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TL2: future content planned - all free
Nadia
Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
Torchlight 2 dev wants to avoid paid DLC, pledges free updates
http://www.shacknews.com/article/75859/torchlight-2-dev-wants-to-avoid-paid-dlc-pledges-free
Torchlight 2 is well on its way to becoming a million-seller, according to CEO Max Schaefer, citing the game's "well over a quarter" million pre-orders. Reaching a million sales will make the game instantly profitable, citing a development budget of under $10 million.
Demand for the game, coupled with the rise of digital distribution made it possible for team to price the game at $20--even as it gets favorably compared to the fully-priced Diablo series. That's key to Runic Games' long-term strategy. "In the long run we want to be known as the people who have the best value in gaming," Schaefer said.
He told Kotaku: "We want to build a long-term community. We want to have people that buy our games and stuff for a long long long long time. So it's sort of an investment in the future."
Because of their focus on value, Schaefer promises that all future downloadable content for the game will be free. "Part of our thing is that it's a $20 game, and once you start muddying the waters with paid DLC then it's like, well, it wasn't really $20," he said. "We wanna just avoid that whole thing entirely. We wanna just make it better and better and better."
Comments
Finally somebody seems to understand this, instead of "grab the money quick and run".
Check for example, Trion. You may or may not like the game, but I hardly ever see people complaining about this company, since they update their games so often, listen to the community and aim for polish.
Runic is going in the right direction. Just love your gamers and your gamers will love you back, this simple.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Picture says it all
Pretty much same here. Time just flew.
I can now clearly see how the AH and RMAH affected D3 [see other threads for ample discussion] and I'm so glad TL2 provides an alternative to that.
I refuse to believe the AH ruined Diablo 3 for me. I was put off by the difficulty scaling more than anything. In the first two Diablo games, I remember an easy start, then it gets more challenging, but as you get great gear, the game gets easier. This may not happen until the "end" of the game, or it happens with a lucky item or trade. You never get that with Diablo 3, though.
I believe most people's expectations caused Diablo 3 to turn them away. They were expecting something "different" but the developers didn't meet their expectations. I am not the one to say what that "different" was. However, most of the blame lies on the developers. Their arrogance before the game was released was apparent by their comments which basically said, "This is what fun is. We don't care what you think happened in the other two games. We are redefining fun."
i totally love these guys and although i dont like PWI but hats off to them for giving freedom and independence to riot games for coming up with an awesome smash hit
It is awesome to hear that, though I hope these guys don't go bankrupt. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite game companies. Already, I don't think TL2 is getting nearly the sales it should be getting even though it is better than D3 as a hack-and-slash ARPG.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
A - f**king - men. This exactly. It's funny because as I was reading the OP, I had the same thought and Trion was the first company that came to my mind as well.
It's baffling to me, truly baffling, that so many of these "AAA" companies don't seem to understand the importance of their image to consumers. SOE would be a great example of that, as they constantly nickel and dime their playerbase, just about every chance they get and don't seem to give two sh*ts about how it makes them look. They have a reputation for it, and it certainly isn't winning them any popularity contests in the process.
I can only hope that with companies like Runic and Trion raising the bar with customer expectations and relations, other companies might take from their example and do the same.
To quote your last sentence, "Just love your gamers and your gamers will love you back, this simple." - Nothing could be more true than this.
The game is truly a masterpiece and it deserves a lot more attention and sales. When I see a game like Diablo 3 get all the attention and sales it really does sadden me cause the game is made only to generate money.
My only concern with the game and future content is the online mode. The current online is okay in its barebone state. If they want the game to really take off and shine they need to add dedicated servers and a open/closed mode. If they had these modes i woud definitely sink more hours into the game, but knowing others can eaily mod their character to perfection really does ruin some enjoyment.
This game is so close to finally surpassing Diablo 2 in terms of enjoyment and fun, lets hope Runic can deliver.
It's very doubtful this will ever happen because Runic is actually now owned by Perfect World International. I am curious to see if PWI will start pushing Runic to turn the Torchlight IP into a F2P MMO.
And that just killed any chance of me buying the game. Guess I will be sticking with PoE for now.