The Core Game Updates Speculation Thread

[Squid]

Sorry. I haven't flexed the clever muscles today. There is also the notion that FarSight should take a break to take a sigh of relief, relax and re-evaluate their game plan. I would hate for the whole TPA endeavor (on any platform) to be shelved due to one's reach exceeding one's grasp.

 

[BonzoGonzo]

Here is what Farsight said on Facebook:

Microsoft is the only 1st party who charges for each game patch

hmm, weird, as i could swear i read some stuff a couple of days ago about some dev moaning about the patch fee submissions on the consoles, and how they all do it (yeah i don't really remember the details )... maybe it was only for dlc or sth

oh well, visual pinball seems more and more like a proper replacement option... *starts singing to himself the flintstones pin theme muzak*

 

[The Amazing Psych-Man]

IF it goes like I think it will then the November/December update will be worth the wait by giving us so many tables at once, so many new features AND lay the groundwork for some great features in the future.

The problem with that is... MS still sucks. Even if they approve a title update along with 6 to 8 DLC packs, they will probably spread that DLC out over the next 6-8 months at their own leisure, possibly leaving the 360 up to a year or more behind other platforms!

Unless there is a way to request all DLC be released at once, but with no way to communicate with MS that seems somewhat unlikely...

Maybe someone who knows more can verify what MS does when 8 or more DLC packs are simultaneously submitted and approved. I suspect this has rarely happened in the past but I don't keep track of any marketplace releases except Pinball Arcade!

 

[Mark W**a]

I think we will see Twilight Zone. In fact, that's probably why there has been a delay in the first place.

You have to think financially how this will make sense too. Slyddogg had the DLC sales around 5k-6k a piece for each pack. Considering MS takes a 30% cut of those DLC sales; it's simple math. 75K-90k revenue, 50k-60k profit. (title update was free).

So if you factor in 40K for a title update, then you're looking at a mere 10k-20k profit for 3 packs. Not viable, hence the delay.

If they were going to do just 3 packs, we'd have them by now. Elvira atPM + Gofers was ready way back in early September (360 is lead platform).

That's why I'm confident we'll see at least 4 packs, if not 5. At 4 packs, that's potentially 40k+ in profit, at 5 you're lookign at 60-70K, which is much more the kinds of decent profits they are looking to make off the Xbox platform.

Really any way you look at it, they aren't making the money they should be making, Xbox goes from being one of the most relevant from a sales perspective to the least relevant, all because of MS policies crippling profitability. Like I said we are lucky we get DLC at all. But still, I'd have to imagine even with title updates it's making more money than say, Mac or Vita platforms... at least I freaking hope, that would be SAD if it weren't doing as well as those, profitability wise (not trolling the platforms, but VITA installed base is extremely low and mac simply isn't known for being a big gaming platform in general).

Also I didn't factor this in, but when DLC was released for PBA it got a boost in sales of the base pack as well. So that should also be taken into consideration.

At the end of the day, my guess (and hope!) is that we will have 5 packs submitted to Microsoft by the end of the month, and up on Xbox Marketplace by early-mid December. That's a TON of DLC to play with, and will keep me very happy well into Q1 2013 when we have another 3 packs + Star Trek ready. Like I said in other posts, fewer, but huge/more polished updates make sense for the Xbox platform, and personally I'm ok with that.

 

[Mungoholly]

Mr Wyda,well written sir,agree on all points..at least this thread has some justified comments unlike "dissapointed"(spl)