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THQ Pricing Experiment Begins in May

by pastapadre
Posted January 29th, 2011 at 4:15 pm

Just about four months ago THQ revealed plans to try a new pricing model that would begin with the next iteration of the MX off-road racing series. The idea is to release new games at a lower entry point ($30 or $40) and then push downloadable content to expand the experience. The base game may not be fully featured therefore leaving it to individual consumers to choose what is important to them if more is desired.

MX vs ATV: Alive is slated to release on May 10th for $39.99. The breakdown of what will be provided in the retail package and what will be offered as downloadable content is yet to be revealed but will be critical in assessing value. Additional tracks would seem like an obvious one for DLC but don’t be surprised if even online play requires additional payment.

THQ believes that a lower price will make the game more appealing. In turn more consumers purchasing the game means there will be more who are subjected to the availability of downloadable content. The question is whether the relatively small percentage of those who do purchase DLC will make up for or exceed the revenue lost by dropping the price of the game.

Whether this pricing model would be applied to licensed titles such as UFC or WWE remains unlikely even if successful. Companies have a strong desire to protect their brand image and releasing at a reduced price is commonly seen as damaging the value of the brand as a whole. Still the potential for this model to be adopted with less popular or fringe sports titles certainly makes the returns worth monitoring.

Tags: latest news, polls

Kace0

considering its thq i expect this to be a total fail. buy the game and get one track or something and pay for everything else lol
Tomymac23

They’ve already confirmed the full 2010 season with the 2011 season as a dlc. They know that’s the perception of a 40 dollar game. That there going to do it some disservice. I wouldn’t worry too much. The little stuff will be added bonuses to buy like bike and rider equip. Some new tracks maybe…
- The Kid
  
  What the heck is DLC!?!?
Xcef2008

Depending on what’s on the disc I actually like this idea. For example if I bought this game, chances are I’d never play online with it. And if there is enough tracks on the game to keep me satisfied then Id only be paying 40 bucks for the game. Also for those who hate the game they only paid 40 bucks for it instead of 60. Now if theres hardly anything on the disc and they expect you to buy everything DLC then thats when Id have a problem. I’ts in THQ’s court on if this works or not.
sheredia

i like the idea…..but we’ll see.
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Skihawks

Personally, I would rather pay $60 and get the whole package.

If a race game is shipped with four tracks, for example, and is to have 14 tracks that would suck. Basically, forcing gamers to buy extra content that should be in the game.

It will be interesting to see how this works but I don’t see EA or others following suit. Why would they? They can still sell their games at $60 and still have DLC. I love NCAA Football 11 but having to buy the accelerators for OD is a joke…I know it is an option but if you are playing in OD and don’t have the accelerators you are at a disadvantage…
- Anonymous
  
  Just look at TW 11 and that is all you need to know. Granted TW came with a fair number of courses but if you look at the vast number of DLC courses that EA offered you can see how this will become a cash cow for develpers. If you purchased all the DLC for TW11 you would have spent more money than the actual game.
  
  Furthermore the majority of the DLC courses that were offered were courses that were in previous iterations of Tiger so not only does EA not have to design a new course for DLC but they get the consumer to pay for the same DLC again and again.
  - Skihawks
    
    I agree but with TW the game had quite a number of courses packed in. In the case of TW, if gamers chose not to buy the extra courses I don’t think it detracted from the game. This model could cause issues if it impacts the game (such as offering only a handful of courses with a larger number available as DLC).
    - Anonymous
      
      That is true but when you are putting the same courses out again and again and then have people pay for it again and again, then that is a problem. DLC should be relagated to “NEW” content not rehashed content.
MoneyMayweather

I dont even like this game. but at that price its a steal. I’d be willingly to shell out 40 bucks but if the content was so miminmal I would even considering buying the extra stuff.
- Anonymous
  
  You are exactly the type of gamer that THQ is banking on. They want to dupe you into thinking its a steal at 40$, so as to get you to invest in the game and then purchase DLC to make up for their lost earnings from the 40$ price tag.
  
  All you are getting is a glorified demo. The only price point that would make sense is to give players the option of whether they want to play online or not and shave 10$ off the price tag for those who don’t want online play. That is the only thing that makes sense.
Anonymous

On the surface this may sound like a brilliant idea but this experiment will open a virtual pandoras box of problems that will inevitibly screw over the consumer. Leaving everything up to DLC is giving the developers Carte blanche to put less and less in the base games and nickle and dime the consumer for what should otherwise be in the game in the first place.

The consumer has no real way of knowing what the content of a full game should be. Take COD for example. Is 8 maps the norm or is it 10. With this new experiment perhaps the norm becomes 5 and they charge you for the other 3 to 5 maps.

All this reduced pricing does is to dupe the consumer into thinking they have a real choice here and that they are getting value. I am pretty sure at a 40$ entry price the THQ will be pretty lame and then you will be forced to purchase the DLC just to get any decent value out of the game.

I am sorry but I don’t need nor want to purchase video games like I do a car. I want my games fully loaded from the start.
tish

Obviously it depends on what is included and what is left out of this game.

Personally, I AM SO FUCKING SICK OF DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT. Why can’t these companies just produce a nice complete game for $60. No DLC and no patches unless they’re needed. The way they use patches now, these companies are fully aware that they’re releasing broken or incomplete games and then patch it in later.

The very worst is when they try and nickel and the dime the shit out of you with dlc purchases (EA I’m looking at you)

All I want is a finished product like the good ol days.
- Anonymous
  
  Agreed and then you have companies like 2k that releases a game (NBA2k) with a plethora of problems, makes you wait a month for a patch, and said patch doesn’t even address the major problems. Then they make you wait even longer for a second patch and even that doesn’t fix all the problems, then they announce that there will be no more patches for said game.
  
  2k has found the perfect formula for making and releasing games. It obviously works since their game keeps flying off the shelf year after year despite the shady business practices. (* Sorry, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t work in a 2k dig in here. *)