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Despite Epic Games wish to have all Gears of War content made available for free, future map packs for the game will require gamers to part with the Microsoft Points – at least if they want the maps straight away.
Just as was the case with Halo 2 maps, Gears of War map packs will become free to download a few months after release.
“While we create products like Gears because we love games, and we have a passion for making them, at the end of the day this is a business for both companies and how we earn our living,” said Rein on the Evil Avatar forums. “Epic thinks the way to maximize the return on Gears of War is to give the maps away for free and Microsoft thinks the way to maximize the return on Gears of War is to sell the maps. So what we’ve agreed to do is to put these maps on sale at a reasonable price then make them free a few months later.“
Rein also defended Microsoft’s decision to charge for the content.
“Quite frankly Xbox Live Marketplace isn’t our store. It’s Microsoft’s store. Like any retailer they have the right to figure out what goes on the shelves of their store and what price they sell it at. They spend the money to operate the store and deliver the content,” said Rein. “They’ve also spent billions of dollars to create and build Xbox and subsidize it’s the price so you can afford it and we can make games for it. As our publisher, they also invested tens of millions of dollars marketing Gears of War, and have done an awesome job for us, so they have a right to a good return on that investment.
The next Gears of War map pack will feature four new multiplayer maps, but a release date and price is still to be announced.
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