A very disturbing thing popped up on the intranets today. A website called Gamefanshop.com has posted a pre order for the upcoming Battlefield 3 expansion pack titled “Close Quarters.” The problem? The list price is $30!!!! Either this is a fairly unknown site posting crap to get some publicity, or this is a dirty ploy by EA/DICE to change the way we pay for DLC.

Another speculation by some people is that thi is a situation where DLC going forward will be this much as a stand alone purchase, but if you buy the rumored Premium service that will be about $50-$60, you get all of them for the normal price. It is a great businees idea by EA/DICE to pigeon hole their fans into buying the premium plan, but it is also an extremely dirty ploy that is likely going to cause millions of fans to abandon the franchise.

Another rumor I hear is that the premium service is going to be a one time $15 dollar fee and all DLC will the be half off. A little bit of a stretch but I’m a little unsure about the direction DICE/EA is going with Battlefield and frankly I’m a little worried.

The precedent that EA could be setting for DLC is a dangerous one but it could very well be in response to the supposed billions that the publishers are losing out on due to used sales. The battle between big name publishers and Gamestop will intensify ove r the coming years and that is why we get the rumors of the next gen consoles not playing used games.

Here is a Youtube video from the guy that originally found this price: