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38 Studios Defends Reckoning Online Pass
The Internet erupted on Friday when it was discovered that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning included an online pass that unlocked several single-player quests. 38 Studios Chairman and Founder Curt Schilling took the company’s official forums to discuss the decision.
Schilling said the House of Valor quest content is actually day-one downloadable content that’s free to everyone who purchases the game new. If you buy the game used, you’ll have to pay for it.
“It's clear the intent right?,” he stated. “To promote early adopters and [sic] much more important to me, reward fans and gamers who commit to us with their time and money when it benefits the company.
“Every single person on the planet could wait and not buy Reckoning, the game would hit the bargain bin at some point and you could get it cheaper. 38 Studios would likely go away.”
Schilling emphasized this is not a case of the studio or publisher trying to make more money, but rather rewarding players who purchase the game new.
"That's just how business works," he explained. "We must make a profit to become what we want to become. The only way we do that is to make games you cannot wait to buy! If we do that, and you do that, we want to reward you with some cool free stuff as a thank you.
"You can totally disagree with this and I am sure many do, so we'll agree to disagree. This is not 38 trying to take more of your money, or EA in this case, this is us rewarding people for helping us! If you disagree due to methodology, ok, but that is our intent.
"The industry is in a very odd place. The data coming in on used game sales is not saying the things many thought it should, or would. But companies are still trying to figure out how to receive dollars spent on games they make, when they are bought. Is that wrong? if so please tell me how."
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning releases February 7 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
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