Evolve's Worst Monster is its Marketing Team - Article

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by, posted on 19 February 2015

Evolve is a strange beast. Developed by Turtle Rock Studios - the original developer of Left 4 Dead - Evolve was initially met with enthusiasm upon its reveal last year, with many praising its multi-tiered match structures and innovative 4v1 asymmetrical multiplayer. In a gaming landscape filled to the brim with sequels and “samey” games all seemingly riffing off of each other, Evolve was an anomaly - a new IP bringing new ideas and innovation to the table. Many players - including myself - eagerly anticipated engaging in the monster hunt when Evolve would eventually release in 2015.



However, as Turtle Rock and publisher 2K Games began detailing Evolve’s ambitious plans, that good will which was generated upon announcement slowly evaporated over the course of the year, with marketing jumping the gun on announcing a plethora of downloadable content (DLC) as well as confusing the market with a myriad of pre-order bonuses, season passes, and special editions. What should have been a campaign to sell the public on the unique and innovative ideas Evolve was bringing to the table instead became a textbook example of how poor marketing can turn the public against you.



The problems began in July of last year, when Turtle Rock co-founder Chris Ashton told OXM that Evolve would be “built from the ground-up” to support DLC, and that it would be capable of supporting post-release content “more so than any game ever before.”



“You know, in Left 4 Dead we could make new environments, but we really didn't have a structure there to make new characters or zombie types, so we were pretty limited on what we could do, DLC-wise.” said Ashton. “But with Evolve... we made these modular pieces - the way the whole game fits together means we can make new maps, new environment types, new wildlife, new monsters and hunters, and all of that stuff just plugs into the game."



For a developer looking to support its game long-term with a steady stream of extra content, this sounds perfectly reasonable. However, as developers and publishers have made a greater push for downloadable content in the last few years, those who play games frequently have become disillusioned with DLC, especially when it is released the same day as the game, creating the suggestion that it was deliberately left out of the game in a cynical bid to make more money. So when Turtle Rock described Evolve as a game “built from the ground up” for DLC, it represented the worst fears of many.



The prospect of a future DLC-laden dystopian nightmare quickly turned the public against Evolve, and that backlash intensified when 2K revealed its seemingly convoluted plans for Evolve’s DLC. For starters, Evolve would launch with three editions: the standard retail edition for $59.99, the Digital Deluxe Edition for $79.99, and the “PC Monster Race Edition” (ugh) for $99.99 (all US prices). Pre-ordering any version of the game gave you access to a 4th monster, the Behemoth (the standard game launches with three monsters). The Digital Deluxe Edition includes the Hunting Season Pass, which gives you access to four new hunters - though you could also buy it separately for $24.99 - but not the fourth monster, which still requires a pre-order. Finally, the PC Monster Race Edition WOULD give you the Hunting Season Pass and 4th monster, as well as two extra hunters (not included in the Hunting Season Pass), and a 5th monster. This is all ignoring the myriad of hunter and monster skins included with the various editions, making figuring out how to actually GET all of Evolve’s content a daunting prospect in itself.



The great irony, however, is that after putting some research into it, Evolve’s DLC plan isn’t all that complicated. Broken down simply, Evolve’s DLC plan can be described as such: At some point in the future, Evolve will offer two separate packs of new hunters, and two separate packs of two new monsters. The new hunters are currently available for pre-order, and depending on how you chose to purchase Evolve, you were essentially being offered the future monsters either for free or at a discount. None of this content is currently available for the game, and unless we were to be cynical and assume Turtle Rock is lying, all of this content is still actively in development, meaning regardless of which edition of Evolve you purchased, all of the game’s finished content was available on Day 1 (cosmetic DLC notwithstanding), so everyone playing Evolve is playing the "full game".



When put this way, Evolve’s DLC offerings are actually pretty simple. And I described it in approximately 80% less sentences than Evolve’s marketing team managed. Not only that, but those who elect not to purchase DLC hunters and monsters will still be able to play alongside those who do purchase them, as Turtle Rock will be releasing all future maps and game modes for free. When looking at it objectively, Evolve’s DLC plan seems much more reasonable, and is in fact much more pro-consumer than the DLC offerings of contemporaries such as Call of Duty or Destiny, whose DLC strategies fragment the player communities with paid maps. Conversely, Evolve’s DLC strategy ensures that customers who only paid for the base game still receive a steady stream of fresh content, and can still play alongside those who decide they wanted to play as the extra characters. So why the backlash?



It all goes back to the needlessly complicated way Evolve’s marketing team chose to present the content, as well as not making it clear at all that the future DLC was still in development and NOT available at launch. I visited countless forums and comment sections filled with angry customers who thought that the extra hunters and monsters would be Day 1 DLC, or that they were deliberately being held back content for the sake of making a quick buck.



The naming and pricing conventions of Evolve’s DLC showcases the marketing team’s complete lack of awareness in regards to how the gaming community perceives value. Over the last few years, the concept of a “season pass” has come to define the general idea of pre-purchasing most - if not all - of a game’s future downloadable content at a reduced price. However, Evolve’s “Hunting Season Pass” of four hunters is only half of the revealed future DLC - less so if you assume Evolve will have more content announced down the line. Indeed, many have theorized the “Hunting Season Pass” is a play on words of the term “Hunting Season” (because, you know, hunters) rather than being a bonafide season pass in and of itself. Whether this was a mistake made by an out of touch marketing department, or a calculating ploy to mislead consumers, the naming convention only further amplifies feelings of unease and confusion.



None of these arguments have anything to do with the quality of the game itself - though depending on who you talk to opinions vary from “just okay” to “really fun.” Under any other circumstance, Evolve would have been seen as a beacon of fresh ideas and innovation, buoyed in a sea of monotonous shooters and their anti-consumer DLC plans. Instead, confused gamers were left feeling like they weren’t getting their money’s worth, and in this regard Evolve’s marketing strategy was an absolute failure. What should have been seen as a new IP with innovative mechanics and a consumer-friendly approach to future content was instead painted as the epitome of money-grubbing corporate greed. Regardless of Evolve’s level of quality, or whether its upcoming DLC does indeed end up being any good, it should be presented as a case study of how poor marketing can sully a game’s reception despite the best of intentions.

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