DLC Stigma
March 31st, 2009And I’m back again.
An interesting post from Maw developers Twisted Pixel regarding the feeling that DLC may not even be worth developing due to the perception from gamers that they are being “ripped off.” My suspicion is that there’s an inherent conflict in DLC between the need to develop additional value-added content and the feeling from gamers that content is effectively stripped out of games prior to release to provide something to sell to them later. If you lean too far to either direction, you have problems - the horse armor was generally perceived as pointless within Oblivion, whereas the addition of substantial levels to a game adds fuel to the concerns of other gamers.
Part of the problem, I suspect, is the idea that games need DLC plans prior to the game’s release. Games that are true successes, like Fallout 3, can afford to invest a bit more to develop clearly new expansions like Project Anchorage. Since the expansions are related but involve entirely new content, it’s much easier for gamers to treat them well. On the other hand, a game that is less successful (or at least, riskier) can’t support that kind of DLC strategy and so needs to opt for a more dangerous strategy - potentially adding less useful content or that which should have been in the game originally.
Perhaps the solution, then, is to stop requiring full DLC strategies for games, but to use them as kickers for additional compensation for developers post-launch.
Posted in DLC, Geoff |
April 1st, 2009 at 7:08 am
This is all on whiny gamers though. No one would feel ripped off about anything if the DLC were never announced (and then they’d whine about it not having DLC). It’s only when they learn they have to pay for something extra if they want it that the feelings of being “cheated” begin. Infinity Ward said it best when they said developers are damned if they do, damned if they don’t with DLC.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:59 pm
In retrospect, the Horse Armor thing looks way overblown… Look at what people currently seem happy to pay for on XBL, in some cases even more than the Horse Armor… Costumes, themes, gamer icons, etc… There’s all kinds of crap that really adds little to no value to your gaming but that people seem eager to snap up. Horse armor for $2.50 doesn’t even seem all that horrible in comparison now.
It is funny, though, that they’re selling it now for double ($5) as part of April Fools.