Gaming
Was It a Good Idea for Bethesda to Make DOOM’s DLC Free?
DOOM’s latest patch, Update 6.66 (I see what you did there Bethesda) brought a ton of changes and improvements to the game’s Multiplayer and SnapMap modes, but the biggest change of all involved the multiplayer DLC. No, the update didn’t add any new DLC, but instead it made all DLC free for everyone to enjoy, and this has divided the player base. Some gamers love the DLC’s new price of $0, while others are pissed that the content they paid good money for is now bundled with the base game. Given the divisiveness of Bethesda’s decision, I can’t help but wonder whether or not the company should have rethought its decision to make the DLC freely available to all DOOM players.
As I previously stated, many players are more than overjoyed that DOOM’s DLC is now free. Originally, these DLC packs were only available at relatively high prices, approximately $15 per pack or $40 for all three, and they gave players unfair advantages in multiplayer matches. For example, before the patch, the only way to wield a weapon such as the Grenade Launcher was to purchase its respective DLC pack, because players couldn’t (and still can’t) pick up weapons enemies drop thanks to the multiplayer’s loadout system. Furthermore, each pack only included three new multiplayer maps, one new weapon, one demon transformation, and several new customization items; this is a paltry amount of content for $15. Compare this to The Witcher 3’s DLC packs, which have literally hundreds of hours worth of content for roughly the same price, give or take $5, and you quickly see why people are overjoyed they don’t have to pay for DOOM’s DLC anymore — because it’s overpriced. However, we probably should address the elephant in the room, i.e., those who already paid for the DLC.
The gamers who paid for DOOM’s DLC are absolutely livid, almost as livid as those who are complaining about the update’s whopping 35 GB worth of data (yes, some people are actually upset over that). Many players feel cheated that they paid for something that’s now free, which is completely understandable. Normally, game companies give these people some form of rebate or consolation prize, such as increased experience gains or special items, but what will Bethesda give the people who have already bought DOOM’s DLC? According to the Update 6.66 FAQ and Patch Notes page: bupkis. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Nothing. These gamers don’t even get to keep their multiplayer level. Sure, gamers who bought the DLC now have a nice shiny in-game badge, but so does everyone else who played the DOOM multiplayer before the update. Personally, if I had bought the game’s DLC, I would demand a refund. I’m sorry Bethesda, but while you are well within your rights to determine the price of your products, not giving so much as a special thank you to players who spent money on DOOM’s DLC is a bad business move and a good way to lose customers.
So, now that I’ve covered both sides of the argument, it’s time to finally answer the question: should Bethesda have kept the DLC behind a paywall? No, definitely not. The DLC packs included so little content they should have been free from the beginning; asking gamers to spend money on what most other multiplayer games include in free updates is borderline insulting.
Since all of DOOM’s multiplayer DLC is now free, gamers can start working towards weapons and armor sets previously exclusive to paid DLC this weekend thanks to a free gameplay weekend. Furthermore, the game is currently at a steal of only $15, ironically the previous price of its DLC, so anyone who enjoys the game can purchase it at its lowest price ever.
Gaming
Ubisoft says that future Assassin’s Creed games will need more time to be made
As Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about to sneak up on people in November, Ubisoft says that the time between developing games needs to be longer to find the “right balance.” Shadows has been in development for four years, longer than any other game in the series up to this point. That includes the huge open-world epics Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Shadows lead producer Karl Onnée (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz) says that the latest AC game took 25% longer to make than Valhalla. He says this is necessary to keep the quality of the series that it is known for: “It’s always a balance between time and costs, but the more time you have, the more you can iterate.” You can speed up a project by adding more people to it, but that doesn’t give you more time to make changes.
Onnée says this has as much to do with immersion and aesthetics as it does with fixing bugs and smoothing out pixels. This is because the development team needs time to learn about each new historical setting: “We are trying to make a game that is as real as possible.” We’re proud of it, and the process took a long time. In feudal Japan, building a house is very different from building a house in France or England in the Middle Ages. As an artist, you need to learn where to put things in a feudal Japanese home. For example, food might not belong there. Get all the information you need and learn it. That process takes a long time.”
You’ll have to wait a little longer for Ubisoft to work on each game. Are you okay with that? In what part of Shadows are you now? Is it interesting to you? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Gaming
You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP on PS5
You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, a remaster that Dragami Games and Capcom both created. You can now pre-order the PS5 game on the PS Store for $44.99 or £39.99. If you have PS Plus, you can get an extra 10% off the price.
The company put out a new trailer with about three minutes of gameplay to mark the start of the pre-order period. Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a remaster of Grasshopper Manufacture’s crazy action game from 2012. You play as Juliet, a high school student who fights off waves of zombies.
The remaster adds RePOP mode, an alternative mode that swaps out the blood and gore for fun visual effects. It also adds a bunch of other features and improvements that make the game better overall. You can expect the graphics and sound to be better as well.
The game will now come out on September 12, 2024, instead of September 12, 2024. Are you excited to get back to this? Please cheer us on in the section below.
Gaming
This Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 zombies trailer is way too expensive
Is there really anyone who is following the story of Call of Duty’s zombie mode? We’ve known about the story in a vague way for a while, but we couldn’t tell you anything about it. It looks like the “Dark Aether” story will continue in Black Ops 6, but we don’t really know what that means.
For those of you who care, here is the official blurb with some background: “Requiem, led by the CIA, finally closed the last-dimensional portal, sending its inhabitants back to the nightmare world known as the Dark Aether, after two years of fighting zombie outbreaks around the world during the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War timeline.”
Wait, there’s more! “Agent Samantha Maxis gave her life to seal this weird dimension from the inside out.” Even worse things were to come: senior staff members of Requiem were arrested without a reason by the Project Director, who turned out to be Edward Richtofen.
Black Ops 6 will take place about five years later, and it looks like it will show more about Richtofen’s goals and motivations. The most important thing is that you will probably be shooting an unimaginable number of zombies in the head. This week, on August 8, there will be a full reveal of the gameplay, so keep an eye out for that.
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