Can the Starcraft 2 Franchise succeed financially?

[Aldrius]

Sorry SaharaDrac, I usually agree with you, but this statement is blatantly incorrect. Age3's x-paks contain nearly three hundred times the amount of content that the SC x-paks will contain. 2 new units per race per x-pak? That's only 12 new units. Heck, DoW had more content in its x-paks than SC2 will have.

The quality of blizzard's work is undeniable, but don't go pretending that they're giving us a huge amount of bang for our buck. That's simply self-delusional. After all, the whole reason we're waiting so long is because of Bnet2, which is purely MP-based. MP-wise these x-paks have very little to offer that hasn't been done before, or better. SP-wise, undeniable quality and content, but still. These x-paks are not roaring good value.

Depends on how much you value the campaign/map editor/etc.

My guess is there'll also be lots of other new features for maps in expansions, whether or not there are a lot of new units. (And really, can they really add more than 1 or 2 new units per expac if they want to keep the game relatively balanced?)

[Maul]

Blizzard will never have financial difficulties with any game they release. Hell, they've even scrapped games when they could release a dodgy final product, but they can afford not to.

They're making a new MMO anyway, and no doubt it will be a totally different gameplay experience in comparison with WoW, so they'll keep feeding off of that.

[Xyvik]

Depends on how much you value the campaign/map editor/etc.

My guess is there'll also be lots of other new features for maps in expansions, whether or not there are a lot of new units. (And really, can they really add more than 1 or 2 new units per expac if they want to keep the game relatively balanced?)

I agree. I appreciate the campaign tremendously, and I agree that only a couple of units can be used before balance is affected, but Sahara's comment was implying that no expansion ever released could ever compare to these. That's flat out incorrect. There are lots of x-paks I can name off the top of my head that are equal if not better, in their own ways.

I'm still a bit peeved at them for breaking it all up, but the story is worth it, I feel. I'll just be really peeved if we have to pay full price for these x-paks, so I'll keep my judgment until prices are revealed...which will be about three years from now

[Aldrius]

I'm still a bit peeved at them for breaking it all up, but the story is worth it, I feel. I'll just be really peeved if we have to pay full price for these x-paks, so I'll keep my judgment until prices are revealed...which will be about three years from now

Eh. They're expansion packs. They'll cost what expansion packs cost. And it'll be about a year from the game's release that we get the first expansion. :P

[SaharaDrac]

Sorry SaharaDrac, I usually agree with you, but this statement is blatantly incorrect. Age3's x-paks contain nearly three hundred times the amount of content that the SC2 x-paks will contain. 2 new units per race per x-pak? That's only 12 new units. Heck, DoW had more content in its x-paks than SC2 will have.

The quality of blizzard's work is undeniable, but don't go pretending that they're giving us a huge amount of bang for our buck. That's simply self-delusional. After all, the whole reason we're waiting so long is because of Bnet2, which is purely MP-based. MP-wise these x-paks have very little to offer that hasn't been done before, or better. SP-wise, undeniable quality and content, but still. These x-paks are not roaring good value.

That doesn't mean I won't be buying them, because as mentioned, if you're serious at all about playing even near the pro level you won't do so with Vanilla, but the x-paks are still not a very large amount of content, especially when compared with other large names in the industry.

I admit when I say "more" in an expansion pack it sounds like I mean literally more units and features. I don't. I played Age of Empires. I played Dawn of War. They all paled in comparison to what Brood War offered. You can't just cram units into the multiplayer and say "HEY everyone look at how much STUFF is in this expansion pack!!", without worrying about balance, implementation, metagame, lore, or just about anything else other than sales. This is what other companies do. I was referring to quality, not quantity. Blizzard's expansion packs EXPAND the game, they breathe new life into it, and they continue working on it after it's release. AoE? DoW? "Don't we have some spare models?" "Yeah, I think so, put a snazzy name on em, throw em in, and it'll give us a few more bucks."

[Xyvik]

I admit when I say "more" in an expansion pack it sounds like I mean literally more units and features. I don't. I played Age of Empires. I played Dawn of War. They all paled in comparison to what Brood War offered. You can't just cram units into the multiplayer and say "HEY everyone look at how much STUFF is in this expansion pack!!", without worrying about balance, implementation, metagame, lore, or just about anything else other than sales. This is what other companies do. I was referring to quality, not quantity. Blizzard's expansion packs EXPAND the game, they breathe new life into it, and they continue working on it after it's release. AoE? DoW? "Don't we have some spare models?" "Yeah, I think so, put a snazzy name on em, throw em in, and it'll give us a few more bucks."

I won't go into a SC(2) VS (enter game here) thread so I will simply say that I both agree and disagree with you, yet again. So I think I will simply wait and see what these X-paks have to offer before deciding where they stand in the pantheon of games, hehe.

Eh. They're expansion packs. They'll cost what expansion packs cost. And it'll be about a year from the game's release that we get the first expansion. :P

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Technically they aren't even x-paks, the entire thing has been called a 'trilogy'. Was it so they could charge full price for all three? Possibly. Possibly not. I'll reserve my full decision until we see them. I still think they could do more for us, but alas, I'll find out when the time comes.

[SaharaDrac]

Am I a huge fanboy? Yes. I will pay full price for all three games and pay for Bnet features if paid Bnet features exist..

sigh

[Norfindel]

You DON'T see a lot of incentive into buying expansions...

so let me get this straight: 30 missions (three times the standard) with an entirely different campaign style from the previous, continuing a NINETY-MISSION storyline total in one of the most beloved video game universes there is, and two new multiplayer units for every single race with each expansion...and that's not incentive to buy an expansion pack?

What exactly is incentive for you then? Do you understand that these expansion packs each offer more than any ex-packs from any other company has ever offered, even just considering the MP, and you'll be guaranteed to get two of them? Do you realize that this is exactly what Brood War offered for Mutiplayer? 2 new units for each race? Except that there's going to be 2 expansions instead of one? Did you enjoy Brood War? Was it worth your money?

Did you even bother to read all my post?:

No doubt a huge amount of people is going to buy it. The game is a damn leyend. If they made the first campaign right, i bet most people will want to buy the others to continue the history. For the people not interested in the history, i don't see a lot of incentive into buying the expansions, unless the MP changes are very good. But probably the hard MP group is also interested in the history, anyways.

[Aldrius]

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Technically they aren't even x-paks, the entire thing has been called a 'trilogy'. Was it so they could charge full price for all three? Possibly. Possibly not. I'll reserve my full decision until we see them. I still think they could do more for us, but alas, I'll find out when the time comes.

They called it a trilogy so people wouldn't overreact to there being no zerg/protoss campaign in Wings of Liberty... plus trilogies are just a popular buzz word.

They're going to be expansion packs.

[sandwich_bird]

They called it a trilogy so people wouldn't overreact to there being no zerg/protoss campaign in Wings of Liberty... plus trilogies are just a popular buzz word.

They're going to be expansion packs.

Totaly agree with this. I'm sure they expansions are gonna be crappy compared to WOL.