Official Discussion - Ozzy Osbourne 8 Pack Coming 5/31 - 2 songs exclusive to pack

[PaperMario21]

Correctly predicted missing pro upgrade ^^
Awesome week, definitely one of the best.
We're getting pack of hits from Ozzy's seminal albums.
Free Pro Upgrades for pack buyers is pretty cool and price is enticing.

HMX, if there are more pro upgrades in future coming from single artist, try to make them available as a bundle.

[Funk-n-stein]

We definitely understand that there are smaller sub communities within the hardcore community. There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle and none of them are exactly the same. Hardcore completists are fine with it because they'd likely be getting the pack anyway, Ozzy / metal superfans generally appear to be in the same camp, and people still playing Pro and legacy modes will be able to pick up the pack if they want the upgrades for free. On the other hand, people playing Pro exclusively don't get the value of the free upgrades if they feel they are required to get 6 songs they won't play, and more casual purchasers don't like that they're not able to pick a la carte from everything as singles.

Understood, and thanks much for the response! I understand this is not going to be a common occurrence and am not particularly bothered by it. In all likelihood, I'll end up getting the pack eventually, just not right away. I have a list of some 30-odd tracks with pro-upgrades to purchase as soon as the Playstation Store gets its act together.

[kitlerc]

But that is the point. If they realise that a full disc will bomb because they do not have enough content for it, then they can make some money out of standard DLC without exclusive tracks in packs or nothing at all. I would rather an artist sells his stuff because he cares about the quality of his music than pushing sub-par tracks with other popular tracks just for a tiny bit of extra money.

Unfortunately, not all artists do that. It's the world we live in. I'm not saying that artists should be doing these things, but they happen.

Going back to the topic of this week's DLC/the pressident of packs with exclusive tracks. I'm just saying that between no more songs at all from the band vs. some songs with some bundling, I would go with the latter. If it was partial bundle vs. all pick and choose, I would say pick and choose, of course. Are you saying you'd rather have pick and choose over absolutely nothing at all? I'm just trying to understand your viewpoint.

[thatdrummerguy]

Was going to cherry-pick, but I'll have to buy the pack as I want Bark at The Moon.

[JetWolf]

Also, it's more than a little surprising to see so many posts saying "Don't do this again... unless it's for a band I really, really want in the game". It's worth having further discussion (maybe after the holiday weekend) about the difference between reactions to this specific pack and the concept of exclusive content bundling to bring previously reluctant and high value artists.

If this comes up in a separate topic after the long weekend I'll repost it there. While it's still fresh though, here's my reasoning.

While I don't like the bundling idea, my primary concern about it was Harmonix using this as a new model for DLC going forward. It had previously been stated it was a unique situation, but my assumption was that if it went over well (or at least didn't bomb) it might become the new standard. Not wanting that, I felt my best course of action was to pass on the DLC and explain why.

Silly as it may sound though, your post genuinely reassured me that this won't happen except where absolutely necessary. Bottom line is, I suppose, that I trust you guys.

So when is it going to be okay to do bundles like this? What artists will be big enough to justify it? Again, I guess it comes to trust. While at some point down the line if this happens again I may not personally agree with the choice, I'll feel confident that you guys will have done whatever you can to get the songs to us with the most buying options possible.

For me, anyway, the issue was less "it's okay with other packs but not okay with Ozzy" so much as the reasoning behind it being more murky. That little extra bit of communication seems to have allayed my concerns, both on this pack and the rare potential for other pack exclusives down the line. Funny, isn't it?

[Quigby]

As someone with only a passing interest in Ozzy, I had no expectation of wanting the whole 8 pack when it was revealed. That hasn't changed. What has changed is my ability to choose the songs I wanted (3 of which are exclusive to the pack, imagine that). I can't see any reason for this kind of bundling besides it being a ploy to get people to overpay for the products they actually want. This pretty much exposes the truth behind the bundling argument artists have used to keep their music off iTunes, because they obviously don't want their stuff sold individually when half of it won't be sold. At least those guys have the ruse that it's about the album being heard as a whole (not the case for a RB 8 pack) and at least iTunes has the sense to stick to its guns. At this point I want to know who is responsible for this , HMX or Team Ozzy. It's no secret Ozzy sold out a long time ago, but have you HMX?

[MPPMike]

I guess I'm a rare person that likes being "forced" to get exposed to new music. As I stated earlier, I'm a huge "Bark at the Moon" fan and would buy anything (within reason) that would get me that song in the game. I suspect I'll never be good enough at Pro to truly play the song, but I'm happy for the free upgrade to mess around on Easy. Aside from a few songs, I'm not terribly familiar with Ozzy's solo stuff. I'll enjoy getting pulled into some new songs for just a little extra cost. I would have bought at least 4 of the songs plus Pro, so the extra cash isn't much for me. I'm down for more of this.

A timed exclusive, like the track packs, would be an even better plan for the future. Someone who really only wants "Bark" can wait 3 months for it to be available solo.

[Copper Blue]

Dear HMX:

I'll keep this simple. I am in favor of any DLC strategy that keeps you in business and keeps you releasing more DLC in the future. Thanks for the OZZY

[kitlerc]

A timed exclusive, like the track packs, would be an even better plan for the future. Someone who really only wants "Bark" can wait 3 months for it to be available solo.

I kind of like that idea, but the flaw I see in that is that a lot of people within that first three months would see that that song is only available in the pack, pass on it, then never return to purchase the song after the exclusivity expired.

[GNFfhqwhgads]

That went to explain why Harmonix chose a live performance to use as the basis for the AC/DC pack. In addition to not allowing individual song downloads, AC/DC would have opposed the creation of a greatest hits package out of studio recordings. Because they used a single live recording, AC/DC was fine bundling all those songs together even though it largely functioned as a greatest hits package.

Don't forget AC/DC Live has existed since what, 1995? Harmonix didn't do anything new, they just took the Donington recordings and did what AC/DC already did.

(3 of which are exclusive to the pack, imagine that).

What pack are you looking at?