Cash Effect - Why Mass Effect 3's Collector's Edition is a slap in the face

Once upon a time, not too long ago to those of us over 25, when you paid full price for a game you got to take home a full game. But the advent of the internet has, as with all aspects of life, taken its toll. Now there's no such thing as a "finished game". Everything needs patching, or expanding, or tinkering with post-release. It's like buying a brand new car and not getting the breaks fitted until a few weeks later.


It's all about technology giving publishers the option, you see? Give a dog a bone and he'll chew it, as they say. Why release a bug-free game (or even one that's been effectively QA'd) when you can ship a glitch-filled monstrosity and patch it later? Why release a game as a complete package when you can hold back whole sections of the narrative that grant you the opportunity to gouge the customer (sometimes called fans, by the way) on the very day of launch.

I'm not condemning the concept of DLC, you understand. Patches have been used to correct minor bugs and extend the lifespan / increase the appeal of games for over a decade - ever since someone realised that the internet made it way easier and cheaper to release a downloadable digital patch than a boxed expansion set. And there are many examples of developers getting DLC dead right: GTA4 and Fallout 3 were followed by shining examples of how downloadable content can not only extend a game but enrich its universe.

What I can't fully condone, however, is "Day 1 DLC" - content that ISN'T developed months after a game's release, that isn't a means to reward a player who sticks by a game, sees it through and wants more. Rather this is content being developed alongside the game's release, which is more often than not already on the game disc - and which must be unlocked with a one-use code. As a tool to entice gamers to buy games new and thus "support" the developer, it makes perfect sense. As a bargaining chip used by online retailers to gobble up the market via individual "pre-order bonuses", it highlights exactly what's wrong with the way games are marketed and sold.

But even this is a fairly minor gripe; after all, pre-order bonuses are normally very small, almost inconsequential  packs usually containing an extra weapon or character skin. No, the biggest slap in the face comes courtesy of EA. Of course, EA - veritable connoisseurs of bleeding gamers dry. Collector's Editions are nothing new, and the fact that there's usually fuck all actually worth "collecting" in them is neither here nor there. But the Mass Effect 3 N7 Collector's Edition doesn't just come with the usual assortment of artbooks, soundtrack CDs and guides - there are also 2 pieces of DLC that are only free when you purchase the N7 edition - for around £70, by the way (depending on retailer, and if you can actually find one).

An odd mission or gun pack might have elicited a shrug - but the N7 edition ships with a whole extra character - and a [SPOILER] Prothean to boot! A whole character, an element that - particularly in a Mass Effect game - can potentially alter your entire experience even if not the game itself.

I don't buy Collector's Editions because frankly I can't afford them (and as man with a young family to support certainly can't justify paying an extra £30 or whatever for a bunch of memorabilia that'll depreciate in value at an alarming rate of knots, as it gathers dust at the bottom of my wardrobe). Instead I pre-ordered the standard edition of Mass Effect 3 that comes bundled with the usual retailer-specific crap like extra guns or a snazzy suit of armour.

So imagine my chagrin (read: apoplectic rage), when I discovered that the extra character and mission pack offered free with the N7 CE will cost me an extra 800MS on Day 1. That's an extra 7 quid - almost 25% of the full game's retail price - just because I refuse to pay an extra 30 quid for a cache of valueless shit that serves no purpose within the context of the game.

7 quid. Are you fucking kidding me, EA? Having purchased a good selection of EA-published games for full price in the past, it's safe to say I'm as much of a supporter as anyone else - so why am I expected to pay extra for what may very well be an extremely cool slice of DLC which - if online reports and leaked scripts are anything to go by - is already on the disc and part of the game? I'm paying full price on Day 1 but not buying the Collector's Edition - so I should get the same game, minus the actual collectible stuff. You don't keep digital content on a shelf, do you? You can't add it to a collection and show it off, can you? You can't one day auction it on eBay to support your gaming habit, can you? No. You fucking can't.

It's not about rewarding anyone at all. It's about making money. It's about punishing all gamers because EA lose money on second-hand sales. It's about ringing every drop from the people they're supposed to be grateful for: fans, consumers, gamers.I currently have a perfect save file from ME 1 and 2, with every shred of DLC completed, and it's a trend I would have continued in ME3 even if they'd released From Ashes a month or so from now and made it equally available to everyone at the same time. But to have pay for it on launch day when other's are getting it free just because I don't want an artbook or a soundtrack CD is a genuine turd in my fancy new shoes. It's also a smack in the chops that we gamers have to take with gritted teeth, or else effectively boycott games we love just to make a point that's going to go unheard and unheeded.

One day there will be a revolution against Day 1 DLC and online passes and the blatant monetisation of an industry that used to be about fun and community, but until then we'll go on turning the other cheek and letting companies like EA get away with it because, at the end of the day, we love the games they're publishing, if not the methods by which they sell them.

So put up with it we will, once again. What the hell else are we going to do?