DLC

The advent of accessible internet and online purchasing power brought about a new way for gaming companies to add content to games and has gradually replaced the expansion packs of yesteryears. I remember awaiting expansion packs to my favourite games so I could get more levels, new units, and great story, basically, an excuse for me to spend more time with those games. Expansion packs cost less than the original games, and of course, depending on the company, could be a great add-on or a total waste of money made just to milk their customers of their hard-earned cash. When 56k internet came along, games could now be patched. Companies like Blizzard provided constant updating to their RTS titles to keep the balance, and add downloadable maps for their supporters. Other companies provided patches to keep their games stable.

With reliable systems to make purchases online set in place, now content that would previously be in expansion packs can now reach consumers without the need for a disk purchase. Gamers can pick which part of the 'expansion pack' they want and buy those only, as well as possibly getting the content they want earlier (assuming what they want is the first piece of DLC distributed) as compared to buying an expansion pack.

But, as with expansion packs, companies tried to use this new system to abuse fans of their more popular franchises. Issues like day-one dlc, 'disk-locked-content', over-priced content like colours for fighting game characters, endings that have to be purchased started to pop up. Capcom took it to the extreme, first releasing full new versions of games (super street fighter iv and ultimate marvel vs capcom 3) and dropping support for the older ones and breaking promises of fixing issues in those games (expansion pack abuse) and then locking up a large number of characters in their game that could only be unlocked with a future purchase (dlc abuse). Mass Effect 3 from Bioware had the same issue and together with its ending fiasco, caused a major uproar in the gaming community. These were things I was afraid of ever since dlc became rampant.

Brendan Sinclair hit the nail on the head in his article "On-Disc DLC Outrage Is Off the Mark" (http://asia.gamespot.com/features/on-disc-dlc-outrage-is-off-the-mark-6366340/). Whether they package it as on-disk dlc or dlc that comes out day 1, it seems to me that, being developed and completed in the time before the game is released, it should be included in the purchase when consumers pay for the game; being on the disk makes it more obvious that it was ready when the disk was produced. Gamers are paying full-price for an 'incomplete' package. Total Biscuit (http://www.youtube.com/user/TotalHalibut) put his foot down and completely boycotted Mass Effect 3 even though he loved the first two games (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri0vrJ-y2zM [a bit of a rant, but here's his take on the issue]). Not only this, but game publishers (those who package and sell the games, not those who developed them) are using dlc to lure people to pre-purchase a game before they have a chance to read reviews.

Is this wrong? Well, companies have to make money, and they will do whatever they away with to make more money. If gamers will still buy games that they deliberately removed stuff out to sell it back to you later, then they will do it. The thing about companies is that they will keep trying until gamers give in, and they will deliberately do such things with games that people desperately want to play. Look at the costs of dlc for Street Fighter IV and Asura's Wrath, both Capcom games. US$3.99 for costumes while it's US$2 for more episodes. Why? Because more people will pay for Street Fighter stuff than Asura's Wrath. Ubisoft puts their always-on DRM where players had to be always online on popular games like Assassin's Creed 2 and not Rayman Origins. See the pattern here? And once gamers are used to it, they will accept it on other games. When people complained about Diablo 3 requiring always-on internet connection, Force and Sixen (http://www.youtube.com/user/ForceSC2strategy) said in one of their Diablo 3 podcast it's ok, because every game's doing that. And that's the scaring thing, people like them START TO ACCEPT IT AS NORMAL.

The best way to stand up against such practices is to boycott the game. It has worked in the past (like Battlefield 3) and will work again. But that is if only gamers will stand together and make it a point to do it. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not read up thoroughly on a game before making a purchase, and issues like these slip their knowledge. Still, I not buy games like these and will instead support indie developers, many of which truly deserve our support.