the development budget.

EA prices their game at $60 because that is the current market falue for xbox360 games, they in no way set that price specifically because of how NCAA 11 performed.

[kbmnm247]

Quote: Originally Posted by coogrfan

The items being offered are enhancements. It is entirely possible to play a fully featured online dynasty without purchasing either of the items in question.

If I can't advance from the web as is being promoted, it is not fully featured. Fully features means includes ALL features. In order to get to that point, I have to pay.

I'm surprised that there are so many on OS that eat this up.

[kbmnm247]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

Because unlike some folks here I understand what it takes to create these games, football specifically and I'd rather see them stay around and improve then let a overblown sense of entitlement run them into a no profit zone in which they are no longer made or made as an afterthought. I've seen it happen before with other of my favorite games and don't want to see it happen again. The DLC is a great way to keep the games profitable and give consumers choice. The bottom line here is that most of you who are against it are against it because of some scary distant reality that is highly unlikely to happen as opposed to what it's actually being used for now.

You do know they already charged for AFL uniforms right? How is that not "scary"? It creates a precedent that they can charge extra for some uniforms and that is fine.

They are making plenty of profit, trust me. So much so that they were able to blow over a billion dollars on licenses that have nothing to do with the actual game or more importantly the GAMEPLAY. They will not get into a non profit zone unless they totally screw up because these titles are cash cows every year with marginal improvements year to year.

If you really think these games, specifically, wouldn't be profitable without DLC then I have to chalk it up to EA because you ate it hook line and sinker.

[mattbooty]

Quote: Originally Posted by kbmnm247

If I can't advance from the web as is being promoted, it is not fully featured. Fully features means includes ALL features. In order to get to that point, I have to pay. I'm surprised that there are so many on OS that eat this up.

If they are advertising that this can be done without also stipulating that there may be additional costs to do it, then yes that is wrong (and by advertising I don't mean some guy on IGN wrote an article saying you could do it).

I personally haven't seen that but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[kbmnm247]

Quote: Originally Posted by mattbooty

Hehe, this is where you and I really don't see eye to eye. Nowhere on the NCAA 12 box (well... I assume so anyways, I haven't seen the box yet, EA could really screw me over on this one) does it say you are getting these web-enabled features as part of the box product, so they ARE getting the game they paid for. If these hypothetical people think they are getting them with their $60 it is THEY that are mistaken, and that's not EA's fault. You can disagree with their decision to charge for these features but they aren't tricking anyone into buying one thing and getting another.

The fact remains they are offering a new feature, and promoting it, and making you pay extra for it. At what point does that stop? Will we have to pay for new stat overlays? New cameras? What becomes an extra feature and what becomes an extra? The line is blurred at this point and EA will no doubt continue to walk that thin line, obviously.

Anyway,
http://www.ea.com/ncaa-football/blog/web-improvements it's in there and yes it says you'll have to pay for the advance feature because their earlier release on pasta padre's site (he's an EA guy nowadays) was promoting it and didn't mention having to pay. Most likely pasta didn't think you would have to pay so he posted that story and didn't think twice.