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Some Players Want Day-1 DLC, Says BioWare
An anonymous reader writes "Speaking at GDC Europe this week, BioWare Montreal's Fernando Melo spoke about how the oft-disparaged first-day downloadable content for video games is actually something a significant amount of players want. 'Melo argued that on the occasions when BioWare hasn't provided DLC from day one, those players who complete the game quickly then complained that there was nothing more to play and asked for extra content. If DLC isn't provided for these players, they may well move on to a different game and never come back to play DLC later on. As proof that day one DLC also works in terms of sales, Melo said that 53 percent of all sales for the first Dragon Age: Origins DLC pack — which was released on the same day as the full game — were made on release day."
They want the frigging Day-1 DLC because the content currently in Day-1 DLC was supposed to be in Day-0 product.
You know what that really means? We're now going to "get what we want" because more companies will just leave out things that would be in the game otherwise and monetize it into "Day1 DLC" instead.
Or you could, I dunno, release the whole fucking game all at once.
"In case of emergency, break glass. Scream. Bleed to death."
the dlc takes the place of the length that games used to have. Not that companies like bioware and bethesda are known for short games, but if the material has to be released on day 1 why not make it part of the game. Part of this probably has to do with the grueling deadlines for publishing these days.
How about instead of releasing day 1 DLC, they do special release events or challenges that you have to complete the game quickly to get access to? That way the people who grind through games as quick as possible get a special thing to keep their attention, while everyone else gets a game that is more or less complete without having to buy DLC on the first day.
I wish I had mod points to mod you up. Companies are deliberately only providing limited content on the disk to make more money through DLC when they used to put the whole experience on the disk you buy.
I have a solution for you. Just release half of your game and put the rest in DLC. Pure genius. Too bad it's not just my imagination.
Quick way to get 30% Funny 70% Troll: defend Opera browser on
EA EA
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...would prefer if that content was included in the game in the first place.
Or you could, I dunno, release the whole fucking game all at once.
Or maybe developers could release a smaller, yet better made game because they don't have the pressure to add in all this other stuff at once.
Then after some bug squashing on a smaller product, and maybe after some break from slogging this game out, developers could come up with newer fresher ideas and do a better job on some quality DLC. Everyone wins?
Maybe I'm old and crotchety, but the current generation's "I want it all and I want it now!" attitude seems really, really short sighted, if not completely impractical in the Real World(tm).
They don't just take that "Day One DLC" that everybody wants so much, and just makes it a part of the initial release at no extra charge. Why does it have to be DLC at all? It's already finished and ready to be played, right? So why isn't already on the disk with the rest of the content I bought? If people are finishing your game and complaining they want more to do, it doesn't mean people want to pay MORE for more content. It means people didn't feel they got $60 worth of content in the game, only for the publisher to turn around and demand more money if you want to be satisfied. If somebody orders a full cake, you cannot only give them 3/4's of it, charge extra for the remaining 1/4, and then turn around and claim that people are obviously clamoring to pay for that extra 1/4. That's now how it works, Bioware.
When he says there are players who "want" Day-1 DLC, what he means is that there are players who will buy Day-1 DLC. Therefore Bioware is going to keep doing it.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I'm old and crotchety and can't stand that sort of whining either, but I think it's less "I want it now" and more to do with what publishers can get away for their boxed releases. I think the gaming audience does have some legitimate complaints about this sort of stuff.
Subject
Exactly. It's interesting that the Bioware drone mentions Dragon Age, since the DLC was advertised IN the game. You reached a quest giver, and he told you that you had to buy his quest!
Yeah I want day one DLC but I dont want to pay for it. That shit should come with the game.
People who rail against day 1 DLC have no idea how releasing a game works. Especially with giant sprawling games, once you near the release date, there are a lot of specialists who have completed their contribution to the final project. Artists may be done with their portion, story writers may be done with their portion, certain programming teams may be done with their portion, etc. They need something to do, so they start working on DLC.
"Ah, but they could put that right on the disc in the first place!", you may say. No, they can't. By this point, the game needs to be finalized so they can thoroughly test it, create a master copy, and begin mass production. In the month(s) that this can take on a large title, there's plenty of time to get a significant DLC pack out.
Now, I'm not saying ALL day 1 DLC is because of this (especially rageworthy is something that's on-disc but a day 1 "unlock" DLC) but a very significant portion is. They're not trying to cheat you out of content you should have had, they're just making good use of the time it takes for a game to go from finished to available in stores.
Significant number, not amount, you illiterate fuckhole.
Considering that just a few posts down is an article about EA putting themselves up on the market because social gaming is apparently kicking them in the knee sales-wise.
So there are players that complete the game quickly, say 20 hours of playtime, and they require day one DLC because that extra (less than 20 hours) content will then keep them engaged for a month or so until the next snippet of content is released?
Does that mean we will now get day two DLC, or should we as gamers just wait until the whole game is released and then buy the GotY edition for less than half the price from when the first instalment is released?
True. And that's mostly because they are now making games too full of shiny. Lots of cutscenes, voice actors, gorgeous maps and models, a plethora of sidequests... which is great, really, but it drives the cost of the thing way up. And in the midst of all that, they often forget to make the game interesting to play. Or even finish the damn thing. Me, I'd rather have lots of 9.99 games like Braid than 59.99 + 9.99 DLC like Mass Effect 3. The first is way cheaper to make, but incredible from start to finish and never, ever, feels stale. An engrossing experience from start to finish. The latter is amazing mostly because of its magnitude, but its gameplay is quite repetitive, most of its characters feel superfluous because of the current trend towards extreme story modularization (which is The Way Of The DLC, BTW) and... let's just not speak about that sorry excuse for an ending, ok?
That's like saying, "Well, our survey shows that all customers who bought our tireless vehicles also bought the special-add-on tires on the same day!"
Some people say everyone alive should give me $1000.
There is no one who will tell you they are glad to get day 1 DLC, paying extra for something that was made before the game was release and thus should've been included with the game. And of course they want more content if the game is good, BUT, not everyone complete big games like Mass Effect and what not on the first day, you can easily get away by releasing the DLC a week or two after release.
The one that gets me is the "DLC" that isn't even DLC. Instead, it just unlocks content that was already on the CD/DVD.
Exactly. It's interesting that the Bioware drone mentions Dragon Age, since the DLC was advertised IN the game. You reached a quest giver, and he told you that you had to buy his quest!
And that is the reason I never completed the game, I got sick to death of having the suspension of disbelief ruined by its blatant attempts to nickle-and-dime me.
Okay, so I was kind of pissed that I wasn't going to get the Werewolf Army I'd hoped for to battle the undead, but what pushed me to breaking point was finding someone on the way to the Dwarf City who was desperate to have their Significant Other rescued or somesuch. I figured it would help me get over losing the wolf army, so I agreed - and he demanded money for the privilege of having his beloved back. So I played System Shock instead.
DLC sells more on day 1 than any other day? Well DUH, it's the first day the game is available! More people are going to enter into a transaction related to that game because of that fact. There's no way you can connect that number to "people love Day One DLC!"
Not that it matters, I guess. If people are buying it, they'll sell it. Profit motive conquers all.
Wait until the "game of the year" or "platinum edition" or "gold edition" or "diamond edition" or "complete edition" goes on sale for $10 and you'll have ALL the DLC on day 1. On top of that, most of the compatibility and quest bugs will have been squashed.
Problem solved.
I don't really care if I have it all in the beginning or not.
What I do care about is whether my dlc is going to be worthwhile (like an expansion pack with new levels, new storyline, etc). I don't want day1 dlc that consists of 3 extra weapons and a skin, and costs ten bucks. For like 6 lines of code.
you're telling me you needed the extra time to make THAT? Really? Really?
Some players want to be bound and whipped, says BioWare.
Customer survey among EA customers has shown a tendency toward masochism and sticking with abusive relationships. To appease the fanbase, preorder version of BioWare's upcoming title, Dragon Age III, will include a ticket for mandatory sessions of bondage and discipline. Strap-on wearing dominatrix will be available as a Day 1 Expansion.
If you're old then you should know that today, a game + a day 1 DLC is still shorter and has less content than a full game 10 years ago.
Remember those old school RPGs that could take you days to complete because there were so many things to do?
Bioware are just rephrasing the issue like a bunch of morons.
Players want content for their money, they want the same amount of content that used to be offered not that long ago. It's not about DLC, it's only about how long a game will last you when you buy it. It's Bioware who's making it about DLC.
In the end however, complaining achieves nothing. Players need to refuse to buy games with poor content (and if you can't know in advance if the game is too short, just boycott the next one from the same company). That's how the economy works; if you buy a short game for $60, then that's what a short game is worth and it's your own fault as a customer for giving it that much value.
Sadly few people can stick to principles. Most will refuse to boycott by claiming nobody else will follow and thus it's useless to deprive yourself of a good game.
Personally I have self-esteem and I take pride in not giving my money to companies whom I feel try to rip me off, but that's just me. Most people are sluts for material possessions.
I rail against day 1 DLC because Saints Row: The Third had 12 DLC packs on-disc in the first place. This was proven on day 3 when a crack was released which unlocked all on-disc DLC.
I suspect all those 1st day DLC people were just grabbing it since it was available, rather than that they finished the regular game that day and went elsewhere bored.
Contrary to what companies think, even easy upgrades are still a pain in the ass, and it's far easier to just add another thing to the cart at the same time as the main game, than it is to come back and root around later.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
You forget the most important thing in any business regardless of sector: customers.
Give them what they want (regardless of how silly or selfish the demand) or they will go elsewhere.
With digital content there is another factor to consider. If I feel slighted by a company that I give money to, why would I give them any more when any torrent site can give me a better product, faster, and for free?
Seems that you are the one with the entitlement issues. Customers don't owe you a salary, they don't owe you anything. It is up to you to prove that you are worthy of your salary by making the customer feel good about giving it to you.
In a few months we'll be hearing how all their loses in revenue as of late is due to piracy... and has nothing to do with their "Lets squeeze blood from a stone" business model.
And I'll buy the limited edition and lifetime subscriptions if available. Mostly just for Warhammer 40k. Vote with your wallet for f'cks sake.
Yeah but how else would they fleece the masses for extra money? What happened to a good game that you could replay and maybe a year or so later get an addon or something else that had been made after the first game was finished. Its why I buy almost no new games anymore. I get sick of the "Oh look we made a new game! Oh and btw while making the game we took a bunch of extra stuff out and if you want it you can buy it for extra the day you get the game!"
Day 1 DLC that was on the disc to begin with is not content anyone should be paying money for. It is the most perverse form of DLC and all you're really "downloading" is the key to unlock it.
Day 1 DLC that is a result of work done after the game is gold yet still having the business end finalized are welcome in my opinion. This is the content I can see people finding value in. This is the content I would not mind spending money on.
Of course the distinction between these are often lost to the masses who either don't understand or choose not to listen. BioWare should have clarified that no one wants content locked in the disc, but they don't really care one way or the other, I'm sure.
A lot of customers want games without draconian DRM protection schemes and I don't see that happening!
So long as people keep paying for the Day-1 DLC, publishers will keep releasing games in pieces like this.
If you want them to get the message, don't hate on the forums. Hate by keeping your money. That is the only language they understand.
I have been playing that game for about ten years now, and there was no DLC for it.
MOO 2? Same.
I think they are just trying to justify alternate revenue streams by lying.
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
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Everyone is happy then, right?
Hard to believe we survived generations of consoles and PC titles in the 20th century without DLC. Dark times indeed.
I bet Bethesda wishes right now that it could've sold the Oblivion's Horse Armor as Day-1 DLC.
Bioware are blatant liars and greedy money mongers. Nothing else. Ever since they have joined with EA they have gotten worse and worse and worse. For many many years bioware made great games but ever since they joined with EA they have just been pimping dlc left and right and creating games that for the first time in their history have been garbage. All the DLC codes they were whoring in dozens of products for mass effect. Dragon age was pimping DLC before its release and it was a shit game. Even knights of the old republic is a major let down. Bioware's prestiege and pedigree has gone right down the crapper since joining EA.
Bioware before tried to say "Well the reason we had day 1 DLC for mass effect 3 was because we finished the game 6 weeks before it was released and that finished product had to have 6 weeks to be approved, then packaged and shipped to store. So in that time we decided to create the day 1 DLC to keep our teams busy blah blah blah". Bullshit. You cant tell me they suddenly at the drop of a hat decided to write, design, storyboard, create, build, code, debug, trouble shoot, beta test, bring voice actors in to record dialouge, have artists create the levels, sound guys put in effects, compile the code, submit it to sony/microsoft for approval to be uploaded and then uploaded it in less than 6 weeks? Horse shit.
Then what happens when mass effect 3 turns out to be yet another bioware turd? They blame the gamers. That bitch at bioware actually had the balls to say "gamers arent developers so dont act like them" because gamers didnt like the game. Ok sure Im not a developer, but that doesnt mean I cant know if I like something or not. Im no chef but I damn sure can tell you mcdonalds hamburgers suck, Im no director but I really hated the transformers movies, Im no author but I dont like the book atlus shruged. Just because I dont make games doesnt mean Im not able to dislike them and it doesnt mean I should automatically like everything just because the creator tells me I should because they say so.
So in short. Fuck bioware.
And now. Why DLC is bullshit.
1) When you pay for DLC you are telling developers "I want to pay more for my games. I am willing to pay you more than 60 dollars for my game". The more you buy DLC the higher the chances of games costing more instead of less because you prove youre willing to spend over msrp for a game.
2) Its all digital and you will never own it. DLC is digital content. You pay for it but you dont actually own it. You cant sell it, you cant trade it, you cant let a friend borrorow it and in 10 years from now Im willing to bet you wont even be able to download it again.
3) DLC encourages developers to split up content for the game you paid for full price for to sell you later. They design a game they say "We will take out this part and that part and sell it to them as extra" instead of saying "They paid full price for a game so they should get the full game". Developers/publishers would probablly sell more games if they would actually give their customers full games instead of selling partial games at full price and selling the rest for even more money.
4) DLC pisses off gamers when its sold as incentives at different stores. Say a game is coming out and 3 different stores has bonus DLC codes with each one being different. Now for gamers who really want that game and to play everything thats a asshole move.
Bottom line is I dont support developers that pimp DLC a lot, especially before the full game actually comes out. I buy their games used so I dont give them a single cent.
Fuck bioware and fuck every developer like them that forces DLC down our throats and then says we want it. Dont buy their games new, buy them used or pirate them.
Loved these guys in the Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights days, they supported a huge modding community and made in-depth, long RPG games that were a joy to play. Not so much now, though graphically Dragon Age is of course superior, I'd still take BG/NWN over DA any day.
Not sure if it's because they sold their soul to the devil (EA) or just greed, but they've become just another "rush it out the door, and nickel and dime them later" big company that forgot their roots imo. They don't even really support the mod community now, since they want to make their money by releasing ridiculously short RPGs (too much shiny fluff, not enough meat) then charge for DLCs from day 1. Patooeee...
This is why I hardly by games when they're released anymore. I'll wait until a year later when the special pack with the original game, patches, and all the DLCs comes out for 1/2 the price or less. I got like 9 premium titles with all the DLC/expansions during the Steam summer sale for like $55 a few weeks ago. They'll keep me busy for more than a year, easy.
'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates
Or you could, I dunno, release the whole fucking game all at once.
They don't need to. It's right in the summary:
Melo said that 53 percent of all sales for the first Dragon Age: Origins DLC pack — which was released on the same day as the full game — were made on release day."
That means that people are willing to pay for it as extra DLC on release day - it would be a poor business choice to include that content when so many people are willing to pay for it.
So, for their next game, will Bioware promise their Day 1 DLC will allow you to not destroy the entire galaxy in one of three colors..?
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I object to Intellect without Discipline.
I'm old and crotchety and can (and do) wait until you release the GoTY/Complete version at a fraction of the original price.
The nonsense would be a little less obvious if you were making excuses for nickle and diming gamers months after the initial release. But 1 Day? Really?
Who do you think you're kidding?
Because there is no reason Day 1 nickle and diming couldn't be released as part of the original game, when it was developed at the same time.
Or: we've been buying and playing games for decades, so we know that's total nonsense. How it actually works: the game studio cuts features out of a game to make the release date. Before money-grubbing-fucksticks came up with the idea of nickle and diming their customers, this cut content would be released when the main game was complete and the bugs were worked out.
For free . As were small and medium expansions of the game to keep people buying it.
Now, not only are those bug fixes and missing features being turned into paid for "DLC", but games are planned from the beginning to have nickle and dimed bullshit from the first day of release.
want you to die in a fire, with the would-have-originally-included-the-stuff-but-now-we-can-extract-more-money greed-fest that is DLC. expansions are one thing, but things like levels that would have been created by the users in the pc-gaming past are now just some bonus cash for these swine. open the shit up as it (i.e. let users create console levels on their pcs or even the console if it isn't a super complex thing a'la tony hawk's pro skater skatepark editor) was, and we ALL win. let users be creative not just passive drones.
What do you expect from children getting their new toy and borrowing mum/dads credit card?
They're the ones with time on their hands and the ones to quickly get fed up with their toys and move on.
A lot of problems would be solved if you wanted 3-6 months after a game is released to play it. The game drops in price, most bugs are fixed, and a lot of DLC becomes available, sometimes at a discount. I haven't played ME3 yet, and I'm glad I waited.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
It's a software license.
Nice ideals, but the lawyers have you pre-fucked. The only winning move is not to play: stop buying media of any kind.
A day 1 DLC is a day 1 patch that they make people pay. So yes it is content cut, that they continue developping afterward and then make you pay for it.
That was convinced dumping millions into making an MMO with full-voiced quest dialogue was a smart business decision...
Back in the day we had Game Genies and Pro Action Replays and Game Sharks that would make short work of this bullshit.
Basically, what I'm getting at, is that what you describe IS NOT DLC. It is just locked content. Just poke a RAM address to the right value and it's unlocked...no download required that shit is on the disk they are playing you by calling it DLC.
I don't often buy video games, but when I do....AAAHHHH almost had you there for a second! I just don't buy video games ever. You can get the full experience of being screwed over by corporate overlords by playing one of those Korean f2p games and keep your money.
ea crapping on their Customers has lead to them selling the company. That is what day-1 DLC gets.
The only reason they want Day 1 DLC is because they don't understand what it actually is, they think it's more content to their game, but in reality it's just content that was cut out for the "additional content".
As the title says. Technically you get a license to use the content on the FREE!! media provided in whatever fashion stated in the license. Cracking the game to get the contents you paid to have in your possession would be against the circumvention provisions.
Simply put, you pay, then you have to pay again. If you only pay once and just use what you are in possession of then you must pay much much more if you are caught.
1. Copyright infringement isn't theft.
2. There was no advocation, merely a logical assessment.
3. The only reason companies exist is to get money from customers. Customers are the decision makers. They don't, wont, and have never cared about corporate profits.
4. Your reading comprehension is as lacking as your critical thinking skills. I was, and currently am, stating a logical assessment. You are using emotions and bias to guide your thought process. How can we learn if we refuse to see from perspectives outside of our own?
So really you missed the point the same as the previous person did. Customers owe corporations nothing. Both customers and corporations are trying to get the most out of one another with the least amount of cost to themselves. Customers can get what they want at no cost and corporations cannot. Therefore corporations are at the mercy of their customers yet they refuse to acknowledge this, along with yourself apparently. Corporations such as the failing EA exist due to the overall GOOD WILL of their customers. Failing to keep that good will ends in bankruptcy.
I think a more accurate article title would read: "BioWare executives, who also occasionally double as players of their own games at no cost, want Day-1 DLC for you plebians, as well as double their christmas bonuses."
captcha: reworked
We're making money off of it, so go *explitivedeleted* yourself.
Their entire argument is that if they don't have Day 1 DLC, they won't get people hooked and buy the rest, which for most games seems to equal the release price. There is probably only one game I have played where the DLC was beneficial, and didn't feel like it was purposefully left out of the game to screw fans.
Despite what people may like to hear, there are a lot of people like me who, if there's no DLC available when they beat the game, don't ever pick up the game later. Even a couple weeks after I beat the game is way too long. If it's not there, I'm not going to spend the time popping in games I consider over and done with 3 months after the fact just for a small snippet of DLC.
Everyone knows that dlc is there to put a shine on an old title. A game that lasts 1 year from release would get another 1/2year to couple of years lease with dlc. Making everything available from day 1 would mean less money for the developers. There's no way in hell that they're going to do that. No game developer in their right mind would make any dlc available from day0 because they try to time it for when people get sick of a game, they trade/sell it. Anticipating this they release add-ons for people to pay for, giving it a new lease. Then they release the next title in the franchise, basically "allowing" consumers to trade the last installment on developers terms.
This is where microsofts "MS points system" comes into play. PS3 has a real world value on prices for their dlc where MS has a "imaginary (for lack of a better word)" price. People miss 23 dollars from their accounts but trading it for an online currency doesn't seem so bad lol.
A better solution would be to pay a bigger premium for a title, then having it unlock as you progress. Unlocking new maps is a biggie and new skins. That way, everyone gets new content (depending if they're 24/7 in game or not). Nothing worse then being a dlc buyer and having no one in your n maps lobby to own or get pwned from.
All I can say is:
I liked Mass Effect 1 quite a bit.
I completely loved Mass Effect 2, one of the best games I've ever played.
I am not getting Mass Effect 3.
The ball is in your court BioWare.
"we've got trenchcoats and bad attitudes" - John Constantine, HellBlazer
I understand you are pissed off at Bioware, and I am too, but Dragon Age: Origins is not a *shit game*. I pre-ordered it so I had the day 1 DLC included, but it's a dick move to not release it at no extra cost.
Also this game's DLCs were pretty short and weren't worth their price tag. What I regret is that Bioware never did actually good DLCs/Extensions like they used to - remember that Bioware was one of the first to embrace DLCs back in the day with Neverwinter Nights "Premium Modules", which were great.
Surprised no one has mentioned a possible reason why the day 1 dlc sold so well.
It included permanent storage (A chest where you could store stuff).
Bioware - masters of the RPG, on this occasion, just happened to forget to include somewhere to store your spare stuff.
Dragon age origins was a relatively early game in the DLC era, and was one of my first encounters with 'enter the code to get the inbox dlc'
(also known as 'we want to kill the second hand industry')
Both of these are examples of commercial decisions impacting on gameplay.
Game was ok, but these two things did mar the experience, quite possibly contributed to me not being arsed to get the sequel.
(I probably wouldn't buy a mass effect sequel now, but that is because of the ending, which was balls)
If only those companies had a convenient way to deliver that day-1 DLC without hogging all the server bandwidth. Some sort of means to piggyback the DLC on the physical media shipped with the original game perhaps. With some effort they might even be able to integrate the activation mechanism of the DLC with the activation mechanism of the original game.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
I don't know how this works on XBox but when you pickup a free DLC on the PSN then it will count as a purchase. You get a confirmation, an e-mail, the whole lot.
Guess what? DA was shipped with 1 or 2 free DLCs, even the DLC's on the PSN had warnings on them: "Beware, this is sometimes provided free of charge".
Of course I "bought" one-day DLC then.
Another issue; its often better /not/ to buy 1-day DLC. Take one of my favourites; Fallout 3. Love that game. When you first leave the vault it really gives a feeling of entering a deserted wasteland. You barely pick up 2 radio stations where one of them (GNR) stutters most of the time.
With all the DLC's you get several warnings how alien signals are present, how there's a group of slavers looking for stuff (The Pitt), how you could grab the boat to Point Lookout. And all of a sudden it doesn't appear to be so isolated anymore, thus totally killing the atmosphere.
I understand you are pissed off at Bioware, and I am too, but Dragon Age: Origins is not a *shit game*.
Ironically that was also a few months before EA merged Bioware with Mythic Entertainment (Warhammer Online!). Go figure.
True, BioWare games have gone downhill since the EA acquisition. I was just pointing out DAO is not shitty.
Yeah. That's yet another reason why i pirate more and more. You got no moral problem bustin your content up to sell me in little chunks when i wanted the whole thing? Well i have no moral problem STEALING your game, dlc, patches, and anything else to make it complete and giving you nothing.
I learned by example. And the game companys taught me well.
Get all you can. Any way you can. Legal or not.
Get caught? Say you're sorry and get off scot free.
Consumers gonna win in the end. There's more of us than there are of them. And they need us. We don't NEED them.
A few companies know this. And i support them well.
The rest? Well. fuckem. do what i want.
I wish more companies would cut a chunk out of their retail games, lock it away and charge me to unlock it!
I never, ever buy new games at full price. I've commented on this many times in the past, but I just don't feel that modern games give appropriate gaming value for their high $60 price tags. So I always wait until the game is discounted, either in the stores, on PSN, or on Steam, before I buy. That means that all DLC will have been out for a long time, and will also be cheaper. I only recently (as in, the last month) started playing Fallout 3, because it was on sale with all the DLC on Steam. Same with Oblivion, New Vegas, etc.
Not only that, but if you wait, you can sometimes get extra items that were originally pre-order bonuses, or dealer exclusives, bundled in a "game of the year" edition. No DLC or special item is worth actually buying something from Gamestop or Best Buy, but it always irks me to see game comapnies screw over their customer base with that sort of divisive BS.
So they can put DLC out on day 1, on day 1000, and it doesn't matter to me. I'd much rather wait for it to be cheap, bug-fixed, and thoroughly reviewed before I put down some money.
The only exceptions are my favorite franchises, Half-Life and Portal. But I'm OK with paying full price for those, because they're great, and it only happens once every 3 to 5 years...
Nowhere does it say that players want DLC. What they want is more of the game to play. That is not the same thing. For example, one of the reasons there's so little content in the game could be that it has been set aside for DLCs.
In my eyes, most DLC is still a greedy attempt at getting paid twice for the same game. I'm fine with non-essential fluff stuff like skins or vanity items. But horse armor, weapons or quests? That's fleecing your customers, period.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Yarr, ye seem to be forgettin' the free market of the high seas!
If you want like what a company is doing, heres a clue, DON'T BUY THERE PRODUCT. Complaining about crap and than still buying there product makes you look like a MORON.
1. State your stance.
2. Don't buy there product.
If you have players complaining that they finished the game too quickly, maybe you should have included more content on the disc...
The game companies can make more money (or not, in some cases) because of Day-1 DLC. I know we get emotional about games but it's no different than a restaurant offering sides with the main dish. If you want everything cheaply, wait for the game of the year edition. If you want everything but aren't willing to wait, pay the piper. If you don't care about the DLC just buy the main game. I don't see how throwing a conniption fit is going to solve any problems, especially when we're just talking about games.
In the case of ME3, I will give them certain levels of fairness in this regard for 4 reasons:
1.) The "day 1 DLC" came for free with Collector's Edition copies, and the cost of a standard copy + DLC didn't exceed the cost of the collector's edition.
2.) Nearly all of the DLC after that was free.
3.) The revamped ending (which I'll admit still could have been better, but wasn't as craptastic as the first go-around) was also provided for free.
4.) Multiplayer weapon DLC is frequently provided for free.
So while I'm not saying that EA was right in the whole ordeal with ME3, I will at least credit them by giving away a lot more of it than they've charged for.
But that doesn't mean its a good idea
There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.
I'm willing to be that he's including in his numbers all the people who bought editions of the game that came with the DLC included.
For DAO, these included a home base with a storage chest. I mean, FFS, a home base with a storage facility has been part of the RPG milieu for as long as I can remember (in games where you have a limited inventory capacity). You have sufficient camp followers with wagons in DAO to justify a chest being part of your camp, so it's not done for narrative reasons - it's done to exploit the well-known hoarding tendencies of RPG players.
The advent of pervasive DLC has bisected my purchasing decisions. Previously, I might buy any game I found interesting. Now, there are two categories:
- Games I want to play regardless of DLC, or where DLC will be actual stand-alone expansions
- Games with sections taken out to charge extra for, where you don't get the full game without the DLC
For the former, I will still buy early (example: Diablo 3, release, $60). For the latter, I tend to buy when I can get the complete game later as a package, usually discounted, if I don't forget about the game (example: Fallout NV complete edition, steam sale, $10). I leave it to the publishers to determine which approach gives them more of my money.
On a semi-related note, I hear one of those publishers is doing well, and the other had some financial problems. Both games were fun, so it wasn't the game dev itself, IMHO...
Release the whole loading screen?
No, these players don't want to pay for and download additional content. They just want games to be longer in general, i.e. for the content to be included in the original release. I guess that means a significant group of people consider recent games to be incomplete or lacking in certain areas. But I guess they wouldn't want to spin it that way.
Twinstiq, game news
If a game has DLC, I wait for a complete/goty edition to go on sale, or not buy it at all. Simple as that. There are more than enough games out there, so you don't have to jump on the hype-bandwagon for every game.
So what they're basically saying is that Players are happy when they can enjoy more content from a product they like. To me this is akin to a group of highly paid scientist holding a press conference to inform the general public that water is wet, or that clean air is good for you. It's beyond obvious that people enjoy the CONTENTS of Day-1 DLC; what they do not enjoy is the new ideology that publishers can make people pay for the same fish twice.
It is ridiculous to hear them say this. The game was awesome, the expansion was awesome, it took more than 1 day of play time to complete it. Now they only produce turds like Mass Effect 3.
Day 1 DLC exists because if they released it as an expansion pack months later, no one would give a shit because they've had time to reflect on how terrible the game they played was. Rather, folks make emotional decisions for Day 1 DLC -- 'What? that can't be it, can it? Surely there is more . There has got to be more!'
No more than they have the right to demand I pay for it.
How many places will take your game your company produced in trade for, say, food and rent?
If you want my money, you need to earn it.
Bioware to stop being a joke of a company and return to their former quality.
this is starting to get ridiculous. DLC makes no sense on the computer, where you can make your own custom map, and mods. They had to remove this freedom from PC players for this to make any sense, why download 2 maps for that were from single player ported to multiplayer, when you can make your own for free? What is DLC on day one? This is simply content taken out of the game, made to DLC so the company can make more $$$
Which at that point a torrent released on Day 0. I don't support companies that release DLC's with the game but extort more money from you. Sometimes like EA for example, I completely don't support torrenting their crap because I feel like I'm supporting them by seeding.
Fuck Bioware and their ideas about DLC, says some player.
When the content comes out a little after the game. However, what I've seen a good many people complain about is when 90%+ of the content is *already on the game DVD* and what you actually get for your money is actually an unlock code which turns it on. Sometimes also download a bit more content etc as well
This is in contrast to "expansions" in which you got a whole new disc of content. Think "Brood Wars" for Starcraft.
If it exists on the existing media, then it's not "new content", it's content left out of the game.
I am one of the people who don't mind day 1 DLC. Games are dirt cheap, so paying like a 500th part of my monthly salery for a DLC is no big deal. I blow more money than that on way more frivolous stuff.
1. So what, I don't mind paying more for games or paying for more additional content. Everything in the world is more expensive, except games, which are around the same cost as they were in the 90's, 20 years ago. 2. I don't want to sell it, I don't want to trade it, If a friend wants it, they can buy it. I think Steam and Origin will be around in 10 years time. Physical copies were way worse, they broke, got scratches, stopped working, CD keys ewnt missing, etc. I don't buy physical copies anymore of any game or program. 3. What is a "full game"? You're right this might be a bit of trickery. But like collectors editions, I like that the option is there to pay for more content, even if it goes beyond the original game. 4. That I actually agree with you is annoying as hell. Stores and download services shouldn't have unique content you can't get anywhere else.