Nickel and Dime

After all that good feelings, it's time to talk about the ugly side of the game business. Unfortunately Capcom is once again the guilty party.

When Capcom started to unveiled the new bonus costumes for RE0 remaster, I was getting a little suspicious of how much effort they are putting in. After all, they basically phoned-in the new bonus costumes for the earlier RE remaster though that was understandable being their first major HD remaster title. For RE0, there was a major t-shirt contest where fans can submit their own design. Then there are the throwback costumes to the previous RE games. Unfortunately Capcom have decided to charge the new RE0 bonus costume as DLC.

This is a classic example of publisher witholding content to nick an extra dime from consumers. After all the game is already more than 10 years old and any new content should be deemed part of the remastering packaging. But looks like the basic $20 is just enough to cover their remastering fee and you need to pony up an additional $10 for the new costumes.


To be honest, the new costumes are a nice throwback to the series history.  I wasn't so fond of the fan design T-shirt idea as it seem out of place in this game. But the costumes from the past RE games got me nostalgic of the series. It's just too bad that's probably all we are getting for this year's 20th anniversary of RE.

Good Will Funding

Publishers seems to recognise the importance of good will among the consumer these days.

Take Yakuza 5 for example, when Sega announced the localisation of this 3-year old game, fans lamented that they were basically sending the game out to fail without a retail release. It was only months later when the game is about to release that the full picture is revealed. Sega never had high hopes for Yakuza 5 given the circumstances of the timing, it's Yakuza 0 that they are pinning their hopes on.

But in order to ensure that they don't alienate fans and leave a bad impression before 0, Sega knew they had to give Yakuza 5 a localization even if it means losing money. Now Yakuza 0 takes centre stage and will get a proper retail release on Sony's thriving PS4 console. It's in a good position to succeed unlike Yakuza 5. The announcement of Zero on the eve of Yakuza 5 release hopefully created more good will for fans to believe again.

Another prime example would be Zelda Wii U. With the NX announcement looming this year, many believe Nintendo will jump ship and release the new Zelda on the NX instead. They might very well do so but probably not at the cost of forsaking the original Wii U version. Sure, Nintendo has no legal obligation to do so and would only be breaking their word if they do. But Nintendo can't afford to lose anymore good will at this point especially when they are hoping this very same customer base will buy their new NX.

Releasing the Zelda Wii U is probably a losing business for Nintendo just like releasing Yakuza 5 is for Sega/Sony. It's only the big picture that is making these losses worthwhile as any clever businessman will recognise. Sometime you need to lose a little first in order to win later. Or sometimes, it's not about losing but maintaining the relationship that matters here.