Microsoft Clarifies Modern Warfare 2 DLC Deal

Microsoft has revealed just how much of a headstart Xbox 360 owners will have with the new downloadable content for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

"We have a 30-day timed exclusive on the Modern Warfare content packs," a spokesperson told Eurogamer. "So it will be available on other platforms, but you get to try and play on Xbox 360 first."

[Blaze929]

30 days...really Microsoft...REALLY?

[TheHater]

I wonder how much $$ they paid for that 30 days. I was expecting something around 2 months or so.

[nix]

we needed beta testers anyway. q:

thank you, MS. for caring about us, gamers. again. and again.

[solideagle1]

hahaha man that was lol but it might hurt someone feeling cough bungie cough ahem now i m fine.

thanks

[krisq]

ha!

[Darkstorn]

Doesn't seem like it's worth it. Even so, good for those of you who are 360 owners - you'll get the buggier versions of each map pack.

[BattleAxe]

I hope the DLC for the 360 isn't as buggy as the rest of the xbox 360 version of MW2.

[TheBlackSmoke]

If the DLC is not at least 6 months exclusive, it totally misses the whole point in my opinion. Everyone who will ever pay for this DLC already has their copy of MW2 on their platform of choice, sorry but M$ just paid out for a 30 day c#ck block on PS3 owners.

It is sneaky though how the small exclusivity window was never mentioned before the game came out, no doubt a request by M$ of Infinity ward. Too bad it probably had no influence on the sales of MW2 at all.

[krisq]

It's clear MS wanted to have this as E3 announcement. Cheap shot.
'We've got to have SOMETHING. But we don't want to spend a lot of money on it...'

[ape007]

mw2 is pure awesomeness, gonna buy it day 1

and to ps3 owners, hope you enjoy it too, take it like this, stop hating, it's a deal, it's business

stop this fanboy war, gaming is all about fun and escaping from real life, yes competition is great,arguing about over ps3 and 360 which is better is great but not that extreme

I've had enough of this bullsh!t, im starting to throw up,imagine any anti gaming reading these posts,he'll be like "that proves gaming is stupid and it's for nerds"

[gaffyh]

I was expecting 6 months, then to see 30 days...that's not even worth paying for. I can see why they didn't clarify that at E3.

[Guido]

For beta testing the new maps for us PS3 players. It's too bad though that they the 360 version is one of the worst versions of the game at the moment and now to subject your user base to more beta testing for retail prices seems to be a shame. Make sure all those bugs are worked out 360 fans, I don't want to experience your frustration when they come to the PS3.

[Admiral_Benson]

I can't believe any self respecting gamer is actually thinking of investing more money in this buggy, glitch-ridden hackfest of a game.

IW couldn't be bothered to release a properly polished and tested game in the first place, what makes anybody think that their overpriced DLC is going to be any better? Every other day there is an article on here about the latest MW2 glitch or hack.

IW should be concentrating on fully sorting out the f'd up situation with the online element of the game itself before they seriously consider selling extra DLC for it.

[Knghtz]

I like how people are talking that 360 owners will have to beta test the new maps like new maps require that much beta testing. It's not a new build, lol

[StanLee]

LAME! It's really time Microsoft knock off these lame a** tactics. They're becoming industry bullies and no one likes a bully.

[Dandiego]

30 days is long... for a hardcore COD fan.

[Dandiego]

If you say Microsoft is lame for using these tactics well you have to say the same about Sony. They did the same thing with GTA last generation... These tactics have existed since the Snes, Genesis days

[Rockox]

Really gettin' sick of this exclusive DLC crap...

[tordavis]

Microsoft didn't pay anything for this. Activision gave it to them in return for the bundle deal.

[lve2playbball]

Microsoft...so DUMB for paying for this 'timed exclusive'....I mean really, what is the point? there goes a few million dollars..

[WildArmed]

wow.. lol
I still dont' get this 'timed exclusivity' stuff.
It doesn't change anything for me... It just makes me lol on their business s tragedies. Be it sony or MS.

[f789790]

I'm kind of glad I have to wait 30 days. I'm sure someone will discover a glitch that makes bullets track you.

[Sarcasm]

I also thought it would have been 6 months.

[SilentNegotiator]

You get to waste $10 on map packs 30 days early.

[Christopher]

Wasn't this type of information confirmed at e3? They get a timed exclusive for the first two MW2 map packs by one month each. I don't know why this is still being debated.

[jjohan35]

Please take that money and invest in a good exclusive game for the 360. It doesn't need to be Halo since we're getting Reach this year. Please, really.

[Immortal321]

they dont care if their games dont look better than their competition they just want more games.

[I_AM_ CANADIAN_1989]

only scum bags like activision and IW would make that deal with microsoft.......way to tend too the other 6 million ps3 owners who bought ur game /s.....i feel dirty considering i own a ps3 and only game i really play is cod 6, and im gunna have to wait thirty days. im sick of this ms bribing and trying so hard to get exclusive dlc and timed exclusives and what not..... while sony uses their money and time to invest in AAA first party titles.........that push the ps3's limit everytime..... and some gamers still wonder why sony has way more exclusives....but wait the 360 has more dlc........just a question what do you guys think is better exclusive dlc or exclusive AAA games...?????

not tryin to be bias just really think this exclusive dlc is getting alittle to far....as gamers we suffer from this..its just unneccessary and i really hope this doesnt become a frequent thing whether its sony that has exclusive dlc, i think dlc should never be exclusive,or timed its bs......

[blahblah123]

If the MP map packs are camp fests like Karachi or as spawn kill friendly as High Rise, no way I'll pay up.

[erathaol]

Yeah but think about what you just said. Pretty much if they are what you don't want than the people who do want to camp and spawn kill will buy the maps, since its what they like to do.

[WildArmed]

I still regret buying the CoD4 mapack.. it was all hype n no fun.
After a week, I just deleted the mappacks off my HDD so I could play the orignal maps only.

ofc if MS got it for free, it's just a cherry on top for them.

[Knewness]

Yeah, the E3 announcement made it look like such a big deal.
I was expecting maybe 2 to 6 months at least.

[Nicaragua]

Whoever the guy is at Microsoft, who keeps p1ssing money away into these ridiculous timed DLC agreements, needs to be fired.

[electricshadow]

I'm not buying any DLC for this game so this affects me in no way. Good job Microsoft securing time exclusive map packs. O.o

[saint_john_paul_ii]

wow...just wow.... you payed for that instead of increasing your first party? wow....

[Morbid Bulldozer]

ZOMG, I just paid for a beer instead of buying a new car!

[Carl1412]

@Morbid...

How is that the same in any way?

[Morbid Bulldozer]

So, you really think that 30-day exclusive deal for a map pack costs as much as creating a new game studio (that does not make pac-man clones in Games Factory)?

[Wh15ky]

The money for that beer could have gone towards your new car. You've got to start somewhere.

[Morbid Bulldozer]

@Wh15ky: So MS should not buy exclusives/timed exclusives, so they can open a new studio in 20 years? :D

[Wh15ky]

You seem to have made the assumption that he meant "create a new game studio" and didn't someone once say that "assumption is the mother of all f*** ups"?

Pope said "instead of increasing your first party"
That to me could easily mean increasing the size of an existing studio, I wonder how many salaries that money could have paid?

[Morbid Bulldozer]

Speaking of assumption, you're assuming that MS paid anything, that it's enough to make any difference in their 1st party studios and that they have one budget for funding developers and securing exclusive deals (otherwise saving money on A does not affect B). See? We're all in the dark, as far as MS agreements go. But I think it's safe to say, that 30-day exclusive deal for a map pack does not cost enough to affect 1st party studios. Besides, this is how business works. Gamers would be happy if MS closed their PR department and used saved money to make more games. Shareholders would probably disagree.

[evrfighter]

"you're assuming that MS paid anything"

ding!

well played

[OmegaSlayer]

30 days...LOL

[Static-X]

LOL you commented just to show off your avatar right...? ;)

[red2tango]

Omega really pisses me off with his circumstantial fanboism and he always contradicts himself when he talks out of his ass. On topic, 30 days...LOL

[RBdrift]

So where all the bot fanboys at?Oh yeah there crying a river over there one month super hyped timed "exclusive" DLC!
I swear it only gets better.

[-MD-]

Are you bragging about getting DLC a month later than everybody else?

[camachoreloaded8806]

Xbox guys making a big deal about this. It's the Sony fanboys that are trying to start arguments over it.

[AssassinHD]

This is a good thing for everyone involved if you ask me. The xbox 360 owners get to enjoy the content early, and the PS3 owners get to enjoy having a tested product.

[mcnablejr]

strange logic to think that getting it early is the same as getting it late in the same state.

[AssassinHD]

I assure you my logic is sound. Xbox 360 owners will have 30 days to find exploits and glitches, which means that by the time we get the content, fixes should already be implemented, or at least in the works.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

What ever MS paid for these DLC packs...if they did pay for them being the 360 is the preferred MW2 gaming system by majority and infinity ward may just be trying to capitalize on that. The revenue they will get from the sell of DLC which partially goes to MS will be significant to the acquisition cost. They call that business.

[MATTMACMILLAN]

Your a complete retard! Why wouldnt they release on both if they want all the money?

[Taz Yamauchi]

Beta test for 30 days

[ThePostalDudeX]

MW2 was THE biggest seller of last year, raking in at 1 billion dollars. believe it or not Microsoft made a smart move because 30 days may not sound like allot but Imagine all those people "1 billion" who bought the game, now just pick a random number give or take a MILLION people who are going to buy the DLC first day or maybe the week after. So for you people saying "30 days WOW microsoft!" Just stop and think about it for a second, because Microsoft is going to get back triple what they paid for the timed DLC.

[-MD-]

Hey look I found somebody intelligent on N4G!

[Doc Sony]

Nope, you found someone with the same fanboy mindset as yourself Murder.

[ThePostalDudeX]

Doc Sony the one with the 3 red rings as his picture and Sony as his username? I wasn't being a fanboy just stating a fact. And Murder as far as I read, his comments aren't "Fanboyish" Your just a delusional idiot Doc.

[Carl1412]

So how do they benefit from paying for it and getting 30 days exclusive on it? The same people would probably buy it if it was multiplatform from day one...

[Doc Sony]

Hey, there is nothing wrong with being a fanboy but for Gods sake be a man about it and admit it.

I'm particularly fond of Sony's consoles and not so much of Microsofts and I rarely hide this in my comments, unlike you.

You can't fault a guy for rooting for someone, right.

And to me 30 days just looks like a total waste of cash.

[The Meerkat]

Yes they probably would. But its all about playground bragging rights.

Its about all the 360 kids laughing at the PS3 kids.

And if MS make $1 dollar from it and get all the publicity from it then it makes good business.

[dragonelite]

Just think about it.
Lets say some people have multiple consoles.
The timed dlc could have made that guy/girl decide to buy it for the 360 instead of the ps 3 thats already some money into ms pocket.
That person will probably buy the dlc too so that even more money in ms pocket. Let say a 1 million people did that. Microsoft get like what 30% of the dlc revenue and dlc probably costing like $10 that 3 million on dlc they got.

[bozebo]

postal, where the hell did u get mw2 for $1? and where did these other billion people get it for $1? I would like to know why I paid full price.

[Ausknight]

MW2 might be the biggest seller, it's also the most over rated buggy piece of crap Infinity have released to date!

Between glitches, server crashes, laggy gameplay and severe weapon inbalance - none of which they fix, I'm burned enough that I'll skip the DLC completely on my 360 and most likely wait until I read positive reviews for MW3 before they see a dime of my money again!

Bad Company 2 is almost here. 'Nuff said.

Yes, I have a 70 on MW2. Not as dedicated as some obviously, but played enough to have an honest opinion.

For a game that has already cracked a billion in sales, the after sales support for the 360 owners has been lousey!

[MATTMACMILLAN]

Yea just like how they lost a few MILLIONS on the gtaIV dlc eh?

[glennc]

fanboy city

[Doc Sony]

lol, 30 days.

By the time those DLC's are glitchfree the proper versions will be availiable on PSN.

Get your head in the game Microsoft.

[ThePostalDudeX]

Well good work calling people fanboys then stating a totally brain dead statement like that. Good way to contradict yourself.

[ape007]

do you really believe in what you said

typical n4g, antilogic and spinners everywhere

don't you find it humiliating for yourself to believe in what you said?

lol @ people here in n4g they love eating their sh!t time and time again

lol

[dragonelite]

nvm him he probably still thinks god of war 3 runs at 1080p60fps.

[bjornbear]

DLC comes out on 360.

LOADS of glitches.

Gamers complain.

IW fixes them

DLC comes out on PS3 fixed.

is that logic THAT implausible? =/ I know he's a fanboy but..the argument (although brash) is fair =/

[OrganicMachine]

I'm about tired of this game anways on thE PC front..

[xabmol]

MS pays so people CAN'T play. Gotta love 'em.

[GamerPS360]

MS or Sony, it's not what I am concerned but you are right about company paying so some gamer can not play. This is GAY business tactics that only affects Gamers.

[DJKGBYF]

I really want to know if Microsoft thinks that people will drop $200 on an Xbox 360 and another $60 on a game just to play DLC.

[xabmol]

Don't forget to add the price of the required HDD.

[insomnium]

just to play a DLC one month earlier than others.

@xabmol

Does this game require a HDD to play online?

[xabmol]

If you want to download and play the DLC, yes.

Also, why haven't you accepted my friend request on PSN?

[insomnium]

"If you want to download and play the DLC, yes."
Oh ofc. Silly me haha.

"Also, why haven't you accepted my friend request on PSN?"
What? You sent one? I haven't noticed sorry. I'll be sure to add you once I get home =)

[bozebo]

They're also paying so PC gamers can't play. I don't understand that considering it's a microsoft platform.

[bjornbear]

desperate actions

[jalen247]

30 days is not a long time. I hope they didn't pay too much for it. They should have tried to get a bigger window like at least 3 months.

Even if Sony was the one with the 30 exclusive, I am only interested in MW 2 DLC if it is going to be single player missions and spec ops missions and at a reasonable price.

There are so many good games to play so waiting 30 days is no big deal.

[Akagi]

Ha, they're bragging about 30 days.

Thanks for testing the maps, guise.

[Bumpmapping]

Great job M$ 2010 is looking bright for you LOL!

[Silly gameAr]

Get that money Infinity Ward! I would have taken that deal too. This many millions for 30 days exclusive to this console, and after that 30 days is up put it on that console and get more millions. IW don't lose sh!t;

They just get MO' MONEY MO' MONEY MO' MONEY.

[123360]

i was surprised they got thirty days i thought it might be more,but there again with the psn having just under 7 million people signed in to the cod servers thats alot of people to upset if it was any longer.mind you this may well work out in favour for sony,s mag to get more attention while waiting for the new maps.

[BatClarkeee]

oh man. infinity ward has it set up pretty sweet
- recieving a large amount of money from m$
- then a precentage of all the dlc sold
- 30 days later they recieve money for all the dlc on ps3 and pc.

thats what you call business.

[Leviathon6425]

i just say that the DLC should be free for the bullSh!t bugs the game was plagued with...u know, if we lived in a perfect world

[lh_swe]

But it makes me wonder what MS could hav done with all the money they have spent on DLC, times exclusives & times DLC. I know fund entirely new games which would probably benefit them more in the end.

Guess I'll have to wait a month :(

[awesomeperson]

By the time this comes out, I'll already have MAG and most probably BC 2... Not meaning this as beta testing, but hopefully by the time it comes to PS3 all the big bugs will be wiped from it, hell, hopefully before its released all the big glitches and bugs are found and removed.

[gnothe1]

how do you guys even know MS PAID for this content,how do you guys know this wasnt an incentive for selling 1 million copies of the DLC for call of duty 4.everything dealing with MS you guys just assume they paid.the 360 sells alotta games an naturally that help developers lean towards it.

[Sickr]

Although 30 days doesn't initially appear to be a long time you can guarantee that once it launches PS3 owners will be itching to get their hands on it, and therefore thirty days will inevitably seem like months.

[dkblackhawk50]

For 30 days, they probably paid at least 10 million. But to be honest, who cares which console gets it first? After the 30 days the other consoles will be getting the DLC.

[sensor21]

They take care of me i pay to play but free radio free blu ray (via stream from pc downloads) but yeah we are always first to get new stuff that works and u can look forward too.

[bozebo]

"free blu ray (via stream from pc downloads)"

That is not a Blu-ray I hate to break it to you. It is media sharing, probably illegal too.

[quadalupeupe]

if they really cared about you we'd see no monthly fees for their online service and red ring of death repaired within first few months not 3 years to maybe fix with Jasper

[mcnablejr]

But 360 fans might even be bored of it by then.

[TheObserver]

Heh, dirty business tactics as usual from Microsoft. But, 30 days? Seriously? How low can Microsoft get to gain a such a petty advantage? Is that even an advantage to brag about when MW2 is known to be bug ridden?

It's all business, sure. I agree. However, the business world have ethics and code of conduct too, corporations gets burned all the time by the media and such. They are getting more petty and petty over the years. Heh, I guess that's what you should expect from a company that nickel and dime its customer.

[ReBurn]

Just curious about what exactly was dirty about the deal.

[quadalupeupe]

its making a deal so competitors customers can't play

[ReBurn]

You'd think people with the PS3 version would be happy. First they complained about some obscure multimillion dollar deal that would keep them from getting the DLC. Then they talk a bunch of crap because the DLC is only exclusive for 30 days.

I suppose you make some of the people happy none of the time. At least around here.

[John_Dylan]

Instead of this 30 day crap they shouldve just made the DLC 50c cheaper than the PC/PS3 version, Microsoft wouldve generally used the same amount anyway and wed be able to get the same content at a lower price thanks to the higher install base on the 360.

Think MS was a bit too eager to capitalise on our loyalty and install base of this, and i personally think its money wasted. As reluctant as I am to say this i dont see Sony making any brash actions like this.

[iistuii]

how long it is ?. Thought you all hated MW2, so don't keep going on about it. Your all obsessed with the game. Any article on it your all over it, it's funny really.I and many million others will get the DLC and enjoy it. Keep hating .

[Blow Out Your Brains]

ah well, any problems should be ironed out then for the PS3 release.

[artsaber]

Beta

[maverick1191]

doesnt bother me i'll wait just stick to dead rising 2 online with my friends and heavy rain :P

and thanks for testing the map packs out no glitches for us cheers

[rohail88]

is stupid!

[quadalupeupe]

Dirty M$

use money to hold off competition

anti-competition lawsuit, remember Java? Microsoft made their own version but just slightly different because they thought Java was the platform to control the interwebs back in early 2000

[borgome]

PS3 fanboys consistently getting shafted, ahh, the way it was meant to be.

[hiyaku]

No, you idiots get to beta test the DLC for us. :-)

[borgome]

Ahh, fresh maps, gonna be sweet!

[MGOelite]

ahh, new games, gonna be sweet.

enjoy your new maps while im on MAG

[borgome]

ahh, new games for me as well, gonna be sweet.

Enjoy MAG even though I don't know what it is.

[Scary69]

With all the issues MW2 has now I am NOT buying this DLC infinity can shove it.

[Silent]

This is probably the worst timed exclusive DLC ever.

[HotAsHell]

testers would really love to play the game first:)

[NateDPG]

Instead of investing in new games, MS is investing in time exclusivity for a blockbuster DLC. Good job lol

[MrNorthernMan]

Wow, thats pretty pathetic. Makes no sense in a way, why would they want to have 30 days extra when people who have Modern Walfare 2 would already have it on they're console of choice? Don't really see DLC been a massive system seller either...
Anyone up for enlightening me why they've done this?

[Ausknight]

Isn't it obvious?

MW2 cracked 300 million in sales in the first 5 days.

Have exclusivity for the first week of an xpac that's now cracked 1 billion = easy profit.

[MrNorthernMan]

Yeah but why would the example of those sales make a difference? Everyone that has Modern Warfare will buy the DLC for the console that they brought the game on.
And yeah, they'll be first time this generation buyers torn between PS3 and 360 but will 30 days of exclusivitity make that much of an impact on sales? Just seems a bit lame.

[xaviertooth]

there goes $50M down the drain.

[bjornbear]

thats pathetic =P

[BlackSharinganX]

on this microsoft deal, both microsoft and sony fans are laughing there ass off LOL.

[gamer0123456]

i am ahahahha.....

but im still happy NEW MAPS FOR COD on 360 WOOOT

[Fairchild Channel F]

Could end up costing them some lost revenue in the long run. They release now on both when nothing is going on and maybe I(meaning gamers not me)pick it up. They release in a months time in the middle of the start of the perfect storm of games coming out and maybe I'm too busy playing them to be bothered with DLC. I'm sure they'll make plenty of $$$ off it still, but maybe not as much as they could have. And thats all Activision cares about.

I cant prove it yet, but i think Activision sends all its employees out to local establishments to rob the "take a penny" trays at the registers. I'm working on it.

[gamer0123456]

look at all the ps3 fanboys acting like they dont care....lol....then why post.....exactly..they dont even like cod AHAHHAHAHAHHA

i love cod I dont really care for the whole exclusive thing...why

1. i didt pay for it to come early to the xbox.....but its a PLUS

to the people that say we are beta testing it....lol grow up

[Noob]

They made it seem like it was a couple of months. Still wouldn't buy it though, even if it came to PS3 day one. Hell, I usually never buy DLC and this would be the last game I would buy DLC for. Honestly, I don't see why anyone would support exclusive DLC when it's not in their favor(only MS's or Sony's). Even if you own both systems, you could still get screwed because of companies doing sh!t like this.

[ninetailfox]

As a PS3 owner of MW2, I'm glad to hear this. I have nothing against Microsoft, I understand why they made such a deal. I'll be getting the short end of the stick as a PS3 owner but it'll only be 30 days. No one really "lost" in this situation. It would be nice to have the DLC same day as the 360 but I can hold off.

[Shendow]

Couldn't they just say 1 month? or are they saying days to try to make it sound longer?

Anyways I don't care, sold my copy of this game because I got sick of all the glitch, heck my friend rented it and we play it and I end up falling threw the floor and landing right back where I was.

So the only thing MW2 I'm going to do out side of helping a friend online by renting it, is go to GameStop and play in the tournament.

[Bush]

Only a month wow M$ must be drunk usually they keep those things a little longer. Oh well wait till it comes to the PS3 or I might get it for the 360 i just wanna piss off the camping kids and listen to them scream and call me names.

[BlindBandit]

Still Good, Good

[BLADE_X8]

Microsoft is always trying to clarify something. (LOL)
How about clarifying the RROD/E7? (And no....it's not gone either, you fools quit believig everything you read on here.)

How about clairifying the fact that Halo 2, 3, ODST, and Reach all look the same! (Next gen hu?) MS got you fools dancing out here....(LOL) Modern Warfare 2 isn't even better than World at War, and the IW team couldn't wait to say they didn't work on that game! MW sold a ton of sale early on, but it's dying off now...and will be a joke, when Bad Comapny 2 comes out.