Has DLC Gone Too Far?
I am a Gamer. I love to play games, whether they be table-top, PC, or console. I love to play games. Over the years, video games have grown exponentially, in size, story, graphic fidelity and so on. These have been welcome changes, as they’ve brought amazing stories and interactive experiences that were just not possible 10+ years ago. As games have gotten larger, so have the bonuses and additional content that comes along with it. Now, there was once a time when games were sold, and that was the game. Additions, or DLCs, only brought more of the good stuff like additional missions, levels, characters as an example. Or they would bring additional, aesthetic pieces so you could customize your experience a little more. But, these days, this doesn’t seem to be the case. With things like Season Passes more and more becoming the norm, it seems that Developers and Publishers have found a new money grabbing outlet. I just don’t know if I can completely agree with their direction any longer. Sure, there are still plenty of examples to the contrary.
That’s not what this article is about.
Again, as this becomes more of the norm, the symptoms begin to spread. For me, a lot of what has rubbed me the wrong way, recently, has been with major AAA releases, such as Star Wars: Battlefront, Destiny: The Taken King, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, just to name a few. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “But, Sixzero,” you say, “Those are all FPS’s and that’s just how it is!”.
Again, my fine friends, I say that I love DLCs but the model is changing into something that I don’t love. It is common to take a full game, chop it up, then sell the rest of the game as DLC. I love that I get to get additional missions, weapons, characters, and what-have-yous. What I don’t like is finding out, before or after my purchase, that what I’m playing was (or clearly still is, in some cases) part of the main game.
We tend to throw our money at our screens for just about anything with the right name on it, these days. Or, at least, so it seems. And I am definitely no different. I’ve dumped plenty of my hard earned cash into Season Passes, DLCs, microtransactions…you name it.. That’s just it, with so many titles pumping out, it adds up fast and if you’re like me, when you love a game you don’t want to miss out on the full experience or the newest shit to expand your gaming world. This should not come at our expense as gamers, at least not an expense that’s $20.00 per DLC, or $50-$60 for a Season Pass.
Take a look at The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, for example. Not only did they release a full game from beginning to end, but they also sold a Season Pass for around $25.00. They have also been releasing free DLC content, on top of that. 16 pieces of DLC, mind you, which ranged from new missions and quests, to new look’s for your characters. Another example is Batman: Arkham Knight. Yes, they also released a Season Pass for $40.00, but what has been released up to this date have all been additions to the game. Not missing pieces. So far, they’ve released several new missions, new characters, as well as new skins for vehicles and characters. While this one may not have been received as well as The Witcher’s was, they still give great value to why one should purchase their Season Pass. If you love a great game, you’ll want to invest more time and money into it. No problem.
These, in my opinion, are how the DLC model should be, across the board. So, what can we, as consumers and Gamers, do about it? I’m not foolish enough to think that everyone is going to boycott DLCs now. I’m not the first to say this, and I won’t be the last, but there has to be a way we can let everyone in the gaming community know how we feel about it.
So, what do you think? How can the creators of the games we love help not alienate their market? How do you feel about DLC, microtransactions, and where they’re headed in our industry? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Sixzero out.
Chicano | Fighting/Writing for Diversity | DM since 08 | Anime Lover | Site: https://www.thegeeklyfe.com | info@thegeeklyfe.com | http://twitch.tv/that_deangelo | https://linktr.ee/deangelomurillo
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