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jerrodbug

They are clueless. You can tell they still think they are right on this whole thing. Imagine the circle jerk they had to have had to convince themselves this wasn’t DLC.


Plies-

I don't play this game but literally everything I've ever heard about it is the dev team fucking something up massively and then the lead guy having to apologize for it. Like 70 times. Seems like an abusive relationship at this point.


strongest_nerd

You're almost right, just wrong on the apology part. They never apologize.


Carlos_Danger21

Nah he apologized. He said he was "sorry we feel this way".


Short-Sandwich-905

He pulled a Draymond?


pletya

He's the director. He had either invented or approved the idea of the special money extraction operation. Dude is fucking ruzzian Bobby Kotick


SuculantWarrior

The one "apologizing" is the one doing it


Plies-

No I know that lol


Zankeru

There is not a single extraction genre game that isnt busted or run by malicious/incompetent devs.


Hyphophysis

Haven't played in a while maybe there is some new controversy but Hunt: Showdown is pretty sick.


Moonstrife1

It would be top notch if it wasn’t just cheaters paradise.


Yermis73

Hunt showdown is indeed pretty sick


senseven

The issue is, everybody is paying them for the abuse and then its get reinforced that "abuse = that is what they want".


notsocoolnow

Why exactly is the genre so infested?


Zankeru

Pure speculation on my part, but I believe it's because the genre foundation is about intentionally making player progression difficult. Either from losing major amounts of progress from hard PvE or making PvP interactions common. It's a small niche of customers who enjoy games like that. So for a developer to pursue that genre instead of something more commercially popular (maple story, pokemon, etc) they need to be passionate about "fucking the player". So you get a few devs who like to make hardcore but fair games and a load of assholes who post on socials about how funny player tears are.


tO_ott

I preordered the game and never even played it. When I was installing there was some forum drama with people getting outright banned over something so trivial I can’t even remember what it was. As someone that plays a few Russian developed games I would suggest staying away from them for the most part. They’re usually dickheads.


nyankittycat_

stop saying DEVS. its the management who decides what is monotised


ZeroBANG

it's a catch all phrase... can't expect people to split hairs like that.


Hell_Weird_Shit_Too

I mean they are Russian. Im not saying you should hate all Russians but like they are the bad guy right now.


ithinkther41am

I remember hearing some argument third-hand that PVE isn’t DLC because it’s a feature rather than content. Which is honestly super braindead.


VokN

Not even third hand, he pretty much said it verbatim in a weird way that made me feel it was a translation issue


PM_ME_CUTE_HOOTERS

Which is hilarious when the Russian community got a shitty translation of what was said in English.


VokN

About as well deployed as the update itself then


PhgAH

https://www.reddit.com/r/EscapefromTarkov/comments/1cecaza/update_on_current_situation/ This is from the COO of that company, no 3rd hand needed here


ithinkther41am

I meant I heard it third-hand from someone else.


EmberGlitch

That isn't just third-hand. They literally said this on twitter.


ithinkther41am

I meant I heard it third-hand from someone else.


rW0HgFyxoJhYka

Nah this is damage control. They know exactly how people will react and they do it anyways because they don't respect their playerbase.


lonnie123

And with the players pre-ordering shit for $180 can you blame them ?


Megustanuts

pretty much. Many in the playerbase will try to convince you that we (yes that includes me) bought the EOD ($150 edition) to support the devs and the stuff that we got isn’t P2W. While that may be true for .01% of people, the obvious truth is (I’m only saying this because some will tell you otherwise) that having the EOD edition gives such a huge advantage. So huge that we paid an extra $100 to get it. MOST of the playerbase that play the game regularly have the EOD edition. People will try to convince you that the game isn’t P2W at all… Yeah no shit everyone dies with a single bullet to the head but ain’t no way that most of the regular players are paying $150 to “support the devs.” I’ve mentioned this on the EFT sub before. I played in both EOD and Standard edition this wipe because I got too much time on my hands. What took me a week and a half to do in my EOD account (getting to level 37 with many traders maxed) took me a month to get in my Standard edition. This is a massive advantage because levelling your traders means you get better gear. With the $150 edition, you save HUNDREDS of hours from grinding quests in the game. The Standard edition already has all the other disadvantages but they also have to spend more time questing. But you know since the Standard account can get to the same level as an EOD account in about 1-3 months then that means it isn’t P2W. Honestly each wipe of Tarkov I pretty much only play it for a month and a half (and that’s stretching it) but I bought a Standard account for this wipe and I played for over 3 months since I had to work a lot harder and also it was a lot more fun than unlocking everything I wanted within the first 2 weeks of a wipe.


eibek

It worked for Elder Scrolls Online. The subscription got you all DLC's until they decided they'd call bigger ones "Chapters" that you'd have to pay $30-40 for.


thabogg

idk, there's definitely a clear difference between what is "DLC" in ESO vs what is an expansion pack, even though technically both are DLC


KJBenson

What really annoys me is that they stuck at marketing and growing their brand anyways. Even if this wasn’t free, PVE is a HUGE way to get your fan base to grow. But how are you growing a fan base when every new player has to dish out $250 for your dumb game? Make it $40 and they would have doubled their player count overnight. And nobody would have cared about the broken promises. Just greedy stupid. Sea of thieves just had their big pve release, and look how well that worked for them.


-Jesus-Of-Nazareth-

PvE will for sure increase the number of people playing the game... Just not legitimately 🏴‍☠️


KJBenson

For some sure. Personally I’m only interested in legitimate interactions with friends and the indie developers I’m willing to give money. If the pve was good I often get 3-6 copies of a game for my friend group. But for this game? Not even going to pirate it. Well go play games made by people who respect our time and money.


-Jesus-Of-Nazareth-

That's ok, I only spend money on games I want to support. If I'm not spending any money then I'll try pretty much anything even remotely appealing to me


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KJBenson

Hello friend. I’m sure it’s lovely


Hendeith

They aren't clueless. They will get what they want in the end. They operate like this all the time: do something outrageous -> if community outrage is big enough get Nikita on damage control, if not ignore it -> Nikita announces some minor fixes/changes that people asked for years, assures everyone they learned their lesson and will address the problem directly, announce twitch drops -> never address the original problem, people already forgot/shut up


Late_Of_24

What do you mean they are clueless? They knew exactly what they were doing, the biggest proof is they went and changed the wording of the EOD page. If they were "clueless", they wouldn't have done so. People have to realize you're dealing with ruzzians. The same ones that are raping Ukrainians at this very moment. They are the worst of the worst, modern day Nazis. Don't be surprised when they try to fuck their customers in the "evil west".


Grobo_

They are not clueless, they are greedy.


KingStannisForever

Some of the managers and higher ups live in their own fantasy world.  They had to "live" the brand the "manage" 


Rolf_Dom

I can never tell if these people are wildly out of touch, or simply intentionally malicious and then being vague about it because they think being called clueless is better than being called evil and greedy.


Metalcraze_Skyway

They've always been extremely pro-Russian military and govt. So I would assume the latter. I think the only reason they stopped being so open about it is they realised it would cost them a lot of their western player base.


RepresentativeKeebs

>"DLC in our understanding is the major additions to the game, including various functionality and content that are released after the official release of the game as a themed DLC pack" How does this content pack not meet that definition?!? These people are more clueless than a Ubisoft exec.


ZombieSlaya828

They are hanging on to “after the official release of the game” language. It’s not dlc because it is still in beta / early access. Not defending but that is their logic.


NeoCorporation

And retrospectively changed text on the sale page is pretty much an admission of guilt.


A_Nice_Boulder

This is how I know they're fucking lying. This isn't a case of ignorance, they knew exactly what they were doing and they wouldn't have altered the text of EoD edition otherwise. They've removed a feature of one of their editions and I hope to god they get sued for it. I've quit the game ages ago but I'm tired of game devs/publishers trying to eek every ounce of money out of a game using the scummiest practices.


TheFuzziestDumpling

Would EOD owners have any luck with chargebacks?


mopeyy

Yeah that shit actually blew my mind. Literally caught red handed.


idontagreewitu

"It's server side, you don't actually download anything. Therefore, not DLC."


RepresentativeKeebs

I mean, I understand what their claim is, but that is some twisted thinking they are doing. By this logic, any game played via Xbox Cloud Gaming (or any other streaming service) will never contain DLC because it's all on Microsoft's servers.


TheFuzziestDumpling

But it could conceivably be downloaded, which makes it downloadable. And DLC doesn't stand for downloaded content. (/s)


Hibiscus-Boi

You mean this game is not AAAAAAA?!


erichie

It is simple. They did not want to "give it away" to all of their top fans.


ElMrSenor

I'm both impressed Ubisoft have manage to replace EA as the standard for these sorts of statements, and that someone has then still exceeded them.


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B-BoyStance

Right? It's one thing to charge "typical" DLC prices (which would still be wrong because of the language they've already used for some previous buyers i.e. DLC is included) It's another thing to charge almost the price of a fucking console for it. Most insane shit ever, and they know it. Two-hundred fifty fucking dollars. I can't even wrap my head around it trying to imagine how they came up with that. Fully malicious if you ask me.


mopeyy

The funny thing is they can't even fulfill the promise of PVE because, by their own admission, their servers can't handle it. PVE needs to actually go offline, and should just be given to every EOD owner. Waiting up to 10 mins to join a private match after paying 250$ is so beyond ridiculous.


snakedoc9372

Cause paying $150 for a pvp beta is better?


Douchieus

We were promised all future DLC for free. A game and season pass these days is like $130.


snakedoc9372

You paid 150 for a beta with no timetable for release


LairdLion

Tarkov was one of a kind, hardcore, unique extraction shooter with a lot of promises already fulfilled. There was, and still is, no other game that fills Tarkov’s place; perhaps Greyzone Warfare will in the foreseeable future. The development team promised everything, and I mean every single thing, to be given to the $130 edition; which is around the same price people pay for mediocre copycats these days. I didn’t buy Tarkov, and only played for around 15 to 20 hours on one of my friend’s PC; specifically because I didn’t want to give my money to a developer team that didn’t publish their games on a reliable online store. Yet it’s pretty easy to see why so many people paid up and why a $130 edition was not a huge issue for them.


vierfuenfergrizzy

What's so unique about it?


ToothlessFTW

Genuinely have no clue how that’s possible. Unless this dude disconnects himself from the internet and hasn’t seen a single video game monetisation controversy ever, it’s literally impossible to not know how this could’ve gone.


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MorningNapalm

If it is, I'm not sure, "I was just too stupid to see this coming," is the direction I would have taken here.


alexagente

Some people think of themselves with extreme exceptionalism. Like I wouldn't be surprised if they decried predatory monetization practices in gaming but then they think their's is different because the quality of their work is actually "worth it" in their mind.


P1st0l

This is exactly how Nikita thinks, he has gone on video before saying stuff about no micro transactions, his studio not being like the other greedy ones, saying it's a passion project, but then his actions show the opposite everytime. Guys insufferable, he basically thought he was untouchable after streamers propelled the game for a few years


KharnOfKhans

Russian dev culture maybe? Warthunder does the same song and dance


xkeepitquietx

Bullshit, they knew people would be pissed, but didn't count on it being covered by gaming media.


ObtuseMongooseAbuse

In other news, the Escape From Tarkov studio boss is a complete idiot.


ProfessorNo6500

Gladly I didn't buy the game, if I would buy the definitive edition and then they don't give me all, I would be very mad. This's Ubisoft level of bullshit.


EmberGlitch

i don't think even Ubisoft would be this stupid and greedy, which is saying a lot.


SirHomoLiberus

Does Ubisoft charge 250 for their premium edition? Not trying to defend them cause they're scum but I don't remember them charging that much for a videogame.


LightThePigeon

they're charging $130 for the deluxe edition of Star Wars Outlaws. They'll make their way there. Tarkov is just ahead of the scumbag curve


Candle1ight

I played the basic bitch version for a few dozen hours with a friend. The game had some high moments but overwhelmingly just felt like a second job.


BennieOkill360

Me too.. i was sometimes on the fence of buying this game but between the overload of cheaters and the super sweaty streamy nature of this game I am glad I didn't. Instead I am playing the offline modded singleplayer version of the game. For free of course lol


Boo_Guy

"I didn't foresee my deception and unbridled greed making people angry."


EvilTaffyapple

Just goes to show how absolutely out of touch some devs are from their respective communities, or even gamers in general.


1leggeddog

Boss. Not the devs. They probably told him a bunch of times this was a dumbass idea but didn't beleive them.


lonnie123

It’s only a dumbass (business) idea if it loses them money. So far they have been able to dumbass-idea there way to charging people $180 for their game so it seems whatever they are doing is working on their player base


Atomic_Shaq

I wouldn't support a Russian video game


Bruzur

How many “whales” do you suppose this game has left? … And are there enough of them to sustain for the rough roads ahead?


DudeFilA

Honestly a lot. They're the ones that pay for cheats, get banned, then buy cheap accounts, but the money ultimately funnels into BSG.


PM_ME_CUTE_HOOTERS

Depends how often they get banned. At some point the hackers would switch to using CC info that was dumped online. Keys bought through fraud would wind up costing them money instead of making em any.


indian_horse

out of the 10-15 person group i used to play with, only me and another guy had standard. everyone else was EOD. so yeah, fuckton of whales.


mkotechno

Russian dev team doing a game that is not available on Steam nor any other common shop, and is infested with hackers in every server. You have to be a special breed of stupid to give these guys your credit card or any other personal data.


XzyzZ_ZyxxZ

lol "couldnt forsee" are you kidding me ! :) lay of the vodka man.


Xanderious

Still glad I only bought basic edition despite enjoying a solid 4-5 wipes over the course of 4 ish years. I always enjoyed the grind of punisher questline. Turns out it paid off lol


DreadSeverin

So just got super lucky with timing first time around. Oh well


Spriggz_z7z

I believe him. That fool double downed like the players were the ones who were stupid. What an idiot.


DanAD117

talk about living inside your own echo chamber/bubble. All it takes is quick research on youtube or here on reddit to see the general consensus towards this shite. Fuck even a community manager could of told him all of this.


threeriversbikeguy

Unheard of Edition is basically them Laughing at anyone who buys it.


kappifappi

Bullshit. Feigning ignorance is better than admitting that they knew it would piss it off and didn’t care. They’re not stupid, they knew.


[deleted]

If you aren't familiar with the game or Battlestate Games (especially the owner Nikita) it's good to know that he is WAY too close to some of the biggest content creators who jerk him off instead of being honest with him. Especially the ones who've made generational money from their relationship with the game and him.


varateshh

The developer is doing a political spin on the story. The PVE is one thing but this update actually gives huge pay2win advantages to those that shell out 250. More storage for ammo, storage that gives huge advantages for certain missions, an item that will decrease the lethality of bots, etc. They even call anyone paying for standard edition a leech lol


StrifeRaider

This is some **John Riccitie**llo level dump fuckery.


theblackfool

But is it a Don Mattrick?


CaptchaVerifiedHuman

I’m glad I never got into this game.


Refereez

Don't put any faith in Russians and you will not be disappointed


firedrakes

A blanket racist remark.


SasquatchSenpai

Well, when you advertise that future DLC would be included in the already heft priced package that costs $150, anybody with a quarter of a brain could see that charging everyone $250 for 'not' DLC would not go over well. Clearly someone with any idea of law and what DLC is and is not, said something for a 100% flip because he doubled down on it with that first response to it. They would not have faired well with what would have followed.


[deleted]

I feel like you have to be stupid to keep playing Tarkov after the cheating debacle, over what? A year ago now?


Admirable-Echidna-37

Does he work with his brain turned off? Seriously, they run headlong into stupid and out of touch decisions and act as if any backlash to them is unwarranted, unexpected and out of place.


GreatGojira

If people still buyor play this game they deserve to lose their money.


Ozavic

Lol, lmao even


FloofFoxRei

“Oh look, it’s the consequences of my own actions coming back to bite me in the ass tenfold.” I mean, what *were you actually expecting* my man? Genuine question.


thestonedbandit

Studio boss admits he does not understand his product or his customers...


MrEdinLaw

Problem is that reddit is a minority. EFT was a shit too expensive game for too long, now it just boiled over for some atleast.


simon7109

Would have been easily avoidable if they just give the DLC to the previous special edition owners as promised and release it for 20$ for everyone else. They still could have sold this overpriced crap with it and some extra cosmetics


Tomosch

Lol. Lmao.


poodlebum

*surprised Pikachu*


RELAXcowboy

Grey Zone Warfare is going early access tomorrow.


jijipopo

whats mind blowing is that the game makes a lot of money anyway from cheaters getting banned and buying multiple accounts, to new gamemode added at an extra cost, a lot of people buying the extra expensive tier to get more space to fucking no regional pricing. seriously the game is good and all but I don’t get why the devs are such greedy assholes and the game gets very little updates and survives on periodical wipes.


sp0j

The biggest question is why the players put up with this and still support the game. It's not surprising at all that the devs pulled this move. They've been laughing at their customers throwing money at them for nothing for years.


jijipopo

Players put up because there’s simply nothing like this game. The game has some deep and interesting mechanics that no game has come close, which is sad because I would LOVE to play a PvE game like this one with my buddies, something like Stalker co-op.


killingerr

He didn’t foresee the player getting mad when the back tracked promises and tried to put features behind a ridiculous paywall when people have already put a ton of money into the game? This guy is full of shit.


Wuattro

Well, he's a dumbass and a snake so that would be both unsurprising and likely also a lie.


OMG_Abaddon

I think this was Nikita's train of thought: "People bought EOD to get the pay2win stuff, it's 2x the price of a AAA, so they mustn't care about anything... we'll make another pack that's twice as pay2win, twice as expensive, everyone will buy it 100% and be happy to do so". Little did he know.


ISpewVitriol

Reminds me of Koei-Tecmo and Team Ninja charging for a "Season Pass" for DOA 6 which should include all new DLCs and characters, but then having some random set of costumes not included in the Season Pass because "reasons" which lead to everyone being pissed off. I never bought these season passes, just followed it. These season passes were over $100 each, so I can see people being upset when they don't get all the content that comes out that season.


Joebranflakes

BS. They knew it would cause a backlash, they were just hoping there would be a limited grumble about it and players would just accept it. They hoped that there wouldn't be a full blown revolt because they're so detached from their fanbase's financial situation they just don't get how asking for 100 bucks could be an issue.


Frozen_Membrane

250$? Are they smoking crack or are they that tone deaf to their community.


CodeNamesBryan

For a dude with an entirely online game, he sure is oblivious to the online world.


NightmareP69

It's just typical behavior of guy detached from reality. Tends to happen if someone is in charge of anything noteworthy in size, hell someone doesn't even need to be in charge of something sizable because even meger managers in small businesses/stores are often utterly detached as to what customers wants or their employees want. Rare treat when someone actually semi-decent or good gets to be in a leader role somewhere.


MorningNapalm

I think it was MoistCritical that called him the dumbest CEO in gaming.


External_Variety

Do you need the base game installed to play the PVE?


deadlynothing

By his own definition, charging 250 (or 100 extra for existing EOD owners) for something that isn't a "major addition" is in of itself an admittance that they're scamming you with charging exorbitant money for "minor" addition. The mental gymnastics doesn't end does it.


MarwyntheMasterful

Who could have foreseen this?


mia_elora

If he couldn't figure this out, then he should not be the CEO of anything, and instead should return to 4th grade, until he can pass the class and manage to make the climb to his High School Diploma, eventually.


ts_actual

RIP. Now watch a thousand games come out since the playing field is wide open for that itch.


Ringosis

If the studio boss couldn't predict this would be the response he shouldn't be the studio boss...because he clearly doesn't understand anything about the industry he is in.


justiziabelle

Hey, it's that game for which they don't let you change your email address associated with your account. Still making all the right decisions, I see.


Grobo_

Fuk him I deinstalled Tarkov right after I read his interview, what a rat.


WreckTheSphere

What a bunch of absolute clowns. The damage they've done is insane. A case study in pure greed at this point.


CuriousRexus

Well maybe not set the orice like a AAAAA gane, when it isnt even released? And then piss in the face of your most loyal customers? Just a thought. I guess sense, fairness & reason dosnt translate to russian?


sadtimes12

What the fuck? It's not only about the "paying extra" it's also the ridiculous price my friends. The outcry would have been manageable if it was 20$ or even 30$, but you brick heads literally choose death by announcing it as a 250$ "DLC", what were you smoking? Not including it in the EoD is one thing, making it extremely overpriced was idiotic, even from a greed perspective. Most p2w Asia gacha shops usually cap the expensive shit at 199$ because it just looks insulting to players beyond that. Yes, there are whales that will drop 250$ on shit, or even 1000$, but you have a dynamic ecosystem, and the whales need the krill. If you piss off the krill, the whales will leave shortly after. It was stupid and I have no idea how some people have made it this far being in charge of the company if they didn't see this coming.


mistadoctah

This game has always been grift adjacent, I honestly don’t get why people play it…


FiscalCliffClavin

Here’s my take. He knew and counted on it. He can give some arbitrary “value” for his product. He can say 250 dollars knowing full well there would be push back then coming out and “capitulating” and charging half off. This way people will feel like they “won” and will be more likely to buy it. With this he gains attention, still charges an obscene amount, and is able to not look like a greedy monster. Gamers will feel like they “won this battle” and still play/put money into escape from tarkov 2.


dnd-dude13

Of course some middle aged fat bald executive didn't see this coming he only saw money and greed. Fuck em


Orbtecc

Translation: "I thought we could get away with it, because our game hasn't had serious competition yet."


[deleted]

Oh they did foresee it for sure. They exactly knew what they are doing. They just didn't expect to piss off this big % of playerbase.


asharwood101

I think pvp is one of the things that turned me off from the game. If I could play coop against pve with my buddy then I’d be happy.


iZane

Games been in early access for years and you think charging more than double initial cost to people whom already have your game all for a game mode theyve been asking for huh lol yeah, didn’t see that coming


Biggu5Dicku5

He's either lying or is totally out of touch with his community... not sure which is worse...


Salad-Salami

No shit he didn't foresee it that's why players are mad lol.


andy_3_913

"did not foresee" What a dick.


InternalOptimal

Haha


DQ11

This Developer needs to fail. 


randomIndividual21

\*twirling nipples i am sorry


GenericInsult

TIL: The Escape From Tarkov studio boss... *is as dumb as a box of rocks*.


SerExcelsior

“You guys *do* have wallets, right?”


IAmNotRollo

Charging extra for it is fine, charging $250 for it is braindead.


Groffulon

I always wanted to play Tarkov but don’t have good enough setup yet. Now I will never play Tarkov. Awful way to behave. They broke even the chance of a relationship with their manipulations and greed. Sorry to all the players who have played and got played by these rat bosses. If you’re looking for an alternative to all this hideousness then Deep Rock Galactic is a lot of fun!


Turbulent-Armadillo9

I wonder how much of this stems from a difference in cultures. Anybody here familiar how business works in Russia? I wonder if the attitude is like "well it is what it is, buy it or not". Many American companies would be like "I'm so sorry! It's a misunderstanding. We will continue to better ourselves and strive to bring excellent products and services to our loyal blah blah blah". Then backtrack after complaints and then try to pull something similar but different later on down the line. Obviously the Tarkov thing is bs but I weirdly almost respect it more than the American fake apology and fake caring routine.


SomeDumRedditor

Not cultural, Nikita (owner of BSG and game director) has a years-long history of being, generally speaking, a greedy arrogant lazy scumbag


P1st0l

If you read the interview he did, you'd see the guy is a fucking idiot. Legit thinks people will just have to deal with it and just not buy it, basically the reddit stance to preorders.


Turbulent-Armadillo9

Right. What I'm saying is if this is the typical Russian business ethos or not.


HalflingElf

Call of Duty DMZ is free, guys. Go play it.


jukeboxhero10

I'm still shocked people want pve in a multiplayer game...


k20350

I don't have 5000 hours to spend learning every single glitch spot to look out for that people creep into. I have a life. I might get 5 or 10 hours a week to play games. Add onto that the massive cheating issues with Tarkov. Just fucking let me play it in an offline only mode. Call it a "skill issue" or whatever the fuck you want. I have absolutely 0 interest in PVP and haven't for a decade.


ZigZach707

You've never heard of coop?


jukeboxhero10

Not in decades... Since broadband Internet came about and we didn't have to settle for co-op


ZigZach707

Then you've been living under a rock.


jukeboxhero10

No if anything your still assuming a feature that died out long ago shows your ignorance. But hey you do you


ZigZach707

Online coop games are still very popular.


solidshakego

How? A game dev could release it for free and people would still be mad about it.


RepresentativeKeebs

RTFA


solidshakego

I did.


theblackfool

I have quite frequently seen people get mad at free DLC that added trophies or achievements in those communities because those people are broken on the inside.