Bioware and Electronic Arts to tempt gamers away from pirated copies of Dragon Age with free DLC and exclusive items.
EA became bit of a four-letter word amongst gamers following some rather poor decisions about DRM controls on Spore and Red Alert 3. We were pretty vocally against install limits as DRM ourselves, though we do get that game publishers need to protech their property somehow, especially in the easy-to-pirate PC space. Thankfully, it looks like EA's come up with a good alternative.
The Escapist is reporting that Bioware and EA will be taking a different tack with the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins. To entice people into the buying the game new, and not pirating or picking it up second hand, fresh retail copies will come with exclusive DLC and content worth an 'extra' $15. The actual value is debatable, but the extra content angle is pretty compelling.
Pick up Dragon Age new and the goodies will include a few hours of extra quests, an exclusive party member, and an armour set token that will also be usable in the upcoming Mass Effect 2. As PC gamers hate missing out extra stuff, this is a smooth move, especially tying the content into another big game like Mass Effect.
This is a move we hope really works. Game piracy is definitely hurting the PC games industry in all kinds of ways, and the decision to reward legitimate purchasers rather than using some kind of collective punishment (which is what most DRM is) is refreshing.
Now, hopefully my review copies will count toward that extra gear as well...
Issue: 107 | December, 2009