Milking A Product

It's been about six weeks since my last post. E3 coverage really burned me out and now we're in the midst of the gaming summer drought. There isn't a lot being released right now up until Madden makes its summer appearance. It's a fact of life for gamers. However I'm writing today purely due to my mild outrage over some news that hit the net not too long ago. You can thank Capcom for that. For a while there were rumors that Capcom was working on an update to Marvel vs Capcom 3 which released earlier this year. Fast forward to today when Capcom unleashes the first bit of info about Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.

I probably shouldn't be mad about this because Capcom has been releasing enhanced versions of their fighting games for years now. You almost expect it at this point. However that doesn't change the fact that it leaves me feeling a bit sour having shelled out the cash for the collector's edition of Marvel vs Capcom 3 not even 6 months ago. The fact that they would release Ultimate MvC3 not as DLC but as a full fledged retail copy just screams milking to me. It reminds me of Activision and the way they treated the Guitar Hero franchise for all those years. Look, we as gamers understand that when a company finds a lucrative property that they'll do everything in their power to get as much profit out of it as they can. We know this, we understand it, we've come to accept it in some ways. And by accept I mean either people buy into it or they avoid the products at all cost. Whatever you choose, that's fine. What bothers me the most about this Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 thing is that for a while Capcom talked about the possibility of DLC.

At the release of Marvel vs Capcom 3 in February(of this year mind you) we knew right out the gate that we would have a chance to download two new characters later down the line. It was an exciting prospect. And some of us, myself included, ponied up the cash to get the collector's edition at launch which gave us the DLC characters free of charge when they would be released. Cool notion and solid marketing. What we didn't know at the time was that would be the end of expanding the base roster for Marvel vs Capcom 3. There was an opportunity to continue to expand the roster through downloadable content and Capcom just didn't capitalize on it. Why? Well my best guess is that they were conjuring up this Ultimate edition instead. Much like they did with Super Street Fighter 4.

That's fine and all. Actually if this had been 2012 I probably wouldn't have a major issue with a enhanced edition of the game. But Marvel vs Capcom 3 came out in February of 2011. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is already slated to drop in November of 2011. You're releasing an enhanced version of a game in the same year of its release? What are you guys smoking over there? In what world is this a good idea? Is making this $39.99 really going to soften the blow of what is basically them releasing the same game twice in one year when they very simply could have done a few DLC packs? I hope I'm not alone when thinking that instead of a full fledged release that they could have just extended the life-span on the game they released in February. This just comes across as such a cash grab situation. And the worst part about it is the fact that it has features and characters that fans were clamoring for when the game was released. This move is just poor taste in my opinion. And yes, I will admit that it stems from me being bitter about buying the game at launch only to have them announce a new version with a release window all within the same year. To borrow a phrase from the Simpsons, what happened to you Capcom? You used to be cool..