Tekken Tag 2 DLC

A couple of articles on Gamespot discusses the issues with DLCs (among others) on fighting games. In an interview with Katsuhiro Harada, producer of the Tekken series, he revealed that he thinks that dlc is fine, but "stages, characters, and moves shouldn't be added as paid DLC" because "these are necessary elements to a fighting game. Much like chess pieces to a game of chess, they shouldn't be charged for separately."

Brendan Sinclair, in an article Tekken Tag 2 a model of how to handle DLC, talked about how dlc is employed by publishers for two different reasons, 1. to discourage players from selling their games after they're done with it because there will be new content, and 2. to earn money. He notes that the problem comes when publishers try to do both and that turns players off. DLC done right, he argues, is if you want money, then make the content worthwhile and give us a "complete" product at the start. And if you want to lock up content that's already completed, it implies that your goal is to stop people from selling the game when they are done, so the content should be free. Tekken Tag 2 will give players more characters free of charge, and that shows the DLC's for reason number 2.

How do we actually tell what other motivations are behind the DLC if there's a price tag on it? As a consumer, what gamers are unhappy with is being short-changed, and if a game has DLC, cost, time of release, and whether it is already available on day-one will be a huge indicator on whether they are being exploited. It's nice to see that publishers are beginning to take note of this and taking steps to keep the consumers happy, but skeptical me says that most companies will just find ways to mask their money making schemes, while continuing to exploit and milk their fan-base.

And if you like fighting games, do support Namco Bandai with the release of Tekken Tag 2. Good business practices should be rewarded. Unless of course, they decide to pull a Capcom on us.