Evolve Goes Free-to-Play: Time to Forgive and Forget?

Yesterday, Turtle Rock Studios pulled the PC version of Evolve from the Steam storefront, announcing that they were re-designing the asymmetric multiplayer shooter into a free-to-play product.

For those of you who don’t know, the original version of Evolve was a highly anticipated release that generated an absolute cavalcade of pre-release awards, medals and accolades. It proved to be the first game in history to win the Game of the Show award at both E3 and Gamescom – that’s a big deal, I promise – as well as garnering over 65 awards and nominations throughout the course of its many exhibitions at trade shows and gaming conventions. Long story short, it was set to be an absolute monster hit (pun very much intended) and looked like it was sure to be an industry darling, lovingly soaking up the livelihoods of millions of fans who were sure to play it well into the next couple of years.

Except that didn’t happen. At all. Because it’s marketing strategy resulted in such a shamelessly avaricious launch, so bogged down and mired in its woefully transparent attempts to wring as much money as possible out of its customers, that it managed to become the unintentional embodiment of everything about pre-order culture gamers had grown to despise.

Critics and online communities had been working hard to educate the playerbase about the shyster marketing tactics running rampant in the gaming industry: denouncing the flogging of overpriced downloadable content, season passes that gave players exclusive access to parts of the game gated off from the rest and the concerted attempt by the industry to get players to pay full price to pre-order their game on the promise of some bauble or trinket. And in an environment bristling to attack that sort of thing, Evolve burst onto the scene having fucked up every step of the way.

Arriving with not so much a stumble as an out and out face-plant, it first raised eyebrows with the fact it pitched exclusive bonuses to those who pre-ordered the game before actually announcing the game itself. People knew they could get Evolve’s Monster Expansion pack with exclusive access to the Savage Goliath cosmetic skin if they pre-ordered Evolve before they even knew what the fuck Evolve was.

And the catalogue of missteps just continued from there.

Turtle Rock co-founder Chris Ashton revealed in an interview with Xbox Magazine that Evolve was ‘built from the ground up to support DLC’ during a time when gamers had become increasingly vocal against paid-for downloadable content. Whether or not Ashton genuinely believed this to be a good thing, he was perceived to have unwittingly showed his hand; revealing plans for an aggressive push to charge players for pricey content well after they’d already paid full price for the retail version of the game.

These fears were realised when Evolve’s ludicrous ‘special editions’ were announced ahead of launch. First there was the obligatory ‘Season Pass’ which offered four new DLC hunter characters, which were released five to six months later,alongside three exclusive skins for the monster characters, priced at £19.99. If you wanted to buy the season pass then you could pre-order the Evolve ‘Digital Deluxe Edition’ which bundled together the regular version of the game( priced at £54.99) as well as the Season Pass for a whopping £70.99.

That might seem like an embarrassingly large amount of money to expect from players who’d already ponied up but 2K assured its customers that they were actually saving money since the four characters were individually worth £6.19 each. A notion based off reasoning that escaped everyone not fucking affiliated with 2K.

Remember also that pre-purchasing Evolve means you unlock all the games original characters off the bat, as opposed to having to raise your ‘Hunter’ rank overtime to unlock them by playing the game with a limited cast of characters. This doesn’t include the DLC characters; those you would need to pay for unless you bought the Season Pass or Digital Deluxe edition. Still with me?

Well remember if you were a PC player, you could also buy the PC Monster Race edition which included the game, season pass, and ‘additional content when it became available after launch’, which we’re led to believe included a number of characters, monsters and skins that hadn’t even been announced yet. Don’t forget the Monster Expansion pack which gave you exclusive access to the fourth monster, which wasn’t exclusive since the Monster Expansion pack was included in the similarly exclusive pre-order bonuses. This pack, giving you access to ONE character in the game, cost $15.

The fuck, right?

You can imagine what happened; Evolve’s release was quickly decried as one of the most outlandish money grabbing attempts ever attempted by a brand new IP. Ingrained within the game’s progression systems, its DLC schedule and its Gordian Knot of exclusives, bonuses and special editions seemed a purpose built agenda to test the players patience enough to get them to pony up and pay extra for content that many felt should’ve been included in the basic release. Those that didn’t ultimately felt like they’d paid in full and got half a game. It led to lukewarm reviews from critics who felt the basic version was too thin on the ground to justify a full price release and sparked fury from consumer advocates who cried bullshit on 2K’s marketing tactics and in some cases prompted a near boycott of the game entirely. In February 2015, less than a month after Evolve’s PC release, TRS forum posts showed Steam figures capping at 10,000 people playing the game per day; a far cry from the 2.5 million PC units shipped on launch.

So after this awful reaction to the marketing strategies put into effect by the publisher, where does this leave Turtle Rock Studios?

It leaves them with a game hamstrung by the publisher they were contractually obliged to work with, withering and dying on the vine and remembered only as a cautionary tale against industry greed. Whatever issues one may have with Ashton defending the marketing strategies of their game, ultimately they just decide how to make ‘em and 2K decides how to sell ‘em. 2K are a massive publisher, one of the most prolific and profitable industry forces in gaming and the botched job they did on Evolve matters about as much to 2K as the needless tat they peddled to their customers. The only one left holding the bag here are the consumers and Turtle Rock Studios; their four year magnum opus ended up becoming an industry laughing stock, the continued loyalty of a diehard fanbase being their only solace.

Well yesterday, TRS released a contrite announcement to the Evolve community, making direct reference to the “DLC shitstorm hitting us full force” and acknowledging its detrimental effect on customer enthusiasm at release. You can check out their full statement here, but the TL;DR is this – Turtle Rock still want the game to work, they still believe in the game and they’ve elected to make the game free to play. The PC open beta for Evolve Stage 2 begins today. You can download and play it for free.

There’s so much that is repugnant in the world of big business. In these trying and difficult times, it seems there’s no end to the stories of corruption, greed or sheer incompetence. The one positive thing about all of this is that, at least in gaming, consumers were able to use market forces to get publishers to sit up and listen. As harsh as it was for Turtle Rock, the community did the right thing to give such marketing practices the reception they deserve. I applaud and will continue to applaud those who reject these shyster tactics and dissuade an insatiable and opportunistic publisher or developer from such practices that simply cannot be tolerated. That’s one of the best things about this community.

READ MORE: 10 Most Disappointing Games of 2015

But we mustn’t only be an instrument of reactivity and rage, taking a shock and awe approach to any and all instances of chicanery. At the end of all of this, there’s a great game that isn’t getting played as a result of short sightedness and greed. And that’s a shame.

Whatever you may think of them, I believe in Turtle Rock’s product. It’s a genuinely innovative idea and no other game like it exists on the market. With a bit of love and a hearty amount of community support behind it, it could become a truly exceptional thing. Though we may revile the bad practices that permeate the industry, I believe in rewarding the good. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. This is a good game and a dedicated developer we’re discussing. And as a result of this gesture of good faith by them, it is my intention to support the open beta in any way I can. I hope you all do too.

These guys clearly care about games. Let’s try to look after our own.