Gran Turismo HD – The Plan So Far

We’ve already reported before about the new Gran Turismo title set for release this year not being what you expect, so here are a few details on Grand Turismo HD, and the pricing of their downloadable content

Now, this is a potential money making scheme that can rival most Pyramid-Network-Marketing campaigns. Both titles will probably ship with virtually no content, and Japanese consumers will be expected to pay for the content they want. GT HD classic will offer anywhere from 50 and 100 Yen for each car that the player would want, and from 200 to 500 Yen per track. Although GT HD Premium will ship with two tracks and around 30 cars already available, it’s still going to offer around 30 cars for gamers to buy online.

Okay, so there’s criticism that this tactic won’t work, and that Sony is doing the best it can to milk money from their users. Well, just think about it this way: given the sales figures on merchandise from Japanese franchises like Final Fantasy, you just know that people will buy those cars.

Sony has yet to comment if this plan will apply for Western releases for the titles – which is the important point of this post. Already people are up in arms about this, screaming “rip off.” It’s probably safe to assume that Sony is taking time to see how the west will react before they take the plan and launch it in less “otaku” shores.

Regardless, looks like Sony is really getting on that downloadable content for sale train because it even has a karaoke-based game planned called SingStar, where the revenue will mostly come from gamers buying and downloading new music to sing along with.

Again, Sony hasn’t made any formal moves to execute the plan in the west. So for now, our wallets are safe. Hey, if people are more vocal on how much of a “rip off” they think it is, perhaps they’ll release a version for the US and Europe that has more value added to it.

Buy: [Gran Turismo HD]

We’ve already reported before about the new Gran Turismo title set for release this year not being what you expect, so here are a few details on Grand Turismo HD, and the pricing of their downloadable content

Now, this is a potential money making scheme that can rival most Pyramid-Network-Marketing campaigns. Both titles will probably ship with virtually no content, and Japanese consumers will be expected to pay for the content they want. GT HD classic will offer anywhere from 50 and 100 Yen for each car that the player would want, and from 200 to 500 Yen per track. Although GT HD Premium will ship with two tracks and around 30 cars already available, it’s still going to offer around 30 cars for gamers to buy online.

Okay, so there’s criticism that this tactic won’t work, and that Sony is doing the best it can to milk money from their users. Well, just think about it this way: given the sales figures on merchandise from Japanese franchises like Final Fantasy, you just know that people will buy those cars.

Sony has yet to comment if this plan will apply for Western releases for the titles – which is the important point of this post. Already people are up in arms about this, screaming “rip off.” It’s probably safe to assume that Sony is taking time to see how the west will react before they take the plan and launch it in less “otaku” shores.

Regardless, looks like Sony is really getting on that downloadable content for sale train because it even has a karaoke-based game planned called SingStar, where the revenue will mostly come from gamers buying and downloading new music to sing along with.

Again, Sony hasn’t made any formal moves to execute the plan in the west. So for now, our wallets are safe. Hey, if people are more vocal on how much of a “rip off” they think it is, perhaps they’ll release a version for the US and Europe that has more value added to it.

Buy: [Gran Turismo HD]