Valve has no control over Team Fortress 2 DLC pricing

by Nick Doerr { Mar 16th 2008 at 3:00PM }

If you've been itching for new maps to annihilate your friends on with the Orange Box's multiplayer title, Team Fortress 2, you know it's just a matter of time until you get your wish. What you don't know is how much it'll cost you. Neither does Valve. Kotaku contacted Valve's VP of Marketing, Doug Lombardi, to see if their wish for free downloadable content was up to them, a result of Electronic Arts meddling, or something else. He said "The platform owner holds the final call." Which means it's up to Sony and Microsoft whether or not to offer the content for free. Anyone care to venture a guess?

Tags: electronic-arts, team-fortress-2, the-orange-box, valve

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

R.crisp @ Mar 16th 2008 3:10PM

Tbh the extra content shouldn't cost PS3 owners anything as the original content was not exactly what you'd call... polished. Only 3 of the 5 games are easy to play on the PS3. The other two are quite difficult due to performance issues.
I've heard that EA didn't use up any of the SPU's when they ported the game but I don't know if that's true enough.

However ignore the ramblings, free DLC should be given for this game to say sorry to the poor buggers who paid full price for it originally.

Eggy @ Mar 16th 2008 7:31PM

TF2 isn't playable on any console. Netcode is poor. You really need to have it on the PC to be able to enjoy it properly.

Extinction @ Mar 16th 2008 3:11PM

Well considering Sony let Epic do user-created mods I'm sure they'll have no troubles doing this on PS3.

MS on the other hand...

Popfrogs @ Mar 17th 2008 3:26PM

Right but I think the defining thing here is whether or not you're pulling the DLC from the PSN or from the internet. If Sony's distributing the content for a third party, there may be fees involved. I think that's why Epic went with their pain-in-the-neck system for UT3.

pizz @ Mar 16th 2008 3:14PM

I can say that Micro$oft will ask for money. If not than thats a big step for M$.

Sony can go either way. But if valve wishes that their downloadable content will be free than I think Sony would honor that.

Thoas @ Mar 16th 2008 3:20PM

Does anyone play the orange box on ps3? I have 50 psn friends and none of them play that game.

Tranando @ Mar 16th 2008 3:51PM

Then you 50 friends need to spend less time reading idiotic biased reviews, and more time playing games.

Orange Box plays just fine on PS3, and was one of the best releases last year.

It's currently getting more play time, that Unchartered, UT3 and Ratchet and Clank.

erac3rx @ Mar 16th 2008 4:48PM

It's pretty clear what's going on here. Microsoft, as usual, isn't letting a developer offer free DLC on Live. Sony is fine with it. Microsoft is clinging to their 'you will pay for everything' approach and Sony is being far more open.

You would think that some of the $60 a year we pay for Gold would grant us the right to access free content that the developer wants to give us, but nope. Not with Microsoft. I can't wait until Sony gets accomplishments or entitlements done and puts voice-chat at parity with Live. Then I won't have to use (or pay for) Live anymore...

Pete @ Mar 17th 2008 9:06AM

There is a ton of free DLC on Live. Here's a list (as of July 07, there have been more free items since then):
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31796

There isn't that much free DLC on PSN. Or if there is, I haven't been able to find it in the store.

SpiderMike @ Mar 16th 2008 5:17PM

They need to sort out the lag and slowdown issues with the online and offline mods before offering any DLC and if they dont then it should be made free. Ive no problem paying if it goes that way either. Ive taken out a 2nd mortgage for HOME so whats a few more quid.

Davis @ Mar 16th 2008 5:37PM

I'm willing to bet that Microsoft is probably gonna wait until Sony declares their Team Fortress DLC as free before doing the same. If Microsoft still charges for it then I obviously wouldn't be surprised.

P-dub @ Mar 16th 2008 6:01PM

PSN: SamuraiBubba

Don't count on it. This is MS were talking about. They certainly aren't gonna make this content free, regardless of what Sony does.

Shadowen @ Mar 16th 2008 6:24PM

Based on previous experiance. Id say there is a 90% chance Sony will allow the DLC to be free [Unless EA decides they want a cut], and Microsoft will be 20% chance they will allow the DLC to be free. [Sorry but M$ is greedy, everyone knows this :P]

Mr Khan @ Mar 16th 2008 6:56PM

hmm... Deja Vu

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/08/major-nelson-co-host-burns-epic-in-free-debate/

Kxpuc @ Mar 16th 2008 7:27PM

doesn't Sony let 3rd party developers charge what they want on their games and DLC

Rob @ Mar 16th 2008 10:27PM

Yes.. Sony announced this a while ago. It is up to makers what prices they want to charge, they will not force prices on anyone. I read this in a Game Informer a while back when it came out that Microsoft was forcing people to charge for things they otherwise would have put out for free.

Kabapu @ Mar 17th 2008 1:15AM

Hopefully this will put to rest any Xbox Fanboys that constantly claim MS doesn't dictate prices on their downloads. So blind ... so blind.

Brucie B @ Mar 17th 2008 7:47AM

LOL, It's like you fanboys try to hard...

Well see if it's Free or not, I Still think 'Both' console will charge. There in it to make Money, Not Lose, or let slide by.

Pete @ Mar 17th 2008 9:11AM

Either both will charge or both will be free. But they always charge exactly the same amount for multi-platform content, and always have.

And like I said earlier, there is a ton of free content on Live. Much more than on the PSN.

sp3cialk @ Mar 17th 2008 9:12AM

Agreed... I have the 360 version, but I won't pay for content if they charge since I already have it all free on my pc.

buzzbean @ Mar 17th 2008 11:16AM

I also thought that Sony let dev's decide what to charge. They have created created price points but there is a decent amount of free content on the PSN, I don't get this comment at all.

Pete @ Mar 17th 2008 11:56AM

You know, I've been thinking about this. Valve has something to gain by making people think that Sony and MS are forcing prices on to content that should be free. Valve has their own, competing game platform called Steam. They don't particularly like MS or Sony. It is possible that they just want to create some controversy to send users their way in the future.