An unfortunate reality of the current generation video game consoles and push towards digital media is the advent of downloadable content (DLC). What was once considered additional/expansionary elements of a game that could be downloaded post-launch has become something that releases alongside the retail version of the game, often times on the disc itself, hidden and locked away until players fork out money to utilize content on a disc they already purchased.
The feeling of purchasing a game, to have pieces held back and charged for separate is terrible for consumers, but according to Epic Games’ Cliff Bleszinski, it’s just one of the “unfortunate realities” of modern game development.
GameSpot spoke with Cliffy B at PAX East this weekend in Boston and they touched on the controversial topic earning a lot of attention thanks to the Mass Effect 3 day one DLC and even moreso, the Street Fighter X Tekken DLC mess where Capcom included a pile of
“When you’re making a game, and you’re getting into a ship cycle, there’s often three or four months where the game is basically done. And you have an idle team that needs to be working on things.
“And often for compatibility issues, [on] day one, some of that content does need to be on-disc. It’s an ugly truth of the gaming industry. I’m not the biggest fan of having to do it, but it is one of the unfortunate realities.”
How did game development work before the PS3/Xbox 360 then? Are there no other projects for the dev team to be working on in those three-four months Bleszinski refers to? Are there not true expansions that could be worked on, other games, sequels, etc.? Why is a lot of it available exactly when the game launches?
While Cliffy B is right about development time and managing resources, the fact is, launch week DLC/on-disc content could be released as part of the $60 retail package or as a free download. Everything else, semantics aside, is a scheme to grab more money from customers and that’s what gets people upset. If it’s on the disc, why isn’t it part of the game?
The Street Fighter X Tekken characters were planned before the game released and were there whole time, but not accessible to players (unless they hacked the game – which they did).
Paying for a game and not getting the whole package will never be accepted fully by the gaming community. Games are expensive and there are too many to play, so consumers expect value for their dollar. The trend of held-back/locked content is an unfortunate one and like Cliffy B says, it won’t go away until all content is digital, but not because it’s an unfortunate necessity, but because publishers have the incentive to charge separately for content.
Just look at Epic’s own Gears of War 3, a game which held back characters and assets already built into the game’s campaign from multiplayer, released later as DLC. Did I mention the $45 worth of… weapon skins they sold through microstransactions? Ugly truth indeed.
-
Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.
Source: GameSpot
What You May Not Know About The ‘Xbox One’ [Updated] 
Xbox One: Watch The Next-Gen Xbox Presentation Here! 
Electronic Arts Engineer Blasts the Wii U 
GR Giveaway: Win a Superhero-Sized Trip to San Diego This July! 
Loading ...
This might be true but after seeing Capcom DLC/on-disc content I can’t agree with it.
It’s not neccary part of game development to lock content on disc because it wasnt done before Xbox 360 and PS3. They are just using it as an excuse to make more money. I say that if a game is going to lock a majority of content or hack even alittle bit, we as the consumers SHOULDNT BUY THE GAME.
Thank you. Its like Ive been saying for idk how long now. If we strike the income and tell them why and show them that when you screw around with us we can screw with your payroll. Its simple as that. 1 day of 0% income to a company is a very scary scary thing. 2 days of the same result will only increase that fear.
Exactly, like Rob Keyes said, it wasn’t necessary before DLC came along, and it isn’t now, either. There is NO excuse for “on disc” DLC, other than greed and disrespect for your player base.
They can be working on other things, bigger DLC to release later, etc., and there is certainly no excuse to charge for it. DLC, weeks are months after release? Sure. Day one? No.
Rushed games are a bad idea, rushing DLC to get it out for launch and charge extra for it is even worse.
The sad truth really is, that we’re nearing the bottom of the slippery slope, that anti-DLC critics alluded to, back when DLC started to become a thing.
Game Developers are in this business to make the most money, not to satisfy the consumers. The only way to get them to stop doing this would be to boycott all on-disc DLC, and that’s just not gonna happen.
It has nothing to do with the devs, it’s the publishers. The publisher decides when the game ships, which ultimately decides how much content they can put on the disc and make it available. As long as the Day 1 DLC is free, which in most cases it is, then I’m fine with it. The game will get to me sooner that way. It’s like “Go to GameStop and get 98% of the game, then go home and get the other 2% for free.” This is not the case, however, with ME3
I refuse to buy a game where finished content is locked on the disc. It is absolutely NOT “an ugly truth” that its necessary. The “ugly truth” is that developers and producers care more about milking every cent they can out of customers rather than appreciating us as fans that keep them in business. Only a fool would believe disc-locked content is necessary.
Well said.
There is a way around it. I bought Mass Effect 3, the normal edition. I paid an extra ten dollars at purchase to recieve a code at the bottom of my receipt. This of course was the Day One dlc. I dont know why they could not have just printed the code on the bottom, and given it with the game? Its a sad, greedy world we live in nowadays.
I personally do not buy DLC as it is. If it’s a game I really care about, I’ll wait for the GotY edition. If it never comes, big deal, like the article says there are plenty of other games to play. I won’t be part of the problem and pay these companies to continue ripping us all off.
The article says that disc locked content won’t go away until all media is digital. It won’t go away then either, it’ll just operate differently.
On disc dlc (Be it day-one or locked) is stupid and sadly quite horrid. If a game is finished, why should the team then work on DLC (which for SFxT and ME3 were already planned and developed) that they say it’s “just extra stuff”. Characters in a Fighting being released day one is crap and characters so closely connected to canon should be part of the story.
I only buy DLC if it’s fun. Red Dead Redemption did that right. Hell, Rockstar has DLC locked on. GTA4′s DLC was great. (Excluding MC:LA). I hope we have a Gaming Crash like back in the ’83. The whole industry needs to just die so it can begin anew. Not only is DLC pissing me off, this whole subcription thing and “buy-new” unlockable are retarded. If your game is not popular why should people buy it new to get the experience, you already made money from selling the game to a retailer, retail sale only affect future sales. And things like ELITE, are scary. This just the beginning of the snowball.
Well what about gold ed games. RE5 had dlc and I dont have internet to get it so i didnt get it(the game) but they had gold ed come out a bit later which had preloaded dlc. So its not too bad with that kind of pov. But getting a brand new game disc with locked content is just ruthless. Nothing to do here
Those Publishers are Freaking jerks, What kills me is that there’s so little that can be done about it. Yes, if a very large portion of gamers were to simply not buy games with locked-disc content it would likely get publishers to stop this nonsense. But it’s extremely difficult to convince the majority of the gaming community to do such a thing. I’m extremely worried about what the future holds as I’m sure the greediness on part of the publishers can only grow worse.
did you guys know that it costs dev’s something like 20k to release a patch on the 360, just thought i’d let you pitch fork weilding ‘attack now think later’ gamers get a rough insight on how it goes down behind the curtains.
how is that relevant to disc-locked content? Patches fix developer mistakes/oversights so that is something they should be financially responsible for. It doesnt justify offsetting costs by unfairly charging us more for content that is already complete and on the disc ready to be played.
Well-said, Rob. Dunno where Cliffy gets the idea of “having to do it,” being that there have only been a few games (I only know of SFxT and RE5) that have had this “unlockable content.” Maybe he means that the developers are having to do it because the publishers tell them to. Anyway, yeah… crappy thing. And yet people do seem to pay for it (those who don’t hack it). Another issue where I wonder if we’re gonna see a trend spring up out of it.