Valve: our downloadable content will be free
by Richard Mitchell 
{ May 25th 2007 at 3:00PM }
When perusing our comment threads, you may see comments from Team Fortress 2 fans that will be opting for the PC version over the 360 version? Why? Lots of free content. Specifically, lots of free user-made content. While it may be some time before user-made content heads to the 360, we are happy to report that any downloadable content for the Orange Box will be free. Eurogamer reports that Valve will not charge for its DLC. According to Team Fortress 2 designer, Robin Walker, "You buy the product, you get the content," who adds, "We make more money because more people buy it, not because we try and nickel-and-dime the same customers." We imagine that someone at EA -- publisher of the Orange Box -- has just imploded. Free content is always good, especially when you consider that TF2 will ship with only 6 maps.[Via Joystiq]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ccc @ May 25th 2007 3:11PM
How is it that they can manage to make all thier content free but Redoctane, epic and ubi soft can't? And point the finger of blame at Microsoft?
Gregg Landess @ May 25th 2007 3:12PM
Thank you Valve!
Maybe other money grubbing developers will take note...
yeah right
Scott @ May 25th 2007 3:17PM
Interesting post so shortly after the previous DLC one (my feelings are there already about the current state). Obviously having all DLC free would be nice, but its far from expected. Its classy of Valve to make such promises, but after saying that, I would have to assume its impossible for them to ever throw out something like the Shivering Isles. How could they create 30 hours of content and then throw it out on the house? I don't really have a problem paying for the content if it keeps the quality of said content up, but the price should really be relative to the amount of an increase you get on the game. Senor from the previous DLC post had a good point (except he threw in a Carlos Mencia joke, which makes anything he says in question since his judgement is obviously poor if he is watching anything Mencia does :) ), Gears was a $60 game. Currently 4 maps are 1/6 of the price at $10. Is 4 maps equal to 1/6 of the game; I submit it is not. But would I expect them to give out the extra work for free, not necessarily. And if it were free, would I expect them to keep creating it more into the future? Not so much. It'll be interesting to see how much content is added to the Orange Box if they hold true to their promise. Hopefully other developers follow suit, or at least decide to put a little more effort into deciding what that price point will be for their new content.
Scott @ May 25th 2007 3:22PM
Well, I wrote out this really nice reply, and I guess I am too dumb and my password was wrong and I lost it all, so I guess I will just get to the point quicker this time:
I don't expect DLC to be free, even though its nice when it is. I just expect it to be fairly priced when compared to what it adds to the game. 1/6 the price of the game should equal 1/6 of an addition to the game.
Scott @ May 25th 2007 3:23PM
And of course now I see my first reply did work, so now I just feel like the moron of the century.
Love scott
Mike @ May 25th 2007 3:28PM
"How is it that they can manage to make all thier content free but Redoctane, epic and ubi soft can't? And point the finger of blame at Microsoft?"
The same reason Valve won't be able to: Microsoft has the final say and won't let them put especially popular content out for free (ie: the new Gears maps, which were all set to be free after Epic made the same claim Valve is making now). Microsoft makes money off selling Microsoft Points, and I'm willing to bet they take a big chunk out of the actual spending of those Points on content. Yet we still have to pay for Xbox Live...what a total stickup job. I think subscribers to Xbox Live should at least get a fucking discount.
Knight Marquise @ May 25th 2007 3:31PM
Scott,
You certainly don't look like a moron, and I thought your response was very well thought out.
I would tend to agree with you. As an Xbox360 user, and 3 others with their own accounts on their own xbox 360 in my home, I spend a great deal on DLC (that damn video marketplace has my number). If it extends the value of my initial purchase, then it's worth it to me. If it doesn't, I simply don't purchase and I'm not hurt.
The gears maps packs for instance, I purchased w/o a second thought. It increased the value of that game for me. The GHII songs, not true....now if they were done by their original artist, then yes I'd pay that, but not as they stand now. Should the price drop later, then I'll consider it.
I think, basically, it's up to everyone to form their own opinion. If the stuff doesnt' add value and it's over priced, people aren't likely to purchase it, and an adjustment will be made. What perturbs me, however, is the people who trash others for purchasing DLC that they feel is overprised/or should be free. I own my own business, and I don't work for free and never expect anyone else to provide me services or value for free.
Benjamin09 @ May 25th 2007 3:40PM
I don't mind paying for content. I love the new gears maps and it was worth it same with the crackdown content. Great stuff! These are games I love to play (even thought I am missing one F*$% orb in Crackdown)
I don't work for free at my job, I work to get paid and they do the same. So if me turning over an additional $5-10 for some more goodies thats fine.
Now I am not saying that I am going to spend 3 bucks on horse armour, 10 bucks for solitaire or to pay for the locations of the cog tags but there is always going to be some crap with the good stuff. That is what a free market is here for, options and option to charge for your goods.
Scott @ May 25th 2007 3:58PM
@Knight, anytime you see me triple post in a row, u are free to call me putz cuz I deserve it.
Now, more power to anyone that wants to buy any random crap they want. I do feel you are doing a disservice to your more price conscious (or cheap ass cheapskates as I like to call us) gamers by letting whoever is watching the sales of these items think "Some people are buying it, so it must be a fair price." By now I was kind of hoping the uproar of the GHII stuff would have brought out some change, but I am starting to think it was a bust. Time will tell i suppose.
With Gears, I love the game, and the multiplayer on it is phenomenal. But they put the game out at $60, which included like 8 maps? i believe, the full and fairly lengthy single player campaign, the engine to run all of this, etc. And then to have 4 maps at $10 just doesn't seem to be fair pricing to me (unless that was always planned into the cost of the creation of the game and the X amt of people that pay extra for those maps allowed them to release the game at $60 instead of $70, then thats fine, but I find it hard to believe that is the case). And if they have to charge this much cuz MS is really charging that much for certification, then that is really lame on their part. I gotta run, so this will just have to be the end of this thought for now for me . . .
spot778 @ May 25th 2007 4:16PM
No where in the interview does he mention Live. Methinks the answer is PC based one NOT an Xbox 360 one.
rinks @ May 25th 2007 4:50PM
So where the hell is the game? Christ, Valve is the world's slowest developer. It's taken this long to get a port of a 2 year old PC game? Yeah, I know Team Fortress, fine, but this is ridiculous.
J8675309 @ May 25th 2007 5:41PM
How much yall wanna bet that someone twists Valve's arm and they have to charge for their 5h!+ ? Or at least initially at first?
Dru @ May 25th 2007 6:33PM
I'm just hoping that this "free content" will also turn out to be some user created maps. Or the console release will really be useless to me. Good for valve, I know I wouldn't buy the 360 version if I didn't have free maps!
Steve @ May 25th 2007 8:21PM
The console generation knows that we've been getting free DLC on the PC for 20 odd years now right?
ProjectEkim360 @ May 25th 2007 8:48PM
Everyone loves free things
Jason @ May 26th 2007 2:39AM
If Valve were selling these games under the Games for Windows brand, then they won't be offering this content for free. MS will not allow it. Not only do publishers pay to get the branding and to be a part of LIVE, they will also be pressured by MS to charge for all additional content.
nick.bonanno @ May 26th 2007 7:32PM
At least with steam we have free content updates.... Also guys lets not forget where Gabe came from. Even though hes been away from Microsoft for quite sometime i think MS still has a soft spot for him. But hell what does it matter to me, ill be buying this stuff on Steam.
mistian @ May 26th 2007 11:19PM
i love free
graddy @ May 27th 2007 5:53AM
MS wont let them and we all know it already.
Its just doing what Epic did and blaming MS for the inevital content costs.
James @ May 27th 2007 1:44PM
I'd call it a bit disingenuous to lump Shivering Isles into the term 'DLC' -- it's usually associated with "micropayments", e.g. content that adds something small to a game (or a game that costs less than ~$10). I consider Shivering Isles a traditional expansion pack (think Zero Hour for Command and Conquer Generals or Lost Chapters for Fable), except you can get it electronically. If you look just at small content packs -- the mind leaps to horse armor, new cars in racing games, etc -- we get to the meat of it. I think the best way to phrase the legitimate argument is that gamers expect the price of DLC to be commensurate with the perceived effort required to create it. Thus, horse armor and $3-a-song Guitar Hero tunes get ridiculed, while the Crackdown update adding e.g. vehicle impounding for free gets lauded. If Valve invests hundreds of designer-hours in a bunch of maps and charges 5 bucks or whatever for the pack, fine. My point (I was one of the people saying in comments I'd buy the PC version) is that they lack user content that was created in the "open source" mindset -- giving away something you worked on because it makes you happy to share. People can *make* for-pay content and I don't fault them for it -- think HL Episode One/Two, or even the $10 extras for Crackdown -- but I want to keep the venue for legitimate free content open. 360's closed platform doesn't let me do that, which is unfortunate because otherwise I would like the idea of never having my new e.g. video drivers break the game...
Muu @ May 28th 2007 3:15PM
Start with 6 maps and then call 'additional' content free? If they're starting with more I could understand but this just sounds like they're rushing the release (though they've already delayed this thing to hell and back).
Quality downloadable content should be charged, at a pricepoint that maximizes profit for the publisher. I'm sure developers are looking at reactions to content this generation, and will be trying to make more reasonable options available on their next releases.