I know i'm talking ancient history here, but the Doom was patched to Ultimate Doom for free for those who had the original, that inluded a new episode or 9 new maps.

More recently, The Witcher Enhanced Edition was also a free update for those who bought the original (like me ), a clever marketing ploy, since according to the forums many bought game again.

I would not actually call it a marketing ploy, they never hid the fact that those who had the original registered would get a free update

It's a marketing ploy created to entice customers into sticking around with "titles" for the long haul by progressively adding some reasonably high value to a product; simply said, it's the good'ol software versions iteration (major & minor updates as usual) principle applied to a new virtual model of transactions given the fact distribution methods have evolved since the D/L infrastructure is there to exploit.

Considering costs of production can also be kept under control (somehow, by selecting the medium), consumers should or must expect better quality (matched with supplemental content, that is) and that's exactly where business decisions (about what & when to offer anything for a proportional price) can either flood a market with potential "sales" or sadly, determine the inevitable fading of popularity (either through continual innovations issued by competition or even, failing to issue essential assets).

The appeal is more about what you pay for and if it fits your **current** needs, although the whole trick for developpers is to attract and keep the fanbase happy.

The risk for abusers would be to over-charge for silly items when people know what the original version (1.0, btw) could have been made of by excluding "precious" elements for later re-selling to milk the hooked crowds. In other words, they also must respect their purchasers; the best example for this kind of reasoning certainly is TotA 12 tech trees.

It's not a bad buisness system so long as the DLC doesn't include some of the basic game requirements and without buying the updates the game sucks beyond believe.\

But yes it is a good thing to be able to have farther income from games that otherwise would have none. Thus increasing the funds for more patches or sequels.

Well, it seems like a new business model, started by EA, to change customers into a monthly income source. EA CEO sort of said that a while back.

Some is (semi) decent, but for the most part, especially the aforementioned PC/console games, DLC is just stupid. The E:TW DLC really exemplifies this; in fact it pretty much takes my point and puts it on a pedestal for all to see. You see, I still can't finish a game. This is because it crashes to the desktop due to a bug whenever I click on certain fleets. When the game is unplayable, I would think they should at the very least make sure it is working before trying to milk more money out of the player base. Heck, they should be giving us free units for putting up with their beta version of the game for the past months.

There are 14 new units free in the patch, and 14 more in the DLC. It may be stupid, but actually $3.49 for 14 units is a lot more bang for the buck than $5 or $10 for a couple new maps.

yeah? why not? i mean it depends what it is.

If its a map pack, idn, i guess it could be free, but if its something that requires new programming (meaning new content like new units, weapons, players mayber?) then you should really pay.

i mean, how would you feel if you worked as, say, an architect. let say you designed/built a condominium for a client. so they payed the original fee, but now they want to add a garden... and a rooftop bbq area, and they want to convert one floor to an indoor pool and gym. and heres the kicker, they want you to do it for free... how would you feel?

all things aside, another thing to think about is that this is someones livelihood. its not a hobby they do, this is what pays the bills for them, puts food on the table. and you want them to work for free?

sure, some of the larger companies have multiple programs running at once, so there is always revenue coming in. but for a company like Ironclad, with all of 11 or so staff, they'd need to work nearly non-stop to make sure everything can be released asap. it takes long enough as it is, considering they wont get another substantial cash infusion until they release something new.

if its worthwhile, pay for it, dont look out for the scab and try to get everything for free

I think Microsoft should make windows 7 as an free update to windows vista.  Afterall, Vista sucks period and after two years, it comes out with an operating system that is an improved version of Vista.  MS owns its customer base to fix ALL the flaws that is associated with Vista, not try to milk more money out of them. 

(ill assume you mean 'owe' not 'own')

Microsoft is like Chuck Norris, it dont owe nobody nuthin', everybody owes Microsoft, otherwise they press a button that causes your computer to transform and go ninja on your ass, kill you, then blow up in your fridge =P

Exactly. The rise of the Western MMO has shown developers it's far more profitable to have a continual income source rather than the burst income that is paid from retail sales. This is why I no longer do business with EA in any way, shape or form. The problem with EA is that before this business model became their focus they tried to pump out sequel after sequel to cash in on a franchises success. Look at Need For Speed - they have two seperate companies producing two games at the same time to ensure a new release every year, with a limited development time of two years maximum for each game.

This is part of the reason why piracy is rampent in the games industry; people got tired of paying for games that were ultimately rushed out the door and completely untested and a just a mess of a game. As a counter-measure, most games now require some kind of online authentication to 'beat the pirates'. See the PC version of Mass Effect for the worst of this. Clearly, it has neither reduced piracy or help increase the quality of our games.

Now, because of the success of DLC, some companies - like EA - sell us part of a game at launch and later the better stuff becomes available only if you pay more for it. Please see SPORE's expansion pack 'Galactic Adventures' for evidence. This is quite possibly going to lead to even further piracy. However, this time it's not to avoid paying for a game - it's simply to get all of a game that you've already paid for.

What i meant was that by releasing it for free, many of the original game owners were so impressed that they bought the game again to support the company.

Oh

And that counts against them how?

It doesn't. I posted that as counter for "free updates never added anything worthwhile" (or something like that).