Deep Silver has defended the pricing of Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux, claiming that it still feels a 50 per cent discount for owners of their original incarnations is fair.
Announced earlier this year, the Redux versions of the first-person post-apocalyptic games use a revamped 4A Engine which adds improved performance, global illumination, terrain tessellation and other new features to improve the look and feel of the games. For Metro: Last Light, the newest game in the franchise, it was a relatively minor bump; for the original Metro 2033, it's a major upgrade.
Rather than releasing the improvements as free updates, or even low-cost downloadable content, for the original games, publisher Deep Silver opted to relaunch the titles with the Redux suffix. Those who hadn't purchased the originals would have shiny new games to buy; those who had would be offered a 50 per cent discount on the purchase price as an incentive to upgrade.
'We thought this was a great offer – but while there are many who are clearly very happy with the deal, it's been made clear on the Steam discussions here that there are others who think we have not done enough for owners of the existing games,' claimed Deep Silver's Maurice Tan in a blog post on the release. 'Some think we should have released these as ‘free’ updates, or offered a bigger discount (particularly on Metro: Last Light Redux). This response blindsided us a little.
'For sure, Metro 2033 Redux is a far more significant upgrade over the original than Metro: Last Light Redux (and we're not trying to pretend otherwise). We think the 50% discount is more than fair for the amount of work that has gone into this title. It is a complete remake of the original game in the latest engine, that will offer a significantly different experience from the original throughout with improved graphics, performance and gameplay.'
Responding to criticisms regarding the same 50 per cent discount being applied to the less-altered Metro: Last Light Redux, Tan claims there were technical reasons why the upgrade couldn't be offered as DLC. 'Why the same 50% discount and not more? Why not just patch the game? The latter proved to be impossible for a technical reason. Because of the changes to the engine, which necessitated dropping 32-bit support; we literally could not 'patch' the game. In fact, both Redux games will exist as new titles in your Steam libraries, and the originals will still be there.
'If you have already bought Metro: Last Light, with or without the DLC, and you feel that we are not offering enough to tempt you to upgrade - that's fine. We are extremely grateful for your support for the original game - we do not expect you to purchase the Redux version, nor do we feel entitled to your custom. Make your own decision based on whether you think that $12.49 (or the local currency alternative) is worth the asking price, and we will respect that,' concluded Tan. 'We know this response will not please everyone – but even though you still might not agree with the rationale, we do hope you understand that our goal was to reward, not exploit, existing owners while still making a viable business model that allowed this Redux project to go ahead on PC as well as console.'
Announced earlier this year, the Redux versions of the first-person post-apocalyptic games use a revamped 4A Engine which adds improved performance, global illumination, terrain tessellation and other new features to improve the look and feel of the games. For Metro: Last Light, the newest game in the franchise, it was a relatively minor bump; for the original Metro 2033, it's a major upgrade.
Rather than releasing the improvements as free updates, or even low-cost downloadable content, for the original games, publisher Deep Silver opted to relaunch the titles with the Redux suffix. Those who hadn't purchased the originals would have shiny new games to buy; those who had would be offered a 50 per cent discount on the purchase price as an incentive to upgrade.
'We thought this was a great offer – but while there are many who are clearly very happy with the deal, it's been made clear on the Steam discussions here that there are others who think we have not done enough for owners of the existing games,' claimed Deep Silver's Maurice Tan in a blog post on the release. 'Some think we should have released these as ‘free’ updates, or offered a bigger discount (particularly on Metro: Last Light Redux). This response blindsided us a little.
'For sure, Metro 2033 Redux is a far more significant upgrade over the original than Metro: Last Light Redux (and we're not trying to pretend otherwise). We think the 50% discount is more than fair for the amount of work that has gone into this title. It is a complete remake of the original game in the latest engine, that will offer a significantly different experience from the original throughout with improved graphics, performance and gameplay.'
Responding to criticisms regarding the same 50 per cent discount being applied to the less-altered Metro: Last Light Redux, Tan claims there were technical reasons why the upgrade couldn't be offered as DLC. 'Why the same 50% discount and not more? Why not just patch the game? The latter proved to be impossible for a technical reason. Because of the changes to the engine, which necessitated dropping 32-bit support; we literally could not 'patch' the game. In fact, both Redux games will exist as new titles in your Steam libraries, and the originals will still be there.
'If you have already bought Metro: Last Light, with or without the DLC, and you feel that we are not offering enough to tempt you to upgrade - that's fine. We are extremely grateful for your support for the original game - we do not expect you to purchase the Redux version, nor do we feel entitled to your custom. Make your own decision based on whether you think that $12.49 (or the local currency alternative) is worth the asking price, and we will respect that,' concluded Tan. 'We know this response will not please everyone – but even though you still might not agree with the rationale, we do hope you understand that our goal was to reward, not exploit, existing owners while still making a viable business model that allowed this Redux project to go ahead on PC as well as console.'
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