Are Game Consoles Ruining DLC?

[wraggster]

A round-table discussion at Gametopius looks into the state of downloadable content for games as it has evolved over the past several years, going from an occasional, welcome supplement to being a common marketing strategy for most of the industry, frequently causing irritation over pricing and availability.
"All of the map packs so far released for the Call of Duty games have been $10 each to download on consoles through closed networks, while PC gamers could download those same packs for free off of FileShack or somewhere else. Valve's own Team Fortress 2 has received a significant amount of DLC that's been completely free on the PC. Xbox owners of the same game, however, have only received perhaps half of that content, and they have had to pay for it in $5 packs. Why is this? The idea of this kind of content delivery was scarcely heard of on consoles, so console gamers see no reason not to pay for it. But on the PC, these amounts of content are usually just considered parts of patches. Furthermore, why pay for a few extra maps and costumes when modders are making and offering new ones for free all the time?"

http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/08/16/1630252/Are-Game-Consoles-Ruining-DLC

[Triv1um]

I think DLC will eventually ruin console gaming due to greed on the developers behalf.

Before DLC was released, games had to be packed as much as possible. Now games only seem to be half a game, and you have to spend £10+ to get what feels like the full game.

[Gizmo356]

I think DLC will eventually ruin console gaming due to greed on the developers behalf.

Before DLC was released, games had to be packed as much as possible. Now games only seem to be half a game, and you have to spend £10+ to get what feels like the full game.

Exactly how I feel you only get half a game now days.

[Auriman1]

DLC is outta control, I had to buy about a dozen map packs for games just to get the full enjoyment out of my online experience on the 360 (otherwise you're constantly disconnected for not having the "optional" content). Frankly, that adds up to quite a bit of money I didn't want to spend. I've started just putting up with disconnects on CoD:WaW, given they pushed out a third map pack ONE MONTH after the second.

[Broadus]

This is too true, extra content for PC games has always been free. Mod-making results in lots of great levels and whatnot that are usually better than the stock levels. It's unbelievable that PC content is free when the exact same game on the XBOX 360 charges big bucks for the exact same content.
I like how the Far Cry games come with really easy-to-use built-in level editors that users are always making amazing levels with. Other games should do that, but then how would they make money if they were encouraging creativity in their customers?

[Brainy142]

I absolutely HATE this to man.

[Qmark]

Just look at what's going on with Arkham Asylum, where one has to buy the retail game several times, from several stores, just to get everything.

[royvedas]

It sickens me. I've been bitchin' about this for a long, long time. I'm glad to see someone else actually starting the bitching about this in a thread. (not that others haven't bitched. I just rarely come by such a bitchin' unless I start it myself.)

We need to just not buy the DLC.

[bumfacekilla]

I remember when your games would have unlockables (i.e. extra costumes in fighters, extra cars in racers), now you have to buy them instead. Is the fact that you've paid £45 / $65 not enough?! EA and Capcom are amongst the biggest whores of all. £10 for some extra SFIV costumes? £5 for Resi 5's multiplayer that should've been on the disc? But the examples that make my blood boil the most are when the content is actually already on the disc that you own and you're just buying an "Unlock key" to free it!

Gay. Rubbish. Pants. I hate it.

[Yungblaqs]

This is the reason why I LOVE MY PSX and MEGADRIVE CONSOLE!!!

Good, old faithful systems you can never get bored of!!

Gen
SOR1,2,3 street fighter (All of em'), sonic (All of em') Golden Axe

PSX
With the exception of some of the kiddy games released for it, near enough all of them as well!

OLD SKOOL FOR LIFE!!

[Z3R0B4NG]

There is DLC that is worth it's money... Star Wars TFU (new Levels), Fallout 3, GTA4, Forza 2.



And then there is DLC that is just about making $$$
Ace Combat 6 (hundreds of TEXTURES for more money then the Retail Game!)
Dead Rising (over 2000 points worth of shitty DLC allready avaible only a few days after release)


...Xbox Live is to expensive anyways.
Just look at the Arcade Games. When i started the games did cost 400 - 800 points... now they cost 800 - 1600.
Look at the new Avatar Marketplace... a f***ing Star Wars Lightsword for 400 points... damn i bought full Arcade Games for that kind of money.

Just ignore the sh*t, only take what is worth the money.


Map Packs is a diffrent thing, either you play online and want the new maps or not. As long as there is no way for Custom Maps on the Xbox 360 they can charge whatever they want.

The stupid thing is, here in Germany you can not download the USK18 stuff = NO Gears of War Maps...
we are not even allowed to buy that sh*t here.
Feels kind of like China here on Xbox Live Germany.

just my 0.02€ of bitching

[bloodwar]

considering that all the games on the ps3 are on blue ray... where is all the extra content going? o ya on DLC for 5 bucks or so. Seriously, the games on the xbox and ps3 must be only using like what? 20% of the disc space.....

[goshogun1]

LOL no. DLC is ruining consoles.

[pez2k]

The main issue is that while PC DLC can just be stuck on a free site like FileFront (and often is), on consoles MS or Sony has to be paid to host it on their network and store. Free DLC would thus cost the developer money to publish.

Another issue is rather a legacy. I seem to recall that the PSN had a minimum amount that could be put into your 'wallet' of £5. Perhaps early pay-for DLC was priced at £5 specifically because of this, and despite the minimum being lowered, prices have stuck, even for minor things.

Personally, some DLC is well worth the money, if priced right. Test Drive Unlimited on 360 had basically the whole game all over again in extra cars, for only about £15. GTA4 offers a followup equal in scale to the likes of GTA London for only about £20. Prince of Persia's hours-long Epilogue DLC even comes bundled free with some new copies. On the other hand, we have SF4 costumes, Saints Row 2 with its 3-missions-for-£7 'deal', and so on. For £7, you can buy one of the best full games of last year brand new, Bionic Commando Rearmed.

I also object to buying licenses for content on the disc, like Katamari on the 360 basically holding the last 25% of the game to ransom. Pay-for cheats like NFS:UC I'm torn on, it's a very clever moneymaker, but there is a strong pattern from market surveys that boys under 15 or so (a large demographic) are very prone to cheating their way through games, and thus wasting their money on such unlock codes, or worse not being allowed to by their parents and halving their enjoyment of the game they paid for.