QUICKSILV3R
Premium
join:2002-01-21
San Antonio, TX
clubs:
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| HALF-LIFE 2 NEWS: 3 different versions of hl2?
-- TAKEN FROM www.planethalflife.com
Gabe Newell on Pay to Play Rumors 4 Comments
9/3/2003 2:50 PST | Half-Life 2 | by Fragmaster
A fan by the name of Kamakiri mailed Valve's Gabe Newell about those "pay to play" rumors, and received the following response (which has been confirmed as being legit):
As I'm sure you are aware the HL2 community is going crazy with the rumour that HL2 is going to be like a MMORPG and you will have to pay a fee each month via Steam to play HL2 multiplayer.
I don't believe this to be true but can you please put it to rest once and for all. PLEEEEEEASE.
Gabe Newell: Here's my current thinking: Some people want to buy Half-Life 2 in a store. Right now we have three SKUs planned at three price points. One will have single-player only and not play MODs and we think of that as the mass market SKU (sold mainly at the Costcos and Walmarts of the world). The second is our traditional single-player plus multiplayer SKU that runs MODs and is sold at places like EBX. The third is the collector's edition SKU with lots of cool bonus stuff for people who like cool bonus stuff.
In the Steam world, some people will want to buy it once, like the middle SKU above. Other people will want to buy the game on subscription (e.g. $9.95/month). The good news for the "buy it once" crowd is, well, they only have to pay once. The bad news is that when we come out with new content (expansion products, TF 2, and presumably other games) then they have to pay separately for those. We're pretty sure that the $9.95 guys are going to get the better value, as we've been pretty good over the years at generating a lot of content.
Now nobody has done this before, so we're scratching our heads and massaging the plans to make sure we've got the best set of options. We've had some feedback that we should sell the top SKU (single-player only no MODs) on Steam, and my reaction has been "yeah, right, for the three people in the world who have a broadband connection, are sophisticated enough to purchase software over the Internet, but DON'T want to play MODs and multiplayer". Some people have said "I want a subscription, but I think the box and the manual are cool, so what about sending me those" and I think that's pretty interesting and we're trying to figure out what to do for them (needless to say Sierra isn't exactly jumping for joy at the idea of selling us boxes so people don't buy Half-Life 2 in stores).
But nowhere has there been a suggestion that people pay in the store and then pay a monthly fee on top of that a la the MMORPG.
And Gabe makes this follow-up response in this forum thread:
The various SKUs will be available at the other stores. It's just how we think of them (we think of the lowest price one as the "Walmart" SKU even though Walmart will probably be the biggest single seller of all three SKUs given their volume).
TF2 isn't a MOD, correct. However the subscription will be for anything we make. So when TF2 ships, the subscribers get it as part of their subscription.
We've been talking with retailers about the retail SKUs for a long time. Steam pricing was what I was trying to explain. Steam options seemed to require an explanation of the retail SKUs.
--
This clears up a lot, and I think this is the first public mention of the collector's special super edition. Oh, if you don't know what an SKU is, "SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit and is a number associated with a product for inventory purposes. Each product must have a SKU, and each SKU must be unique."
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he exists in a world... beyond your world....
"Good artists copy, great artists steal."-Picasso
[text was edited by author 2003-09-03 10:42:45] |
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Googled
Yay, I have FIOS
join:2001-08-13
Orchard Park, NY | I'll be going the way of the purchased multiplayer version. I don't agree with the concept of subscription software. |
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Thee One
Theeone. What? Ain'T No More To It.
join:2000-09-27
Chicago, IL
| reply to QUICKSILV3R
Not to mention, Valve hasn't actually shipped a non-HL game or MOD since...well since ever. All or most certainly, of Valve games on the market are HL games or Mods for HL games that you can DL for free. Am I wrong? If that's the case, why pay $10 a month to pay HL2, when I can pay $40 once and be done with it. TF2 will never be released, especially if HL2 is ready before it and started development later. With that kind of track record, after the forth or fifth month, you're just giving away money.
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Life is an interlude to Death. |
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C_
Kill The Socialists
Premium
join:2001-03-19
| reply to QUICKSILV3R
this just seems like bullshit way for them to charge extra for cs2 (you know its coming sooner or later) since its technically in the hands of valve now.
pretty good at delivering content??? whens the last time the actually released a game they made?
--
"At last those planes are flying were they belong." - Bart Simpson
"That's right over the homes of poor people." - Homer Simpson
[text was edited by author 2003-09-03 13:47:25] |
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unburdened
join:2003-08-07
Moreno Valley, CA | reply to QUICKSILV3R
do there constant updates fall under the subscription? or are we going to get those for free like we do now? |
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Jigsaw
Stardust We Are
Premium
join:2000-10-21
Cleveland, OH
·Cox HSI
| reply to C_
said by C_  :
this just seems like bullshit way for them to charge extra for cs2 (you know its coming sooner or later) since its technically in the hands of valve now.
pretty good at delivering content??? whens the last time the actually released a game they made?
Looks like the bean counters(Or they been watching EA work there Magic expansion crap show for a year or 2) have got to Valve.Like i always said as of late its all about the money not about the games!!! |
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Hardcore
The Cow Says
Premium
join:2002-08-23
Albany, GA
·Mediacom
| reply to Googled
said by Googled :
I'll be going the way of the purchased multiplayer version. I don't agree with the concept of subscription software.
Agreed. With the exception of Star Wars Galaxies, I don't prefer suscriptions either.
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BBR|HardcoreGame
America's Army
Gaming is truly the only place where dreams are reality - just don't let the game become your reality. |
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techie
Premium
join:2003-06-18
Canada
clubs: | reply to QUICKSILV3R
So Valve owns Counter-Strike now? |
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flex5e
Volvo Fever
join:2003-06-24
UK
clubs:
|  reply to QUICKSILV3R
Going for the xmas #1
Hmmm. I had no idea there are 3 versions planned... I'd better check with Amazon to see what they plan on sending me 
And another, small point, Like Theeone saidwhy pay $10 a month to pay HL2, when I can pay $40 once and be done with it. If you bought halflife when it came out, and paid a $10 subscription every month, you'd have spent around $600 by now on subscription. Who isn't going to buy it outright? |
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judfish
join:2003-09-03
| reply to QUICKSILV3R
Re: HALF-LIFE 2 NEWS: 3 different versions of hl2?
What the hell is this all about? since when have you had to pay for a quick frag on half-life 2. When did they think this was a good idea.
Just thinking will this apply to the existing server setup for half-life + counterstrike
Just 1 more question will this apply to counterstrike condition Zero
I can not belive they thought of this what a crock of shit they just rewind the game of the Decade fooking Knob EDDZ |
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Diamond Dust
Tell 'Em Fred
join:2001-10-23
Lincoln Park, NJ
| reply to QUICKSILV3R
They are not making this very clear, as they don't know yet what they are going to do. I think this is a pretty nifty idea. They really didn't make the 10$ a month thing clear. To get any value out of that they would have to be releasing 3 games a year. Maybe if they gave some more info about what is to come I would think of the 10$ a month. TheeOne WTF are you talking about. TF2 was started before hl2 yes, but then they scrapped it and decided to run it on the hl2 engine  you expect them to release tf2 on the hl2 engine before hl2?? That doesn't make any sence. I don't see why you think they are trying to rip you off. IF you don't like subscription don't get it. They are making that pretty clear with the other 2 options. Everyone loves to bash valve over tf2 (which makes no sence just because they decided to scrap it and start over on a better engine to release a better game)and CZ which they were going to make for about a month then handed it to gearbox becuase they wouldn't have the time to invest in CZ. But we are the public and we want stuff right away. I don't see how this type of thinking can be in the game community where you hear about new games like 6 months before they are coming out. I think your mad at valve because hl was great and you want more and I would say there is more goodness to come. Buy the full game when it comes out and stop complaining  |
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SKYHN
Lu.. Lu.. Lulululu
Premium
join:2001-09-16
99999 | reply to QUICKSILV3R
Subscription services for non-MMO games does not work. Never has, never will. |
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beeman65
join:2001-07-23
Mckeesport, PA | reply to QUICKSILV3R
People will move onto Doom 3 and play for free then. |
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hellrazzer23
join:2002-06-21
Los Angeles, CA
clubs:
·RoadRunner Cable
| Gabe Newell should burn in hell along with everyone else who enjoys milking this more than it should be. ya people will buy it, but they wont be happy paying $10 for all the crap they get for free.
DIE GABE!!! u make good games but thats only once every 5 years! |
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Mankind121
Premium
join:2000-11-12
Livermore, CA
clubs: | reply to QUICKSILV3R
who knows if this is actually true, wait for gabe to speak first and not some dudes email |
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C_
Kill The Socialists
Premium
join:2001-03-19
| reply to QUICKSILV3R
of course they have every right to charge whatever the feel like they want to charge. (but the maximization profits might not be achieved)
--
"At last those planes are flying were they belong." - Bart Simpson
"That's right over the homes of poor people." - Homer Simpson |
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Mic
Premium
join:2003-01-27
Minneapolis, MN
clubs:
·Comcast
·Insight Communicat..
| reply to QUICKSILV3R
Gah.... I hope not... I hate subscription games... the whole thing about paying monthly... when you could decide to break half way through a month or here and there, just doesn't seem like you get your money's worth when they make it subscription only.
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¬_¬ Mic's Xanga! Team Helix! |
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Diamond Dust
Tell 'Em Fred
join:2001-10-23
Lincoln Park, NJ
| reply to QUICKSILV3R
I don't understand the big deal. Its not a subscription game. I don't get what you mean by paying 10$ for crap they get for free. When tf2 comes out it will not be free. Also the 10$ would cover add-ons as he stated. Which are also not free. I think you missed the point. They aren't going to charge you for patches and public created mods. |
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sapo
I eat meat
Premium
join:2002-09-16
Sacramento, CA
| reply to QUICKSILV3R
Is this some lame anti-piracy attempt?
If they do it the same way they did HL1 it would be great.
Obviously someone wants a big number in their bank account.
Hopefully this will be proven wrong. Kind of suspicious that the web-sites you pre-order from dont have this info...
but I can name a couple of reasons why they dont have the info on sites to pre-order half life... but I wont state them now
too tired
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"You can take that j-o-b and shove it up your anus" - Tech N9ne |
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Pyrion
Liquid Metal Nanomorph
join:2001-12-01
Poway, CA
clubs:
 ·Verizon BroadbandA..
·Cox HSI
| reply to QUICKSILV3R
Re: HALF-LIFE 2 NEWS: 3 different versions of hl2
quote:
Other people will want to buy the game on subscription (e.g. $9.95/month).
'Round here, we call 'em "idiots". 
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/* You are not expected to understand this */ |
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