Epic surprised gamers last night during the VGA’s by announcing that the Combustible Multiplayer Map Pack for Gears of War 2 would be hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace just a few hours later. As no price was officially announced during the VGA’s, fans began speculating that the map pack would be free. This, of course, turned out to be untrue, as the map pack costs 800 Microsoft points ($10 USD). Cautious optimism turned to palpable rage as angry gamers voiced their opinions on forums and blogs everywhere.

But what was it that really set everyone off into a fit of angry typing? Was it the price? It’s not uncommon for three maps to run $10 these days. Was it the quality of the maps? One new map, one remake, and one that was loosely inspired by a map from the first Gears of War—that’s not so different from what the Legendary Map Pack for Halo 3 came with. If it’s not the product, and it’s not the price, then what could anyone possibly complain about?

This situation can be summed up with two words: perceived value. Gears of War 2 came out just over a month ago on November 7th, and already Epic and MS are reaching into our collective pocket to further cash in on this wildly successful game. With this map pack coming out so soon after the game’s release, many fans began to question why these maps weren’t included on the retail disc. Now, it’s entirely possible that these maps didn’t go into production until November 8th. I doubt it, but it is possible—but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the paying customer believes these maps could have been included on the disc, and that leads to feelings of distrust toward Epic and Microsoft. It leads to the sensation of being cheated out of something you’re entitled to.

Timing definitely contributed to the low opinion gamers have for this map pack, but let’s not forget that size matters. This map pack clocked in at a measly 79mb when other map packs for other games often weigh in at over 400mb. This could very well mean that many of the assets (textures, objects, etc) used in these maps were already on the game disc, and the map pack itself only includes the geometry for the maps—but that doesn’t matter. What matters is the perception that at least one of these maps COULD be on the disc. Let me be clear, I have no proof one way or the other on this issue, but I have seen it suggested more than once that at least one of the maps is already on the disc, and this map pack simply unlocks it. The simple fact that some vocal portion of the community believes in that theory (true or not) damages the Combustible Map Pack’s reputation.

If these were the only problems people could find with this map pack, they might have just grumbled about it, bought it, and moved on with their lives, but the one issue that no one seems able to reconcile is that this map pack came out before some of the sizable glitches found in GoW2 were patched. Now, in all likelihood, the forthcoming patch, and the new map pack were not worked on by the same team—but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that a lot of people have a lot of problems with the performance of Gears 2, and now Epic and Microsoft want them to fork over more money.

I’m quite certain that none of this was done with malice toward the customer, but again, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that a lot of people feel mistreated and insulted by the Combustible Map Pack. It’s not the product itself that enraged the community, but rather the circumstances surrounding it. Every one of the issues mentioned in this article helped to lower the perceived value of the map pack. Had these maps been free, everyone would be singing Epic and MS’s praises right now. Had these maps come out at the same price point on some future date following the release of a patch addressing some of the glitches in the game, some people would have complained, but most would have just bought the map pack, and enjoyed their new maps. This is a PR failure plain and simple. This map pack should have been released when it’s perceived value would be higher—a time when the bugs were patched, and gamers were clamoring for new content. Alternately,  it should have been used as a tool to appease the anger forming around the game’s many glitches, and given away for free. All things being what they are, the Combustible Map Pack was doomed to have a perceived value of less than zero dollars, and the storm of gamer rage surrounding it was inevitable. Perhaps, in time, the community will forgive, forget, and purchase. For now, I expect this map pack to have way lower-than-expected sales.

-Mike Kurz

Tags: DLC, Epic, featured, Gears of War 2, Microsoft, microtransactions, Xbox 360

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