EA & Namco Bandai Announce Pre-Order Treats for Hellgate: London
By Steve on Saturday, September 15th, 2007 at 1:23 AM PST In Computer, Electronic Arts, Game Companies, Game Platforms
Hellgate: London’s publishers, Electronic Arts & Namco Bandai, have posted a press release regarding the game’s pre-order packages and the beta start date:
Here’s Your Exclusive Chance to Open the Hellgate Before Halloween
Redwood City, Calif. – September 14, 2007 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today announced three special pre-order promotions for the highly anticipated action RPG Hellgate™: London in North America. Gamers who pre-order either the regular or Collector’s Edition of Hellgate: London will receive:
“We’re excited to get our most passionate players into the early Beta test, and to reward them with a special look once the game goes live on Halloween,” said Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios. “The Founder’s offer is designed for those die-hard fans that will have had time to really get to know the game during the Beta phase and plan on spending a lot of time with us online.”
Nothing really new here that we didn’t already cover last week. However, we now have the previously “up in the air” beta start date zeroed-in. Looking at the fine print, there also seems to be a limit of signups on the lifetime subscription offer (first 125,000 pre-order purchasers). Click the link for the full press release.
Via EA.com
man that sucks about the lifetime subscription offer, i think they would be wise to continue to offer it even to non-preorder people except at a higher price, say 179.99 or so. b/c you know there are going to be people who have heard nothing about this game until one of their friends is like hey check out this rad game, then they love it and get stuck with monthly fees (which aren’t mandatory right?).
I agree that it seems seedy. However, there is some evil genius math going on here (let’s not forget video companies foremost are in it for the money). Basically, if they can guarantee 150,000 subscribers @ $149.99 they have almost $22.5 million upfront to play with (and draw interest off). Of course the caveat is they will have to plan on supporting that many for the lifetime of the game. This figure doesn’t even include the cost of the initial Hellgate purchase. So it’s more like $200.00 per subscriber ($30 million).
When you are securing that much money initially, you secure that your title will not bomb. For all we know, this game will initially suck. So I’m really interested to hear what people have to say about the beta first before money gets involved. If the beta pans out badly, then I can see alot of people ganking their pre-order anyway.
I guess it really comes down to how long you think you can play the game until you get bored. If you only play the game for a few months before moving on, then the lifetime subscription doesn’t really seem like a deal. Imagine how much money Blizzard would lose they did a similar thing?