Free for PC, $60/￡40 for consoles.

I preordered TES V : Skryim for launch on 11/11/11. I got all the DLC as it released. I pay for the same game again, top dollar, full price.

PC users who did the same get it for FREE!

Who do I kill to stop this outrageous double standard? I expect significant uproar, and I'm disappointed that this isn't the primary topic of conversation regarding this unbridled extortion of console users.

Oh, and btw, I'm waiting for the first "you can't prove you bought it unless it's digital" response.

Go ahead. I'll wait.

Well, I paid full price for my PS3 version and then bought it a couple times on Xbox at a somewhat reduced price and finally paid $35 for a PC legendary edition, so I'm not really feeling the outrage here. Sorry.


Anyway, I'd be willing to pay for SSE on PC, but am happy it will be free. If people want mods on console, it's the PC players who are going to be making them, so again, I'm not really seeing anything to be outraged about. I will probably port a few of my mods to console.


If you are that outraged by having to pay for SSE on console, I'd suggest not buying it. No one is forcing you to buy it, after all. I don't really understand the entitled attitude some people have.

Oh no, you're one of those.

Double standards, plain and simple. PC is free, console is not. Just because YOU don't have a problem with it, doesn't mean that others do not have a perfectly valid reason to complain and the right to do so.

Skyrim free on PC is about customer loyalty, but failing to extend the same courtesy to console users is hypocritical. Mods cost nothing and the advent of paid mods does not justify Bethesda charging a specific part of their audience twice when it should just be the Mod creators who choose to charge and then the users who choose whether they think it's worth paying for. I'll reiterate, Mods are FREE and the game that released on 360/PS3/PC was identical in it's entirety apart from the Mods and console commands which were deliberately removed. PC users did not have to pay again for Mods.

So, the only grounds they could charge on are that it's "remastered" (and remastered games do not release or sell for top dollar) or that's it's technically for "a new console" though the proof of ownership of the content is by no means difficult to prove. Other popular games have allowed free upgrades on consoles, and Bethesda missed the optimal timing in the first couple of years post console launch to capital on the lack of quality next gen titles.

There is no good reason for this, and my personal choice as to whether or not I shall purchase it has no bearing on this discussion as it's a matter of ethics, both business ethics and more general ethics.

Don't buy it, simple as that. There's no "uproar" because there's simply nothing to be angry about.

Console users pay because they get much more of an improvement than PC users. We already have mods, we already have the High Resolution DLC. The only thing that's in for us is the 64-bit engine and that by itself isn't worth paying 60$. If they charged PC players noone would buy it, at least I wouldn't. I already paid for my PC version and my XBOX 360 version.

So, we're paying full price for a remaster? $60/￡40.

Right?

And these are predominantly graphical improvements that could be achieved for FREE via Mods, correct?

I mean, you just said as much, but I want you to just confirm that again and for you to try to absorb that.

Yeah....

Correct, you don't need to remind me of what I just said. FREE graphical mods that wouldn't work on consoles either way.

Look, I have nothing against consoles or people who play on consoles, but the amount of entitlement I have seen recently, especially in regards to Fallout 4 and Skyrim is ridiculous.

Bethesda are a video game company. They will try to make as much money as possible and why shouldn't they? There's nothing morally ambiguous about that.

They can charge PC users for the Special Edition for all I care, but I guarantee you that this will cause more harm than it will mend. If you still think there are any "Double Standards"... Well, good luck with your little crusade.

Why do you feel you are entitled to something from Bethesda for free?

Please explain why you believe there are no double standards here.

No criticism, I just want to hear your opinion.

Are you talking about me? I'm not entitled to anything, which is why I said I couldn't care less if Bethesda charged PC users for the Special Edition. I simply wouldn't buy it for 60$.

Not you. That question was directed at Ephidel.

I do not.

I feel as if I am being treated differently, and might I say quite poorly, because I choose to play on a different platform.

All I ask for is fair treatment. Who can deny such a claim and call it "entitlement"?

Life's not fair. Bethesda owns the IP. They can give it away or sell it to whoever they please. They are a business, not a philanthropic organization. They obviously believe it's in their best interest to give SSE away to PC users and sell it to console users. Might have something to do with the number of console users who have been incessantly begging for a remaster these past years. Might have something to do with console users wanting mods for the first time and Bethesda wanting to encourage as many PC users as possible to install the new engine and CK so those mods become available to console users. Without a sufficient number of PC users switching to SSE, there won't be mods for SSE on console. Mods on console will help drive sales of the console versions of SSE. Maybe that's why Bethesda decided it was in their best interest to offer it for free to PC users.


But regardless of the reasons, there is nothing immoral or unethical about Bethesda deciding to charge console users and offering it for free to PC users. It's their IP. They can do what they want.


Besides, it's just a video game. Entertainment. It's not like it is a lifesaving cancer drug or something.

As a PC user I think it's unfair that we are given software for free while console users are charged for the same product. I don't know the reason for this. I would happily pay for the PC version.

Well, sorry then. Guess I got a bit carried away there.

I'll say it again. Console users get much more of an improvement than PC players. The console versions of the original game were inferior to the PC version in every way, while the Special Edition seems to be the same on all platforms.

Adding mod support to consoles is not as easy as you might think. Bethesda could do a much better job at actually policing the mods that are uploaded, but the implementation itself is not that bad.

Also, if it weren't for console users this remaster wouldn't exist in the first place. They wanted a port to the new generation of consoles and they got it, with better graphics and mod support on top. PC users already had all of that. Are you really complaining now that Bethesda actually listened to your wishes?

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1603400-questions-about-skyrim-special-edition/#entry25166896

Except, it is unethical to charge one part of your audience but not the other, all on currently unspecified grounds.

As for "it's just a video game", it's the principle.

I can't multiquote on my current device, so I respond to Remiros now :

Firstly, I have no problem with paying, but when I see PC users getting it for free, I ask myself why. It is a perfectly reasonable question to ask. The level of improvement is equal to that of many other remasters on the market, yet those games choose to launch for a comparative fraction of the price, as they know most of their fans want the remaster, but probably already own it. Even the Dishonored : Definitive Edition, published by Bethesda did this.

All that aside, again, it comes to down to fair treatment. One group pays, the other does not. Mods cost nothing on Fallout 4 for the Xbox One, I downloaded several myself last night, and I'd be posting about that if it wasn't all on the awful Bethesda.net.

I'm happy for the remaster, I'm happy for the price, I'm not happy about why some users get it for free whilst I do not, the only difference being in what platform I played it on. I payed easily as much as any PC user for my Xbox 360 version, probably more due to the pricing of PC games and how quickly they drop in price. All I ask for is fair treatment.

And thank you for the support Pseron Wyrd.

@Leonardo : I don't have a Facebook account. Sorry.

My bad, I didn't know you needed a FB account to view that link.

Read the last two lines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim#Marketing_and_release about Skyrim Special Edition.

As a console user you're paying $60 to cover the cost of hosting mods on Bethesda.net. PC users get it for free so they can make new content for console users to download. It is what it is.

You are not paying for the mods. That would make me angry, too. You are paying for the possibility to add mods in the first place. Fallout 4 added it to attract more sales, because it's still very much a new game and Bethesda rely once again on the community to fix the game.

So you don't mind paying for the game, but you are angry that other pay people pay less or nothing? That's grim. Prices for PC games have always been much lower. EA are even giving away games on a regular basis on their Origin platform. Is that reason to complain, too? Why not be happy that you are getting it in the first place and not complain about "being treated differently".

You have a strange definition of "unethical" and "principle." It is just a video game. Seems like there are more important things in the world to worry about than whether someone else got it for free. Anyway, good luck with your complaining.

I'm a PC user and I'm not happy about it either. Still, it's not completely unreasonable. PC players have little incentive to buy the remaster, let alone at full price, because we already have mods and enhanced graphics. Not the best sales potential here. However, Bethesda needs the PC players cooperative and actively interested in the game to start porting Skyrim mods to consoles. That's one of the main selling points of the remaster, after all. So they give us the game for free, show some goodwill, drum up excitement and hopefully the whole community benefits from it.

I shouldn't need to post a response here, as this has already been covered in my responses. I'm posting just to state that if I do not respond to someone, they are :

- In agreement with me,

- Have posted an argument that I have already addressed,

- Have posted something deliberately inflammatory (not you Krymzon74),

I'm just stating this now for future reference. I won't ignore arguments because "they [the arguments] are too good" and I'm happy to continue any further discussions into this topic. I won't always be online either, so please bear that in mind.

In response to your post Krymzon74, the cost of hosting the Mods that ALL platforms enjoy (obviously no Nexus Mods, but that's not the point) should be either shouldered by Bethesda as a development cost or shared out across all platforms.

Furthermore, this essential bait to PC users of "a free upgrade" under the alleged pretence of getting them to make console Mods is both unnecessary and quite offensive (suggesting PC users wouldn't pay for it otherwise). As another thread in this very forum has demonstrated, PC users are very happy to line up and purchase the game.

If what you say is Bethesda's true reasoning, and I don't know if it is, then that would be fundamentally flawed thinking.

@Leonardo : Sorry again, but I skimmed most of the article and read the "last two lines" of most of the paragraphs (and any referencing the SSE). I'm not sure what part specifically you want me to have read.

@Remiros : The two things are inextricably linked. The purchase of the game and the subsequent enjoyment of said game go hand-in-hand. And let's not bring EA into this, as the thread will spiral off topic. Suffice to say that EA are hardly an ethical company to begin with. Let's leave that one where it is.

No-one had to pay extra for "the possibility of Mods" for Fallout 4. Everyone paid the same prices (depending on which edition you got). PC users did not have to pay for "the possibility of Mods" for the original Skyrim and console users paid the same price, if not more, for that game, yet had features removed due to multiple reasons, both technical and legal.

Just because they're putting back in all of the stuff they "had" to remove from consoles version, along with prettier graphics, it does not justify the price tag, or the disparity between PC and consoles. If anything, it only seeks to highlight and widen the perceived gap between PC and console gamers, and given this forum's rules, that is remarkably ironic.

@Turija : Sure man, it's just a flesh wound. It doesn't matter. I didn't need my arms anyway.

@Rosveen : Perhaps, but plenty of PC players would be happy to pay for it again. If anything, this looks more and more like a marketing gaffe that came from a paranoid fear of a backlash. Maybe Pete Hines needs to come on here once in a while and gauge the community reaction before making outlandish statements and promises.

As Turija already said, I have no idea what you want to achieve with your ramblings about the pricing of a video game being "ethical". What's "unethical" about charging differently for a game? Also, I didn't bring EA into this. It was just an example that this is nothing new and you are the first person I've seen to be so vocal about their rejection.

And no, I don't think anyone would be "happy" to pay for the game again. I bought all of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, half of those again on console and most of them at full price. I even bought the original CD of Daggerfall before it became free. I think at this point in time Bethesda received enough of my money. Paying 60$ for Skyrim again is the last thing in the world that would make me "happy". I can agree that 60$ is too much, but that is about the only thing you said I agree with.

But go on. If you truly want to make other people pay, then I have to disappoint you, because your rant alone won't do much.

I don't understand why you're taking this so personally, but whatever.

Evidently, you need to look up "ethics", as opposed to morals. It is not immoral, amoral perhaps, but is it unethical? Yes, it most certainly is.

As for being the first person that you personally have seen being vocal about this issue, that really means little to nothing. I know a lot of people who choose to not spend what little free time they have posting on internet forums. I happened to feel strongly enough about this topic to do so, and I am not alone in my opinion here. I also imagine there are many people who are stymied by those that disagree with them, and therefore choose not to bother commenting. This thread could've devolved into petty bickering if I were a fool enough to respond to certain comments in a similar manner to which they made to myself. A lot of people fall into those traps, so any controversial opinions they may have are often silenced due to getting off-track.

Oh, and Pseron Wyrd said in this very thread, that they would be happy to buy the game again, and to my knowledge, they play on PC. There is another thread that discusses excitement for the game amongst the PC community, where the idea of buying the game again doesn't seem to be an issue. I guess you should go and have a look at your fellow PC users if you think they'd be unhappy if they had to pay again.

I guess you don't have much to go on now. :/