Warner Bros. has received its fair share of criticism over the last few months, due to the implementation of loot boxes in their upcoming sequel to "Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor." This decision to include the pay-to-win features in a premium game was not met with the warmest reception, and the backlash was amplified with the release of a $4.99 DLC for the character Forthog Orc-Slayer.
For those who were not following "Shadow of war's" development, Forthog Orc-Slayer was created to honor Monolith's executive producer Michael Forgey, who passed away last year due to a brain tumor.
His character would appear once in a while to help players out in their time of need. A simple but cute gesture, it was ruined by Warner Bros. pricing the DLC at $4.99 rather than making it free.
The scandal
At first, the publisher justified it by saying that all profits would be heading to the producer's family. This would have been all well and good, but some small print associated with the DLC suggested that only purchases made from most states in the US would reach the family. Apparently, this was seen as a cynical attempt by Warner Bros. to capitalize on the untimely passing of a beloved member of staff. It spoiled what was otherwise a lovely gesture.
Despite the publisher stating they will receive no money from the DLC, the failure to really explain the small print made it hard for most people to trust them.
The explanation
Finally, a representative from Warner Bros. has replied to this criticism and, hopefully, put the matter to bed. Due to charitable promotion laws, they could only actively promote the DLC in certain parts of the United States.
Their representative explained they thought "this approach would raise as much money as possible for the Forgey family in compliance with the law." When asked why this was not explained earlier, the publisher added that since the DLC was available to purchase in territories which do not allow the promotion of charitable content, the company could not comment further or risk violating their laws.
As the DLC is now free to download, with refunds being offered to anyone who purchased it, Warner Bros. could go into further details. In the end, it seems like it was a whole lot of controversy for nothing.
While the greedy persona associated with big publishers is well warranted, we doubt such a massive enterprise would risk alienating so many people for a few thousand dollars.
