Capping off a fairly terrible fortnight of news surrounding Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward comes word this morning that Modern Warfare 2′s map pack is one of the most over-priced pieces of downloadable content we’ve ever seen.
Popping onto Xbox Live spokesman Larry Hryb’s podcast to promote Modern Warfare 2′s upcoming “Stimulus Package” map pack (which is launching first on Microsoft’s console), Infinity Ward’s Robert bowling revealed that the five maps – two of which are old maps being re-released for this game – will cost 1400 Microsoft Points.
Or, $US15.
For five multiplayer maps.
Fifteen. Dollars.
Hoo boy.
Robert
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 7:03 AMHang on I thought it was 1200?
Did they just change the price?
Dominic Davies
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 7:18 AMWowsers, here I was ready to defend them for charging for the mappacks but that’s too much.
Peter Richards
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 7:20 AMIs $3 a map expensive?
Dutch
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 7:24 AMThank the gods for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 then right?!
Mac
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 1:27 PMAmen, brother. I too have seen the light and hope to never touch MW2 again. Activision doubly aren’t getting any more of my money after their recent treatment of IW.
Mark
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 7:29 AM1400 POINTS?!? That is nearly $30! Why should I pay 1/3rd the retail price just to get 5 maps!
Diresim
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 8:40 AMWhat a joke. They can rip people off so they do. Unbelievable. I’ll stick with BFBC2 thanks.
kaiden
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 8:49 AMSCREW THAT.
Adam
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 9:15 AMHows this all going to work if some people dont own the maps? I cant imagine too many people on PC rushing to get the maps if they arent free.
Steven Burton
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 9:57 AMBad company 2 is realeasing 2 new maps for free… Infinity wards have lost the plot
Jeremy
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 10:23 AMWell… the bfbc2 maps are already on the disk, hardly DLC.
But $30 is ridiculous. Screw you, Activision. I’m not buying ‘em at that price.
brad d
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 10:30 AMtell em they’re dreamin!
there is no way in hell im gonna pay au$20 for 3 maps! you cant count the 2 from cod4. first off, we already own them FFS!
second, why the fk are they using old maps? have they run out of creative designers?
i bet this is all craptivision! they are hardcore scrooges! i really cant afford to add another publisher to my do not buy/hate list. im already missing out on bfbc2 because ea are on the top of that list.
oh well. time to trade back my ps3 and 360 versions of the crap and go back to playing MAG. might even have a crack at Killzone 2 again. i miss playing that game. it is so awesome!
Viroxide
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 11:25 AMWow that is just insane.
Due to the fucked up cost of electronic goods in Australia it will cost $30 AUS which equates to about $27 US…
Thats a third of what the entire game cost here in AUS and almost half of what it cost in US… Good luck with that Activision.
Manny
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 12:13 PMThe sad thing is…most of the people getting all up in arms about this are still going to buy the DLC. Why? because of the same reason they bought the game…they can’t help themselves anymore then a child could if they saw a jar of lollies on the table.
And IW knows this.
FunkyJ
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 12:27 PMWorst thing is even if a 100th of people who bought the game purchase the mappack, it’s still enough people and enough dollars to justify Activision charging this much for these packs in future.
Ema Nymton
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 1:58 PMExactly! It’s worth what people are willing to pay. I’m sorry to say there will be plenty of people willing to pay this price so Activision will see this as the green light for future DLC.
I won’t be buying it, accepting that I will be the one missing out and Activision won’t be the one caring. :(
Alex Zecevic
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 1:10 PMI’m fine with waiting until the maps go on sale at one stage. Which they will. I am in no hurry to purchase the new maps – I still quite enjoy the current ones. Plus I have a tonne of other games to play to keep me busy – BFBC2 included.
Naytan
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 1:14 PMYeah see I don’t exactly have a great job but 15 backs for 5 maps doesn’t sound that bad.
Then again I play this game a lot.
I mean it’s less than one hours work for many hours of enjoyment.
Naytan
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 2:23 PMI realise now that I’m slow and it’s 15 bucks US. Still not too bad IMO.
Jackson Thurtle
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 1:58 PMPeople who buy it have no right to complain. Have some personal responsibility and discipline.
However, as a person who refuses to buy it… this is fucking ridiculous.
Daniel
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 3:51 PMThis is stupid. Does anyone know what is in the map pack??
Will
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 4:02 PMMeh im getting them for 30, who cares. If you calculate the cost per hour of entertainment its like fractions of a cent. 5 new maps for a quater of the purchase price? well doesn’t the game only have 20 MP maps to start with? soooo, that’s fair :P
Of course I have it on PC so im pretty pissed I have to pay at all but meh.
AndyN
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 4:09 PMHaha, Cop that all you Console idiots!
Sad thing is there are plenty of idiots who would still be happy to pay that for a few maps that is and should always be free on PC.
For all those people who were mocking all the PC players regarding the No Dedicated Servers issue, Are you still going to defend your oh so very Godly Infinity Ward after this obvious Nickle and Dime?
Matt
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 7:16 PMActivision said chances are the maps wont be free on Pc simply because its on steam, so stfu
give us a horde, or zombie like mode for the old school team work, not this crap of online, where noobs live and team work is a mere figment of our imagination.
Raytheon
Friday, March 26, 2010 at 11:16 AMread this post as:
Haha, i’m a faggot who, like most PC gamers, thinks hes superior because the size of his dick is measured by how much vram he has. Oh, and i’m going to be smug about nothing because i have to pay for the maps anyway.
Ethan Iacobozzi
Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 5:30 PM+10^googloplex.
Jay
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 4:46 PMHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
well i guess that means i take back what i wrote in the article the other ABOUT the maps.
Wow – i was GOING to say this is probably pressure from MS (similar to Gears of Wars map pack and Epic saying they wanted it to be free) but then i remembered, Activision publishes the game!!
I really thought the map packs and OLD maps would get me in the mood of playing MW2, but clearly not. MS probably wanted a little higher price to make up for whatever they paid for timed-exclusive. But still, Activision are worse than MS it seems.
LOL!
FAIL!
Le_Gambit
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 6:42 PMnever before have people had to apply for a mortgage to get more pseudo land…
Dunnowhathuh
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 7:39 PMProud and happy I’m still part of the boycott train. People buying activision’s games right now are just giving them more incentive to do whatever the hell they want. Do the gaming world a favour and spend your money elsewhere.
Michael Woodpeckers
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 8:25 PMDamn boy.
That is just ridiculous, i know some sad sap’s are going to end up buying them anyway, but wow.
Drew
Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 1:42 AMOh come on, it’s 15 bucks? Who gives a shit. A ton of this game is the multiplayer element. The game was 60 and came with how many maps? Like 8-10? Hmm, divide it out…yes two are old maps, but it still expands the random maps you might receive.
Yes, of course they will charge for it. Who in their right mind ever thought they wouldn’t? Why was Avatar in iMax? It cost 15 — but a shit ton of people paid for it and it made a lot of money. Hoping they wouldn’t charge doesn’t count. Where was everyone when fallout 3 charged like 8 bucks equivalent for a 2 hour one-time play DLC…and did so like 5 times? So it’s 15 once instead of 8 bucks — 7 dollar difference? I’ll abstain on one or two drinks some day and call it even.
Anyway, yes…it sucks. I’d rather they didn’t charge. If I could buy 4 map packs with 5 maps each for 60 bucks, i’d do so again immediately. Making one of the best games around better is worth something.
Brandon Martinez
Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 5:03 PMFor sure, why whine and cry about 15 bucks. So you have to skip your twenty sack and buy a nickle bag, im sure you have 15 bucks worth of cans laying around your garage or somewhere. Im buying this as soon as its available!
Travis
Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 3:46 AMWhat a bunch of whining women. If you play MW2 alot then these map packs are GREAT VALUE!!!
I paid just over $4 a map for the Stimulus and have played these maps every night for a couple of weeks. More than I can say for so many of the games I purchase on release date at over $100 and get under an hours use out of because they suck (FarCry2, Assassin’s Creed 1 & 2, Tomb Raider, NFS games, etc.)
These maps are more than worth it. I look at the price and then weigh it up against how much use I’ll get out of them. I know I’ll be hammering these new maps for many moons to come, so for myself at least, the price is CHEAP.
$22 for over a hundred hours of happy online gaming is great value. If you don’t play MW2 alot then maybe you won’t see the value, but in that case you don’t have to buy them, so there should be no cause for complaint.
c. f
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 8:53 AMCompletely agree with it being overpriced, especially since it is content ALREADY locked into the disc (Hence, how many videos have spawned about how the maps look). I for one have signed a petition agreeing that the price should be lowered to the standard 800MS. Link here if interested: http://www.petitiononline.com/codmw2mp/
Although I know most people here are probably going to give into their desires and phurchase it regardless (I know I would!).
Test your will power, sign the petition and don’t let the corporate pigs feed off our wallets!
http://www.petitiononline.com/codmw2mp/.
Travis
Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 3:51 AMCheck your facts mate… are you suggesting the maps are already stored on the disc???
There are different disc codes depending on when you purchased them. You still have to download the maps from the PSN, it’s just you select the download link that corresponds to the code on your disc…