14 DAY TRIAL // I love video games, I love both discovering new ideas and mechanics for smaller titles and spending hundreds of hours in order to achieve victory in complex AAA releases and I am willing to spend money on the franchises that have satisfied me in the past.
But I have recently started to get really annoyed when publishers like Activision, Electronic Arts or Ubisoft, working on high-profile releases like Call of Duty, Dragon Age or Assassin’s Creed, announce yet another version of the game, ranging from a classic Collector’s Edition with attached physical content to a Deluxe digital version with some unique weapon or item.
I understand that there are gamers who love getting a package that feels unique in some small way and that there are plenty who actively hunt down one exclusive or another.
But for the vast majority of players the announcements and the variety is only a distraction and the best way for big publishers to proceed in the coming years is to try and offer just two versions of each title that they are launching.
Stripped Down to the Bone
Dragon Age: Inquisition will offer a single-player campaign with solid replayability, a large world to explore and a big main quest to solve, and I will end up probably playing through it 2 or 3 times, which might mean one hundred hours in total.
Call of Duty devotees who get into the coming Advanced Warfare will probably spend an equal amount engaged in multiplayer, trying out the variety of tactics and weapons offered.
Their enjoyment is linked to the virtual space and it’s unlikely that any kind of real world item will make it easier to forgive low quality or will boost long-term engagements.
Does any member of either of the two groups really need to get that special statue that will simply sit on a shelf?
No, they need to engage with their favorite experiences in interesting and innovative ways, which means that developers and publishers should offer one version of their title, both at retail and via digital distribution channels, that includes all in-game content but no physical one other than the disk.
Filled to the Brim
There are gamers who are so dedicated to a video game franchise that they want to support the companies working on it by picking up a limited edition, while also getting access to a number of both physical and virtual rewards that they can use to show off their superfan status.
For them the publisher and the developer should offer a Special Edition, just one, which includes all the extra content that is designed for the game, for a price that reflects the cost of the extra content.
Different versions for retail chains should be eliminated, as should be using different pricing on different markets.
This way the biggest fans of FIFA or Assassin’s Creed or Destiny can get the extra content they crave for, but no confusion is introduced for the rest of the buyers.
Companies should try to make it as easy and quick as possible for gamers to decide which version of an upcoming title they would like to get, and the fastest way to achieve this goal would be to create two very different packages, attach a price to each of them and let every potential player decide which one is suited to his needs.