Future DLC?

I see a trend with games today, that being the game itself is released, and then dozens of DLC packs follow it up. People like me choose to just purchase the game for its lump sum without buying the extra frills, and my multiplayer game options are limited because I don't have them. Has Uber said anything about extra paid things in the future? Microtransactions, DLC, the like.

Personally I hope not. Companies these days are announcing and advertising DLC for games that aren't even out yet! It's BS price gouging that really discourages me from spending money on their games. (The reason I don't buy COD or Battlefield or Company of Heroes any more!)

https://forums.uberent.com/search/?type=post

Have a look about to see what everyone has said about DLC.

Funny. I kind of expected that. I'm not stupid, I tried the search bar. But DLC is too short an entry. I want a broad answer, and if I add more characters to my search criteria I won't get the answer I'm looking for.

I think what people don't realize is that making games is expensive. If Uber wants to continue to work on Planetary Annihilation after its release, AND they don't want to make it F2P, AND they don't want to abandon it to work on another project, they will either have to do paid DLC or ask for donations. It's the simple, evil truth.

The alternative, of course, is to set up a "Mod Vault" or encourage the community to make gameworthy content. However, I heard there was a snafoo between Uber and some content creators for SMNC, so that could get a bit iffy.

But there are more considerations than that, think about all the money from Pre-Orders and Steam Early Access purchases, I doubt it's been just sitting in a big pile for everyone at Uber to lounge on, they've been using it and sure, not everything it's being used on is clear from our perspective. And think what will happen when they release.

If Uber delivers a quality game, it'll sell, and if then Continue to provide it with quality content for free, it'll continue to sell(most likely at a reduced rate) and now not only will Uber have a Quality Game, but they have Quality Game Engine as well, which creates a multitude of possibilities for Uber.

It's not nearly as black and white as you describe it.

Mike

Snip.

I'd prefer stand alone content. E.g. Far Cry: Blood Dragon.
DLC and IAP in muliplayer games invariably means a cascade of meaningless bloat on my hard drive that I'm not legally allowed access to.

Single player DLC isn't usually as bad, though I'm not sure how well it sells, and the mess it made of Deus Ex and Mass Effect was still quite sad.

Your right, it isn't. I'm just laying the facts bare (and playing the Devil's Advocate, so feel free to yell at me), so here we go:

Uber is making an RTS. Outside of "mainstream" games (read: Starcraft, LoL, DOTA2, other MOBAs), the RTS is a very niche genere. For that matter, Uber is making a "Military Strategy" RTS, if we're going to assign an arbitrary name to this subgenre. The Kickstarter got 43,000 people on board, if I remember correctly, while it is one of the most popular game on Steam right now. So PA is doing actually exceptionally well considering the niche it fills.

As for DLC and monetary gain, the amount of money a game earns drops off exponentially after its initial release. Now, PA has had three releases so far: Kickstarter, Alpha and Beta. Now we're waiting for Retail release, which may be either the biggest yet or the smallest yet, depending on how Uber handles hype and advertisement. After that, PA will begin to drop off... Unless some major, advertisable and marketable content is released. I.E. DLC. Even then, the percentage of players that buy DLC after the release of a game drops off exponentially with time... So believe it or not, at-release DLC makes sense from a market perspective, if not from a common sense perspective.

Anyways, I'll start rambling about cost models if I continue. My point is that, because PA is almost an exclusively multiplayer game, any DLC will have to be multiplayer. This is BAD. Multiplayer DLC has never done anything but split the community and make people angry. Singleplayer DLC? Not so much. That's okay. Skins? Nobody has the moral high ground on this one, and it goes contra to PA's modability. So PA has no room for DLC in the first place. (I'm thinking out my *** right now, can you tell?)

What this ultimately means is that PA will likely end up the same way as either TF2 or Total Annihilation. The former being a ridiculously successful traditional game turned F2P, the latter being a traditional game which naturally faded into obscurity with exponential decay.

You make strong points. And hopefully the modding community will keep this game alive long after the dev team has ceased work on the game... I'm interested to see other people's replies to your post.

You make an excellent point in saying that Uber will need another source of income after PA is actually released. But I think you err in saying that source of income needs to be microtransaction-like DLCs, either multiplayer or singleplayer.

Why can't they, say, EXPAND on the game with new content and the like? And advertise it, like EVE does?

I mean, afaik, EVE only reskins the same-ish product each time they release a *milestone* patch. Its just new content and balance reworks to fit that content. And man, it works! Old players still pay per month to participate, while newer ones are excited because its the *new thing*, so to speak.

Mind, that is a different genre, and a completely different business model, and a strange idea coming from a guy who has only taken two economics classes at his university.

I mean, EVE is EVERYWHERE I look, and it really is the WoW of the SyFy group.

The key to success in PA is to make it FAMOUS. EVE was groundbreaking, because it was like someone took WoW, threw in some epic space combat, and added a player-driven, moderated economy for everyone involved. It also had a great business model and a fantastic marketing campaign.

To do that sort of thing with PA, to make a continued profit in the long haul, it needs to become an ESPORT. It really seems to be the only avenue that is visible enough to keep people interested year after year. I dont want to emulate SC and SC2 too much (I think of them as an experiment that went way too mainstream), but they really did this well.

So, we need 3 things to make it work:

1. Great Marketing Campaign/ Campaign Manager.
We need someone who can craft a strategy to get this into the minds of people who will LOVE IT, but do not KNOW about it yet.

2. Regular Game Sequels/ Expansions for the long-term.
Not DLCs. Not micro. BIG STUFF. Like a PA 2.

3. PA needs to become an ESPORT that is taken seriously on some level
I can easily see it becoming the 3D Chess of the RTS genre, while SC is Checkers.

Again, this is me, talking from gut feeling and 10 minutes of research. If you see a problem, please, feel free to call me out.

Yes, but my point was not that they would need to monetize the content, the game itself is already monetized and it follows that and added content is also monetized. Also worth remembering is that Uber is making a lot more per sale than most games do to the lack of any middlemen(other than distributors like Steam) which is a nice bonus for Uber.

The Standalone type deal(See F.C. Blood Dragon) is also a really great model for 'mini' Total Conversions.

But I will admit that Modding is a huge issue for DLC, because it should be expected that there will always be some free mods that are very high quality and even possibly some mods that purposely undermine Uber's DLC. But it seems that Uber plans to harness mods to some degree in some form of Mod Marketplace, but details are scarce.

Mike

Entry #2: https://forums.uberent.com/threads/frequently-asked-questions.54326/

Will the game receive updates?
Yes. Uber has stated that they plan on constantly updating and improving PA. Think Team Fortress 2 or Counter Strike: Source.

If they added a Top hat and monocle for the Com for $5, I'd buy it.

But they can't really make people pay for maps...or team colors...and with the whole "giving people the server and you you can mod all you want" thing. It doesn't really allow for much in the way of DLC, Micro-transactiony stuff.

Unless it's like a HUGE change with a bunch of stuff changed, it probably won't work.

I HAVE JUST THE THING!



I was so ahead of the curve! xD

Mike

I support this DLC!

I actually support cosmetic paid DLCs. Has to be purely cosmetic though.

I agree i would defiantly pay for things like this as long as gameplay isn't affected

Please no DLC. I've paid good money enough as it is for features to be left out solely for the purpose of collecting more money. This is something I'd expect from EA, not a project like this.

PA is a MP oriented game and splitting up the community is a bad idea so no extra features/units with DLC.
Cosmetic DLCs won't happen if they Uber doesn't restrict modding, which they won't. Would you still pay 5$ for that top hat and monocle if you could get the same thing for free? Most people wouldn't.
A mod marketplace? If that means you BUY a mod that someone has made for free it is the absolute worst thing they can ever do. It will not CAN NOT happen. If it means a place where you can download mods normally, then it doesn't make them any money.
F2P is also a possibility, but F2P + mods - progression is uncharted territory and makes you wonder: What can they monetize? There's no progression so no XP boosts, there are no queues, mods can make cosmetic changes, ... A fancy looking name tag? I really can't think of anything they could monetize without a serious overhaul of the game which has a chance of ruining it.
They could put ads into the game. I'm sure noone wants them, but money is money and they don't need to take up half your screen while playing, they could be in the lobby or something. Though mods being able to remove them would decrease the add revenue a lot.

So how can they keep the money flowing in?
Well it will keep making a little money from sales anyway, but that's not enough to keep them working on it and improving it.

What can they actually do
They could make a free megapatch every X months and advertise the new awesome features(ala EvE Online). It would definitely sell more copies than small, regular.
Another possibility is a sequel. PA2 anyone? Though it wouldn't be "improving on the game over time", but close.
How about a SP campaign? Have a story that starts in the original game and sell other chapters in which it continues. MP remains the same, people get a campaign and Uber gets money.

sorry overwatch, but SP campaigns are a definite no-no, aside from Galactic War

Wouldn't it have the same downside as DLC?

What is your objection to people asking money for what they have spent time creating? Uber haven't confirmed their plans for this, but the way this usually works is a small % goes to the developers and the rest goes to the mod author.