The beta for Electronic Arts’s “Battlefield: Bad Company” on Xbox 360 doesn’t start until tomorrow, but controversy hit last week when users discovered weapons that must be purchased over the Xbox Live Marketplace.
The weapons were discovered in a menu detailing the game’s unlockables, each one padlocked with a note asking players to “buy this weapon on Xbox LIVE marketplace.”
Multiplayer contacted Electronic Arts for an explanation, which they provided this morning. At launch, there will be ten weapons available through XBL or PlayStation Network that aren’t in the box.
Before you panic: five will be free. Five retailers offer an “exclusive” pre-order weapon in the months to come. Each of those weapons will become available at launch for free.
Another five, however, will not.
These five will be exclusively bundled with a to-be-announced “Gold Edition” of “Battlefield Bad Company.” Think of “Gold Edition” as another term for the many “Limited Edition” versions of games we’ve seen recently. These weapons are readily unlocked for gamers who purchase the Gold Edition, but everyone else will need to pay.
No prices for any of the purchasable weapons are listed in the beta.
EA told us the pay-to-play weapons will not unbalance the game. “All weapons are balanced for gameplay,” said a spokesperson in an e-mailed statement. “More weapons offer players more choices but do not create an advantage/disadvantage for players who do not opt to buy new item.”
The company refers to weapons already in the box as “core weapons.”
Readers, how does EA’s plan strike you?
March 24th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
You’re got to be kidding me. If consumers buy and support this %??$, then what’s to keep EA as well as other publishers from pulling %??$ like this?
This is straight up consumer $%*@. DO NOT BUY THIS %??$ PEOPLE!
March 24th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Strikes me that it seems like holding back on the quality of the base product that the consumer is getting for their $60. It is hard to draw a moral line between charging for DLC designed after launch and charging for DLC prepared prior to the launch, though. Somehow, though, it still rings of “This game will actually cost you $70 for the base package,” and somehow I doubt that they put in the extra work, time, and money to justify that extra $10 per copy (I’d guess) over a company like, say, Valve or Criterion, who give away large pieces of DLC for free.
Let us remember also that this is the company that lets you max out your Tiger Woods stats for $2.50.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I forgot to add, I was originally looking forward to this game, but this tactic means that I will ignore it out of principal and stick with CoD4 and Metal Gear Online. The military shooter market is oversaturated, anyway.
March 24th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
While I don’t like how they’re doing this, at least the LE will have some real value. Usually the LE of any game is a complete waste of $10. Offering extra in-game content certainly adds something worthwhile.
March 24th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Won’t be buying this game for that reason alone. EA can kiss off
March 24th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
If you’re going to skip what might be a very fun game because of this, then you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face. I can understand not paying for the weapons. I have no plan to. But I am going to get this game. It looks like it’ll be a lot of fun and I’d hate to miss out on that because I think 5 weapon skins should be free to me.
March 24th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Would you guys be more interested in this if EA issued a trial period for the weapons, and made you pay for them after a week of testing? Or maybe this: make them available for free after three months, ala Halo 3’s maps?
March 24th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Don’t let this minor problem stop you guys from buying the game. You don’t HAVE to buy them its just a skin so you can have a different weapon. The game looks awesome and hopefully it will play good too, but not going to buy this game just because of 5 weapons that you Don’t have to buy is just plain dumb and childish.
March 24th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
This is nonsense. Just look at Burnout Paradise. Five US retailers get the exclusive vehicles and the European version is gimped and doesn’t have access to them at all.
Charging for something which is ALREADY ON THE DISC is quite disgraceful in my opinion. It’s a different matter if you’re buying a whole brand new level or something but if it’s on the disc then it kinda feels like I’ve paid for it twice.
March 24th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Jeezus… I have looked at the stats for the extra weapons using the handy compare function in the weapons menu . They are no better or worse than the 9 weapon types you start the game with… they are just different models. They are not some kind of ’super guns’. Please wait until you play the game before you go bitching about it. The better weapons are the ones you get as you rank up ( like COD4 ). Please stop whining.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
That’s what people pay for when they buy Xbox Live, even know many people think it’s dedicated servers, which there are none. Just a big money ploy(M$). It’s a joke, so no surprise.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Is this a surprise? Not really. Nothing to to with Xbox live either: EA are notorious for this sort of thing. Anyway, this is nothing on the same order of magnitude as the Oblivion Horse armour. If they aren’t teh uber guns, I won’t be buying them. Why should I?
March 24th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Some what funny and I feel sorry for the company. They should just ask for some extra money up front (a little more for the game). If the company is having finiancial problems then it makes sense I am willing to help but not for charges to have additional weapons or items for gameplay this is not the way it should be. Many others agree. Hopefully they will get over their finiancial problems and let us the online gameing community enjoy the game tha way it is ment to be. Many of us have been waiting for the arrival of this game for nearly a year now and it is dissapointing to see how they are treating loyal online gamers.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Thought of buying it but wont this is not the only reason at least EA delivers working games compared tu Ubisoft but Socom will do it for me.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I think xbox should make xbox live free and take away xbox live marketplace because its just a big scam to con you out of all the money you have ? and they will put all the good stuff on for rediculus prices !!! I mean free demos yeah cool but wot about the things you need most like for instance 5 new guns you have to bye for the beta after paying for the beta and before you pay for the beta you need to bye XBOX LIVE GOLD its stupid ??? COMON XBOX GIVE US A BREAK FOR F*** SAKE.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
just confirms why I hate EA SOOOOO Much!!!! As if they don’t have enough money already!!! The downright cheeck of it! and shame on all you defending EA and their money grabbing exploits! Give them your money, suckers!
March 25th, 2008 at 1:56 am
Its quite easy,…. just dont buy the new guns. anyway I like the idea to buy content stright off the bat. People moan and moan waiting for new content for the game that they are playing at that moment in time,, Yet heres a game with content coming out stright away and people still moan!! No one is forcing you to buy this content so whats the problem?
March 25th, 2008 at 3:44 am
Thats Bull i hate EA why do u ruin every game WHY?
March 25th, 2008 at 9:47 am
EA are never going to see a dollar off me for this title/. Amazing how much gall they have. Ill stick to cod4 and ut3. And if you buy the game, even without purchasing the weapons, youll be supporting their crappy new ways to try to get cash out of people who already pay good money for a product. Only way to nip this in the bud is to boycott it, for the principle. I wonder if people still have those…..
March 25th, 2008 at 11:22 am
“Patrick Klepek:
Would you guys be more interested in this if EA issued a trial period for the weapons, and made you pay for them after a week of testing?”
So I can choose to pay now or pay later? How would that make things better?
“Or maybe this: make them available for free after three months, ala Halo 3’s maps?”
Perhaps. A bit of history here..
Battlefield 2 was a horribly bug ridden mess and the first two patches just made things worse (say hello to uncle memory leak). And insted of working harder to fix it, what do they do? They spend their time making extra addons that they want people to buy via their half arsed digital distribution network. I lost all faith in the Battlefield series after BF 2142 and its in game advertisement.
I refused to buy BF 2142 until they removed all the ingame advertisement and I’ll refuse to buy this game until they make all the content availible to everyone at without having to pay for it.
Though knowing EA I guess one should be glad we aren’t greated with a “You where killed! Enter credit card number to respawn!” screen when you get fragged…
March 25th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
now EA dosent ruin every game they make, and they produce some really good stuff now. mostly EA buys out every good company they can and then do everything they can to make money off of there products, i have no problem wit this, there a company its there job.
as to charging us more for more wepons, they dont say that they are just ’skins’ they are whole new weapones. now there not uber guns which is some thing we need to praise god for. i wouldnet mind droping 100msp (like a $1.50) so my guy in game can use a .357 magnum (my favorit traditinal gun from Hl2). but all it really dos is add some new stuff for people to customize them selfs with.
March 25th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
FTG Nico says:
March 25th, 2008 at 1:56 am
“Its quite easy,…. just dont buy the new guns. anyway I like the idea to buy content stright off the bat. People moan and moan waiting for new content for the game that they are playing at that moment in time,, Yet heres a game with content coming out stright away and people still moan!! No one is forcing you to buy this content so whats the problem?”
I couldn’t agree with you more. To refuse to buy a game because they are charging money for 5 weapons is a little overboard. Just don’t purchase them or wait a few months when they will be free.
If Halo was to charge for 5 new weapons or COD 4 I doubt anyone would complain. Do not put all the blame on EA! I am sure Microsoft and Sony have some part in this also. It’s rare to see any content for free on any of the consoles so it is no big suprise by this announcement. Everyone wants content for there games but unfortunately has to come at a price when it comes to the consoles.
March 25th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
first off, WHAT ABOUT DICE?!? you know, that company that not only develops EVERY battlefield title, but also created the franchise all together… they don’t get blamed for any of this? if you want free content with the choice of buying new stuff later DICE is also making cartoon battlefield game for PC called battlefield heroes. these little content packs help fund servers, and keep games updated and patched when necessary, EVEN ON CONSOLE. so thank yourselves for being a bunch of little babies about in-game advertising, so now to keep everything funded they crap out inane DLC hoping you’ll buy it. like a billboard for HP was really that big of a deal anyway. THEY DO IT TO FUND GAMES. YOU DON’T DEVELOP GAMES OR EVEN KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT IT, THEY COST A TON OF MONEY TO MAKE SO STFU.
gamers always get labeled as nerds but it doesn’t seem like they know anything besides how to get a high score….
March 25th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
EA can eat it. They’ve ruined sports games and will move on to everything else, it seems like. They are all about marketing and care little for quality gaming.
March 25th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
What are you all pour or something? really its just ten dollars who cares, if you guys are gonna flip out and say you arn’t going to buy the game JUST because of downloadable content that costs money you have something wrong inside your head… the original game comes with alot of stuff if want extra things you have to pay thats as simple as it is STOP FLIPPING OUT. and dennis what the hell who says “kiss off”
March 25th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I’ll tell you cheap principal hypocrites something, I have been buying Limited Edition versions for years now and this is the first freaking time I actually get something for my money. You cheap a$$es can kiss mine because I get something for once besides some action figure! I’m 33, so people who make games (or marketing more likely decides to add dolls) please keep looking for more ways to add value for the limited editions and don’t listen to these broke hypocrite fools. The average age of gamers is mid-twenties and I’m sure they also don’t want dolls! Keep up the good work DICE!
March 25th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Thats f*ked up you shouldnt pay to play !?!!?!? considering it is a 60 dollar game ea is f*cked up I hope they burn to the ground
March 25th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
This is BS I hate how XBOX is trying to take our freaking money anyway they can. Microsoft not only makes use pay to play online but they make us pay for all there BS content. When “right across the street” playstation is giving away there online service for nothing. With the exact same games. Examples COD4, Rainbow 6, and soon to be Grand Theft Auto. They should be trying to keep there customers. I guarantee if they keep this SH1T up they are going to loose customers for sure.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:47 am
I for one was pretty excited about this new Battlefield. But after reading this, I will not be buying this game. Great way to ruin a franchises game!
March 26th, 2008 at 9:51 am
has anyone played the beta yet i thought for a crappy beta with server issues it was fantastic i was in a building when a tank blew thru the walls the continued to kill me SICKNESS as much as i don’t believe in pay to play this game is gonna be a very good game so get your HEAD OUT YOUR A$$ and only buy the base version it gonna be sick either way
March 26th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I completely agree with Johnny Chimpo above. Stop whining you babies. What if EA decided to not make the new guns at all? Would you buy the game then? I bet you would.
Isn’t it better to at least have the OPTION to buy the new guns? If EA didn’t think it would receive additional revenue by making these guns then they probably wouldn’t even develop them in the first place.
Think about it people. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. Its still an awesome series, DLC or not.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
the thing is why do they have to have extra weapons that you need to pay for? battlefield 2 and 2142 did fine without haveing to purchase extra weapons. all they are doing is just trying to get the most money but not considering the game.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Good Going EA
I was going to buy this game but you can stick it now.
What bright idea are you fellas going to come up with next to suck even more money out of us eh? I’ll stick to Vietcong and cod4.
March 27th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
yes though it does stink that you will have to pay a extra ten dollars for guns that should be in the game as it is,many people though have been waiting for this game to come out i’ve researched the game and it looks rock hard i know many gamers cannot wait for the realease in JUNE but i think E.A development team did a nice job with everything i rate a perfect 10
March 31st, 2008 at 1:14 am
I to despise everything about this concept, but I do have respect for the potential this concept has for the underdog game developers.
This will let “indie” game creators bring their works of art mainstream by charging a reasonable $10 or $20 for a game and than hold onto those very dedicated players of whom enjoy elitist status through additional funds from purchasable items.
March 31st, 2008 at 2:51 am
EA, Symantec, Sony, HP, AOL
Anything these company touches turn into crap. Stop buying their products. Spend your money else where.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:06 pm
You X-Boxers are just now realizing this from EA? Funny stuff. Battlefield 2 was no different. If you bought the special forces pack, you had different weapon options than those that did not. In my opinion they were better weapons too and gave some an unfair advantage in multiplayer mode. But, its something PC gamers wont even look at twice cause we are used to it in games already. It was just a matter of time before X-box was affected.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:23 am
I’m not a fan of ‘microtransactions’ but at the same time this boycott makes no sense. The weapons they are offering for download are not required to enjoy the full game. They are also -included- with the “Gold” edition AND are being provided free if you pre-order the game. There are far worse offenders of pay DLC. I love CoD4, but their map pack is basically forced on anyone who plays online because if you don’t have them, you’re gunna get booted any time one of those maps is getting loaded up. Pick your battles.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I would like to know what all the weapons are on battlefield bad company because I like weapons like xm8 and aug a3
May 25th, 2008 at 10:58 am
hey. buy the the game but dont pay for the silly extra weapons. if they see only a hand full of people buying them, who knows they may give in and just make em free. spread the word and lets show em that we the gamers wont cave in and pay for silly skins guns.
May 26th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
am not buying the game anymore if tho its going to be the best ever game to come out on 360 or ps3
May 26th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
agree with Kali. am not buying the game anymore just cuz of the idea…pay to respwan or credit card please for more ammo…F dat
May 26th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
and %$~$ xbox i got the ring of death like twice so %$~$ 360 %$~$ microsoft and %$~$ this
June 7th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
You guys have got to be joking. You make it sound like you have to pay to use *any* weapon in the game. Its just five guns that aren’t even that much better than the guns you start out with. I will give it to you guys that EA does #@?~* up alot of their games, but I have always enjoyed the BF series. Do you *not* buy a car because you can buy extra features for it? Of course not. So why should you not buy a game just because you can buy extra features for it?
June 8th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Just thought I’d throw it out there that all of the weapons are free….You earn unlock points by ranking up and can unlock 10 weapons and 5 gadgets. And the gold edition just gives you 5 weapons that you would normally unlock after reaching the highest rank in multiplayer…. So they are all free…just thought I would tell everyone.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:24 am
i think they should include gamer pictures and skins with the game
instead of making you pay more its a bit of a scam really