Capcom dickmoves

[Fzero]

What do you think ... a bit out of order for people in a couple years time looking to get [insert_game_title_here] on the cheap?


http://dvice.com/archives/2011/06/capcom-tries-to.php


If you cant link through, or be bothered to, its news about Capcom who plan to quash the 2nd hand game market, by releasing games that have a 'single use game save' built in.


Sounds a bit lame to me

 

[Prometheus]

This is from last June. Mercifully, it only affected one game - the apparently excreable Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. They took a LOT of heat for it.


Capcom has since claimed to have seen the error of their ways on this, but I suppose only time will tell. I can't check myself, because they haven't made anything I want to buy in quite some years (the last time I bought a Capcom game at all was two years ago, but that was a download rather than a proper retail title, and the last time they bothered releasing anything I care about at retail was *five years ago*), and it doesn't appear that this will change anytime soon.

 

[milkshake]

what about sf4 ssf4 mvc3 umvc3? these are all awsome capcom games

 

[Prometheus]

^ Like I said, they haven't made anything I want to buy in years.

 

[Fzero]

so it is


I hadnt noticed the date of article, or heard about this back then either. I was reading something else on dvice then saw that headline and clicked through.


Glad it flopped then, sounded like a bad idea to me and not one that would be very welcomed by the masses.


Nevermind, old news, let it lie.... onto the next post

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

I really hope this is the last of this non resetting nonsense.All the tricks publishers are trying to implement to curb seconhand games sales are really pissing me off.


On another note:They are releasing dragons dogma and asuras wrath soon two games im looking forward to.edit:even if it's old news it still shows the lengths some publishers will go to.

 

[-Tj-]

I feel like all the "new" market ideas the big companies are trying are slowly killing their sales. They may not see problems short-term, but I betcha if they keep doing it they'll notice a decline as people realize the companies are doing things they don't like.


Single use game save sounds really stupid. They won't kill the used games market this way, they'll kill their own sales because new game buyers won't want to buy it if the resale value will suck. Sure, maybe Gamestop will buy it back for the same price as other games, but what about the mom-and-pop type game stores, eBay auctions, et al? People who don't want to buy the game at the new price won't be buying it at the new price regardless, and if they really wanted to play it new for cheap they'll just buy it when the price comes down to bargain bin prices. It'll also drive hackers to try and find a way to reset the save data, which means they probably have to use a hacked game system to do it on.


Anywho, even if this is old news, this is the first I've heard of it, and it sounds like just another in a long list of bad ideas by veteran game companies. I feel like these old players in the game industry want more and more money, while they don't realize players want more value for what they're paying. Sony, imo, really screwed the pooch when they nixed the UMD Passport service from the western releases of the Vita. I would have bought many, if not all of my PSP games at discounted prices if it meant I only had to carry my Vita from that point onward. Their defense is that players on our side of the pond wouldn't use it much anyway. But did they consider all the players who might not find any of the launch titles all that interesting to them, who'd rather play their old games on fresh hardware? Massive labored sigh... I'll shut up now.

 

[TDT]

The whole DRM thing can be a real pain.


A good example is Apple's AAC DRM a few years ago. You had a max of 5 computers you can play it on, and if you wanted to upgrade your library to the non-drm/better-quality version it cost $.30 a song. Needless to say, when amazon started selling MP3s without DRM, I never purchased another Apple AAC again. It's not worth it.


In terms of video games, what was said already is true. There are some games that, yeah, I find interesting - but no, I won't pay $50-60 for. That doesn't change regardless of how much time has passed. When the price drops (say to $20), I'm more apt to purchase it. This may be used, this may be new. The thing is, if they have a lot of DRM in place (e.g. the recent Assassin's Creed game), I'm not going to buy their game *ever*, more out of protest. I haven't purchased, no plan to purchase, the newest assassin's creed game. Maybe their DRM may not affect me, but I'm finding the DRM-tight rope that these companies are on a bit disturbing.


I wish that DRM wasn't an issue...and it's kinda why I purchase so much from Steam right now. Their DRM is not intrusive. I can load the game on as many computers as i want, have synchronization between them, and have pretty much full control of my game. The horror stories I've heard about origin is why I'm not going to buy anything from there.


I hope, eventually, companies realize that the more DRM they put on their products, the more their sales will hurt.

 

[pmprog]

Does anybody know how that "one save" technically works?

 

[WizardStan]

Does anybody know how that "one save" technically works?

Nothing fancy, it just doesn't have any functionality to erase the save game.


In theory you could use a homebrew card to take a dump of the save game data from a brand new game, and then restore it when it is done, but very few people have a homebrew card, fewer still that are capable of doing a save dump like that.

 

[Prometheus]

I feel like all the "new" market ideas the big companies are trying are slowly killing their sales. They may not see problems short-term, but I betcha if they keep doing it they'll notice a decline as people realize the companies are doing things they don't like.

Capcom's earnings dropped 28% last year, and their profit dropped 49% - they're *already* in trouble. Chances are, this was a misplaced knee-jerk reaction to it, rather than realising that catering to and cultivating all parts of the market (instead of the niche of high-age-rated titles, whose buyers are likely to have less and less funds for buying these niche games in times to come for various reasons, including starting families and dealing with the poor economy) is actually the way to go.


Capcom doesn't get it. I expect they'll go under at some point within the next five years - quite possibly less - if they don't turn things around. And they're showing no signs of turning things around - only signs of continuing not to get it.

Does anybody know how that "one save" technically works?

You get one save file. You can't erase it or start over. It really is that simple.


Some people made the excuse that "It's an arcade-style game! You're meant to beat your old high-scores!", but most didn't buy into that excuse. Hell, I don't know about any of you guys, but even with such titles, sometimes I find it nice to just start over from a clean slate.

 

[elwing]

lol, It's kinda great that you get more functionality if you play pirated version rather than the original game... theses kind of "protections" are just huge failure...

 

[-Tj-]

@Prometheus


I'm surprised at those numbers being so large, but not surprised at their decline. Unless some of their newer IP starts to take hold and they can profit from them, I've a feeling they'll be cutting a lot from the bottom and working their way up. A good 10-15 years ago they went thru what I thought was a kind of renaissance where they started trying out some new IP and ideas and started bringing new audiences to them, but it seems as of late that all they're interested in is keeping their current IPs alive (and are making some pretty awful decisions in the process).

 

[Caine]

We really ought to have a European directive which establishes second-hand sale as a fundamental consumer right. This kind of crap is what gets companies onto my blacklist.

 

[Prometheus]

but it seems as of late that all they're interested in is keeping their current IPs alive (and are making some pretty awful decisions in the process).

Only very particular IPs, favoured by the company's current president, though* (that is, just stuff that caters to a narrow demographic of young-adult males). That's why the company is going in this dire direction where only a tiny niche is being catered to, and industryite fads (like the telephone-gaming myth) are being blindly followed with no consideration for how bad an idea that is, even though the proof is right there in their plummetting profits and earnings.


*I've seen some theories about a politicised rivalry between him and Keiji Inafune, which now appears to be being taken out on us Mega Man fans and our money... I have to laugh when folks say that things are all about money, when I encounter companies like this who feel that, in spite of their big financial problems, they can afford not only to turn customers away, but to actively blame said customers for their poor decisions! (Would I be right in guessing that this facet of Capcom's behaviour has gone unnoticed by a surprising number of people, too? )

 

[CAZMIESTER]

^ Like I said, they haven't made anything I want to buy in years.

Yeah same old same old its about time software houses got a boot up the ass thats how im glad i grew up during the arcade craze originality oozed at ever corner unlike today with there franchises your lucky if you see an original game twice a year.

 

[pmprog]

Nothing fancy, it just doesn't have any functionality to erase the save game.


In theory you could use a homebrew card to take a dump of the save game data from a brand new game, and then restore it when it is done, but very few people have a homebrew card, fewer still that are capable of doing a save dump like that.

You get one save file. You can't erase it or start over. It really is that simple.

So how would that kill the resale which is what people were whining about

Once you play through the game entirely, unlocking all of the hidden treasures and extras, a user will not be able to erase the game's data and start over again. What does this mean? The next person who plays a used copy can only continue playing the saved data with that particular player's settings, and cannot start over fresh for their own personal gaming experience.

From one site, but if they throw it in a different unit, that save file won't "exist" (although this is a DS game isn't it, so saved on the cart?)

 

[Christoph.Krn]

A good example is Apple's AAC DRM a few years ago. You had a max of 5 computers you can play it on, and if you wanted to upgrade your library to the non-drm/better-quality version it cost $.30 a song. Needless to say, when amazon started selling MP3s without DRM, I never purchased another Apple AAC again. It's not worth it.

Well, without Steve Jobs there might never have been DRM-free music downloads.


Apple had been pressed for a long time to allow more flexible pricing in the iTunes store, but they never wanted to change the 99c pricing model:

Apple Inc. set the 99-cent-per-song rate in 2003 when it launched the iTunes Store. The company long resisted pressure from the music industry to allow flexible pricing, arguing that it would inhibit sales.

Source: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/26/business/fi-cotown-itunes26


Apple allowed flexible pricing in iTunes in exchange for DRM-free music (not surprisingly, iTunes' flexible pricing has slowed down sales). At the same time, the music industry wanted competition in the music download business; as a result, Amazon was able to sell cheap DRM-free music.


Conclusion: Apple had accepted higher prices with a decrease in sales for the sake of DRM free music knowing that it would increase overall sales in the long term, and without this move Amazon might never have been able to sell music without DRM (though this can obviously not be verified).

 

[WizardStan]

From one site, but if they throw it in a different unit, that save file won't "exist" (although this is a DS game isn't it, so saved on the cart?)

Yes, as with most cart based systems, DS save files are stored on the cart itself.

 

[gunrock]

Can we rename this thread in Capcom dickmoves? <_<