While DLC isn't necessarily the be-all-end-all in video game marketing, it certainly is one of the ways publishers fight used game sales, and encourage gamers to hold onto game copies for longer while continuing to feed their revenue stream. However, a focus on DLC above all else certainly paints a publisher in a bad light. If the publisher focuses on DLC first, many might call into question their motives entirely.
Nevertheless, that appears to be Capcom's focus moving forward into future financial endeavors. The Street Fighter, Resident Evil, and Marvel vs. Capcom publisher would like to ensure all of their projects moving forward have some opportunity for DLC, and if they don't they're likely to get cancelled.
This is according to a slideshow wherein Capcom explains their profit misses, their reduction in outsourcing, and how they plan to raise profits moving into the fiscal year 2013. And that starts with DLC, or as they call it "digital contents."
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While the images above are filled with business projects and comparisons, the strategy contained therein is pretty clear: "improve profit by promoting the digital strategy (DLC) in the Consumer business."
Now, a focus on DLC would be all well and good if the publisher was not Capcom. Over the past year or so, Capcom has been found guilty of locking on-disc content out of the game in order to charge for it later as DLC.
What seemed like innocuous DLC for a fighting game — new characters, costumes, etc — turned into a real problem. After a few more instances of the on-disc DLC, Capcom claimed they learned their lesson, and apparently they will have plenty of opportunities to prove it to us.
Still, fans that have felt the burn of Capcom's on-disc DLC — gamers that will constantly question whether a new character is, in fact, a new character — will cry foul of this new business model. We'll just have to wait and see how Capcom performs heading into the next-gen.
Do you think Capcom's focus on DLC is a bad thing based on past history? Do you prefer games that outline a DLC plan upfront?
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