Bungie: "We shouldn't have called ODST an expansion pack"

[Stoney Mason]

so it would have gotten better reviews I guess...

What an odd thing for them to say.

Bungie: We Did a Poor Job Communicating What ODST Was
Posted December 8, 2009 by David Radd

Halo 3: ODST was somewhat stung because of certain marketing issues, with Bethsoft production director Ashley Cheng going so far as to say that "Microsoft and/or Bungie totally bungled the marketing on this." Speaking to G4, Bungie acknowledged that mistakes were definitely made when it came to promoting the game.

“We got criticized, fairly, for doing a poor job communicating what ODST was, an expansion pack or a full-fledged, AAA release,” said Joseph Staten, Writer & Creative Director. “It definitely turned out to be the latter. But, unfortunately, we didn’t know how much great work we were going to pull-off when we first announced the game. It’s impossible to know, but my gut says that if we’d never said the words ‘expansion pack’ we would have seen an appreciable increase in the review scores. Alas, hindsight is 20/20. But foresight is pretty hard too."

“I’d have to agree with Joe -- If you look at the lower scores, they almost all cite an issue in perceived value based on an initial expectation that was set for an ‘expansion’ and then a feeling that they were overcharged for the final product,” added Community Director Brian Jarrard. “For the most part, the gameplay and experience itself received a lot of praise with many saying it was the best of the series. Criticisms around the lack of matchmaking for Firefight and mechanics to add more longevity and community activity to the core game were fair and is something we would’ve done differently it if were possible within the scope of project.”

"I'm no PR expert, but it's pretty obvious the game had a series of stumbles; from the naming, to the initial E3 2008 countdown reveal failure, and finally pricing," said Lars Bakken, Design Lead. "It would definitely be nice to have a do-over for the game introduction."

"If anything the big takeaway for us is just to never comment on matters that are outside of our control," noted Jarrard. "While it’s true that we did come out of the gate talking about the initial smaller vision for the project, which really did vastly grow in scope during development, we never should’ve gone so far as to equate that to a prediction of final price point. As Curtis points out, that’s just not something we would ever have control over.  That said, we all feel that we ended up cramming an awful lot of content into the ODST box and it’s still a great value for Halo fans but unfortunately some people just never let go of the perception that it should’ve been cheaper based on the initial expectation we set when the game was first announced."

Although ODST may have suffered somewhat from the criticism, it's not as if the game struggled. ODST dominated September sales in the U.S. with over 1.5 million copies sold

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/bungie-we-did-a-poor-job-communicating-what-odst-was/

[Bildi]

an expansion pack or a full-fledged, AAA release

  At least they're humble.

[iconoclast]

But it was an expansion pack. One that's not worth $60 either.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

It was a dumb move indeed. Not that the game actually was anything more than an expansion pack.

[Rman]

I remember hearing that it was going to be 40 bucks at one point.

[Joe Molotov]

They should have called it DLC. HAY-O!

[AdmiralViscen]

I like how they again admit that it was an expansion pack in the next paragraph by saying that retooling the single player code to allow for matchmaking wasn't within the scope of the project.

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

I played the first couple sections of ODST. Call it an expansion pack, full-fledged game, or whatever - I think I'm done with Halo for awhile.  It bored me to tears.

[duckman2000]

I think if they are going to be apologizing for anything (although I guess that's not really what they are doing here), it should be the bullshit about how different the ODST angle would make it. Damage tolerance might have changed, bullets aren't as deadly (which is goofy) and you can no longer dual wield, but that's about it as far as that ever goes. You can still flip over vehicles, rip turrets off their mounts, and what not.

Can't wait to see what BS target they will fail to meet with Reach. On the other hand, I genuinely hope that there is a real leap in graphics quality.

[Stoney Mason]

Let's face it. The reason why there was a value issue was because there was no new Competitive MP part for a series that is known for its MP. It had map packs for a 2 year old (albeit still popular) game

Compare it to say Gay Tony or The Lost and the Damned and their price points and its easy to see why ODST has value problems at $60.

[Don Flamenco]

Alas, hindsight is 20/20.

At least hindsight got a perfect score, unlike FFXIII. 

[Bebpo]

Yeah, from the marketing I thought going in the game played like Ghost Recon and that it was this 4p squad strategical fps.  I was all ready for an entirely new spinoff Halo experience.

...and then it was just plain old Halo but you took fall damage    But I'm fine with that because I think Halo is fun and is probably more fun than a GR type game would be.

[drew]

“We got criticized, fairly, for doing a poor job communicating what ODST was, an expansion pack or a full-fledged, AAA release,” said Joseph Staten, Writer & Creative Director. “It definitely turned out to be the latter."

 

[Great Rumbler]

What he's saying makes no sense at all. Reviewers gave lower scores to the game because it had more content that they thought it would have? HUH?

[Stoney Mason]

What he's saying makes no sense at all. Reviewers gave lower scores to the game because it had more content that they thought it would have? HUH?

I think what he is saying is that 1.) reviewers are dumb and once the bar got set as an expansion  2.) they weren't able to shake that image out of their head and see the true value ODST represented. I agree with him on the first point but not the second.


Which is why I thought it was an odd comment. Because what he's really doing is insulting reviewers. Which is fine. Reviewers deserve to be insulted at times, but I would think that wouldn't be something someone in his position would want to do. But whatever.

[Bildi]

Alas, hindsight is 20/20.

At least hindsight got a perfect score, unlike FFXIII. 

FUCKING ZING.

[drew]

i think he is just an asshole trying to get the name of their game back out there after modern warfare 2

"hey guys, remember halo?"

[dark1x]

I thought ODST was a great experience.  I don't fully understand the complaints.

Firefight is a blast and the campaign was really well done (beats the shit out of the Modern Warfare 2 campaign, at least).

[Third]

It sold well, so who cares.