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Naughty Dog's "season pass" for Uncharted 3: Disgusting Ripoff or not?

J

jett

D-Member
edit: duckroll ftw

So like Epic Games before them, Naughty Dog prepared a season pass for the multiplayer experience of Uncharted 3, they gave it the "Fortune Hunters Club" moniker. They promised the following for $25, and I quote from the official PSblog:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/10/18/uncharted-3-join-the-fortune-hunters-club/

The Fortune Hunters’ Club DLC program entitles you to the first four multiplayer map packs and the first three multiplayer skin packs for UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception with the first DLC release coming in November.
Click to expand...

I figured, hey, I had a lot of fun with Uncharted 2 MP, lots of people on my FL still played, they all participated in the UC3 betas, so I'll jump in on this and save some money since buying four map packs independently would probably cost more than $25.

WELL.

Two of those four map packs? Old maps from Uncharted 2 with a new coat of paint.
Third map pack? Not a map pack at all. A single co-op mission with 100% reused assets from Uncharted 1, not actual new content either. Yes, they're considering this shit a map pack.
Fourth map pack? Four new maps at last.

So four new maps for $25.

I look at what Epic offered for their $30 Season Pass for GeoW3 and I feel disgusted.

Would you people consider this a ripoff? Grounds for demanding a refund?
 
K

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
You'll never get a refund, but this is why opting in for season passes are stupid. No offense. =/
 
S

soultron

Banned
I feel like a little transparency would help. Detail roughly what and when. If I'm interested, I'm happy to buy. But I don't like buying blind when it comes to DLC. This isn't Kickstarter.
 
S

specialguy

Banned
jett said:
edit: damnit firefox, a mod do me the favor of editing "Disgusting ripoff or not?" in the title

So like Epic Games before them, Naughty Dog prepared a season pass for the multiplayer experience of Uncharted 3, they gave it the "Fortune Hunters Club" moniker. They promised the following for $25, and I quote from the official PSblog:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/10/18/uncharted-3-join-the-fortune-hunters-club/



I figured, hey, I had a lot of fun with Uncharted 2 MP, lots of people on my FL still played, they all participated in the UC3 betas, so I'll jump in on this and save some money since buying four map packs independently would probably cost more than $25.

WELL.

Two of those four map packs? Old maps from Uncharted 2 with a new coat of paint.
Third map pack? Not a map pack at all. A single co-op mission with 100% reused assets from Uncharted 1, not actual new content either. Yes, they're considering this shit a map pack.
Fourth map pack? Four new maps at least.

So four new maps for $25.

I look at what Epic offered for their $30 Season Pass for GeoW3 and I feel disgusted.

Would you people consider this a ripoff? Grounds for demanding a refund?
Click to expand...


Debatable..."old maps with a new coat of paint" are still maps, that's arbitrary.

And standard map packs are $15, so it doesnt seem like you got ripped off. You got a standard new map pack for $15 (the 4th one), and then a lot of other stuff for the other $10 (the two old levels map packs plus the coop level)...
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
specialguy said:
Debatable..."old maps with a new coat of paint" are still maps, that's arbitrary.

And standard map packs are $15, so it doesnt seem like you got ripped off. You got a standard new map pack for 15, and then a lot of other stuff for the other $10...

But UC3 was selling season pass for just $25? Thought those were like $45, was UC3 MP that unpopular?
Click to expand...

Nobody should be charging for remakes of existing content, especially when that content is already available on the same console.
 
C

Card Boy

Banned
Never really liked Naughty Dog this generation, I did in the PS1/PS2 days. They seem pretty stuck up their own arses.

The only season pass that was worth it was the LA Noire one, even if you are part of the collective on Gaf that seems to hate the game. From what I heard even CoD Elite people are getting well looked after.

I voted with my wallet on the FHC thingo it seemed like a ripoff especially in my region.
 
J

jett

D-Member
specialguy said:
Debatable..."old maps with a new coat of paint" are still maps, that's arbitrary.

And standard map packs are $15, so it doesnt seem like you got ripped off. You got a standard new map pack for 15, and then a lot of other stuff for the other $10...

But UC3 was selling season pass for just $25? Thought those were like $45, was UC3 MP that unpopular?
Click to expand...

The old maps are moderately debatable I guess, but counting a co-op mission as a map pack really isn't.

I think each UC3 map pack costs $10.
 
S

soultron

Banned
FyreWulff said:
Nobody should be charging for remakes of existing content, especially when that content is already available on the same console.
Click to expand...

But it's often hilarious when fans say stuff like,

"Remake (map title) please! It was my favourite map from (game title) (sequel numbering)!"

I'll admit I've done it in the past.
 
X

XBOX HIVES

Banned
Can you still get UC3's season pass? Gears of War 3 still has their season pass available--it's basically just a bundle discount. Sometimes it pays to just wait and check out what comes out first.
 
I

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
Not that I don't feel for you..but what can one say? If you get suckered into buying dlc or buying new instead of used for games with questionable practices, can't really blame anyone but you. Nowadays every company is out to pull a fast one on you, gotta get used to it and weed out the nonsense. I'm sure people who bought Saints Row 3 season passes feel just as burned.
 
Alex

Alex

Member
The season pass is still for sale, isn't it, or did it go away, I thought I saw it recently.

Anyway, this is actually the first gen I liked Naughty Dog, their platformers never did much for me and the Uncharted games are some of the only bloated budget type shooters I like (I even like the competitive multi and on consoles there's not much of that that clicks for me)

But yeah, looking at the content available, it's a really poor value. I hate piecemeal DLC, I only dip into it occasionally but I wish they'd just do digital expansion packs with a good glut of content for a medium price.
 
Y

Yagharek

Member
Definitely a rip off.

If we are to believe that this is content planned early on in the game's production (not confusing this with on disc DLC) then surely a much more accurate product description should have been available.

So not only was it a ripoff (like the game itself), it was deceptive and probably closer to flat out lying from naughty dog.
 
Y

Yo Gotti

Banned
Season passes are shit. A bunch of useless garbage that segments the online userbase and hurts the overall quality of the multiplayer experience.

Hope this fad dies fast.
 
C

Card Boy

Banned
RandomVince said:
Definitely a rip off.

If we are to believe that this is content planned early on in the game's production (not confusing this with on disc DLC) then surely a much more accurate product description should have been available.

So not only was it a ripoff (like the game itself), it was deceptive and probably closer to flat out lying from naughty dog.
Click to expand...

Vince your forgetting the season pass is like 40bucks here in Australia.
 
LightofRohan

LightofRohan

Member
I purchased the pass and supported an awesome company, I'm ok with that. I support them as much as I can, while they work on Last of Us. :p
 
M

Mr.Swag

Banned
I bought a U3 season pass.
I played U3 online for approx. 5 hours.
I never even downloaded the DLC.
Guess I ripped myself off. :/
 
A

a Master Ninja

Member
Mr.Swag said:
I bought a U3 season pass.
I played U3 online for approx. 5 hours.
I never even downloaded the DLC.
Guess I ripped myself off. :/
Click to expand...
You've just explained why the Season Pass exists. Most players will have moved on by the time Map packs 2-4 get released. This way pubs get the money upfront when the game is fresh and only the truly dedicated minority actually get the benefit of a small discount.
 
E

Eusis

Member
Yo Gotti said:
Season passes are shit. A bunch of useless garbage that segments the online userbase and hurts the overall quality of the multiplayer experience.

Hope this fad dies fast.
Click to expand...
The sad thing is that it really didn't need to be like this. It was off to a good start with LA Noire (even if that was more a case of "this had to go multiplatform and would go beyond 3 DVDs!") and Gears of War 3 (wow at that content), but then we had Saints Row the Third's which is of dubious savings, and this one that seems pretty ludicrous for FINALLY getting some new content. If they use this well (effectively bundling together as an "expansion pack) rather than barely offering savings or offering relatively little then yeah, it should die.

Then again, this is sort of the problem with DLC period, isn't it? It's a great idea in theory, but in practice it's more often straight up abused, or worse reality simply KEEPS it from really getting good (developers better off on new stuff, limited patching capabilities of Xbox/slow patching of PS3, arbitrary restrictions by Microsoft on XBL that drive up prices and decrease value).
 
T

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Season passes are more often than not, obvious ripoffs. They're like the Nigerian prince scam of online passes.

I don't know why people spend money on them.
 
G

glaurung

Member
I knew the season passes were bull from the get go.

I never bought it for Saints Row or LA Noire, which are the two prominent examples.
 
S

Sean

Banned
That's an absolutely terrible value and the reason why I'll probably never buy a season pass. Just seems like too risky of an investment.
 
F

FStop7

Banned
Season passes are terrible.

"You give us money up front for unspecified content on an unspecified release schedule"

Such a bad idea and a waste of money.
 
L

Lingitiz

Member
Its a huge ripoff made even worse by the fact you rarely get the maps in matchmaking, and when you do its against stacked teams.
 
J

Jimrpg

Member
I'll explain to you how the season pass works...

Gears of War Season Pass

= 10000 ppl sign up at (say $30? a season pass) = $300,000 revenue
= 3,000 man hours to deliver maps, skins etc, game design, QC etc

Uncharted 3 Season Pass

= 1000 ppl sign up ($25 a season pass) = $25,000 revenue
= 250 man hours

hmmm lets skimp and upload the old maps and old skins and old art... u don't even need QC.

no one is going to take a loss on extraneous stuff like DLC.
 
Surface of Me

Surface of Me

I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
FStop7 said:
Season passes are terrible.

"You give us money up front for unspecified content on an unspecified release schedule"

Such a bad idea and a waste of money.
Click to expand...

You can wait and see for some season passes, the Gears 3 one is still available and has even been on sale atleast once.

The only two season passes I've bought are Gears and MK, satisfied with both.
 
H

hamchan

Member
I took the plunge and I got burned by it. So yes, I consider myself being ripped off. I thought Naughty Dog would be a safe developer to buy a season pass from, guess not.

COD Elite is actually a pretty good season pass. I'm quite satisfied by it.
 
B

bigtroyjon

Member
I wish we had actual journalists who covered gaming, this is exactly the type of thing that a competent journalist could write a quality story about.

Nothing causes a company to change their ways like a bunch of bad publicity about shitty things they do.
 
E

Eusis

Member
Lingitiz said:
Its a huge ripoff made even worse by the fact you rarely get the maps in matchmaking, and when you do its against stacked teams.
Click to expand...
This is part of why I've come to hate map packs as paid DLC: it might sound like a good idea in theory, but in practice it mainly serves to fragment the userbase. Those that only play every so often get left out from friends, and those that want to play with random strangers tend to get boned. Valve's approach is best, and it's a shame Microsoft's helped cultivate an environment where this is actively avoided by most companies, and barred from those (VALVE) that do want it to be otherwise.

Although, it might help if you got more maps with each pack! Even if it was just playing with assets for a few quick and easy maps, it'd be a lot easier to rationalize $10 for, well, 10 maps than 3.
 
J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Eusis said:
This is part of why I've come to hate map packs as paid DLC: it might sound like a good idea in theory, but in practice it mainly serves to fragment the userbase. Those that only play every so often get left out from friends, and those that want to play with random strangers tend to get boned. Valve's approach is best, and it's a shame Microsoft's helped cultivate an environment where this is actively avoided by most companies, and barred from those (VALVE) that do want it to be otherwise.

Although, it might help if you got more maps with each pack! Even if it was just playing with assets for a few quick and easy maps, it'd be a lot easier to rationalize $10 for, well, 10 maps than 3.
Click to expand...

Agreed. That is, release Downloadable Content for free, but charge for Downloadable Crap (e.g. hats!)
 
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