Downloadable Content. It’s certainly the new physics, in terms of popularity going by it’s inclusion in games now. Encompassing everything from new characters to entire expansion pack levels of content, the industry has certainly come a long way from the horse armour that has now become so infamous, it’s frequently used by developers as an example of what they promise NOT to do with the medium. Some would say that it’s a natural progression, and that more content can only be a good thing. But DLC can be as much of a curse as it is a coup to a developer. Even developers like Valve can anger as many people with the announcement of a whole new game in Left 4 Dead 2 as they please with their frequent Team Fortress 2 updates.
The practice of downloadable content is not as new as you may think. We can go all the way back to 1981 with the PlayCable system for the Intellivision console, allowing players to download games for their system through cable television. Stepping forward a few years to the GameLine service for Atari 2600 which plugged into a phoneline, again allowing the download of entire games from CVC for a small fee. A few years later, and of course Sega and Nintendo were in on the online action with the MegaNet for the Mega Drive in Japan and even a Famicom Modem for what we Brits know as the NES providing downloadable content in the early nineties.
Of course, PC owners are used to expansion packs, but even we are not immune to the DLC fever sweeping the industry. Even Empire: Total War – a cornerstone of PC gaming – has it’s own DLC available over Steam. And of course, we all love Valve’s constant TF2 updates, providing new fun and entertainment giving a massive tail to a two year old game. Valve certainly aren’t any strangers to their games having a long term appeal, but the constant flow of new additions makes playing Team Fortress 2 now an entirely different experience to playing it back in 2007. However, many gamers feel short changed by the comparitive lack of Left 4 Dead DLC. Even the Survival Mode and the upcoming Crash Course are not enough for some fans. It has to be asked: have gamers been spoilt by the generosity of the Team Fortress 2 updates?
Then of course there’s the matter of cost. How do you put a value on after market content? Again with the Team Fortress 2 example, Valve have added an amazing amount of extra content and not charged a single penny. However, games like Killing Floor are offering extra costumes – which provide absolutely no gameplay benefit – but charging you £1.49 for the privilege. It’s easy to dismiss it as greed when you look at Team Fortress 2 but consider this: these extras still require work. They still require the exact same skills used in the parent game. Developers still have mouths and families to feed and surely deserve paying? What is a ‘reasonable price’ for downloadable content? Still, last year, Harmonix announced they had shifted 28 million downloads at around 99p a track (for the majority). That’s a heck of a lot of money for a relatively small price to the user.
On the positive side, it means our games are never quite over. We may finish the main story, but we can look forward to continuing it on without having to wait for a sequel. Developers can play with What If? style scenarios and creative freedom is more likely to be explored in DLC than in primary content, especially as it’s not quite as big a risk for the publisher. At the same time however, they’re under enormous pressure to provide something post release and rather quickly, before the playerbase has the time to get bored of the parent game. However, games like Burnout Paradise have shown how to get DLC right, with frequent, smaller content to keep the fans happy while they work on the bigger, more packed content later on with Big Surf Island. It’s a luxury only possible with modern day broadband connections, and in a world where the developer and the consumer are closer than ever. We’re even seeing DLC reviews next to those of full release games, and many ‘expansions’ these days are in fact the DLC reconstituted and placed onto a disk – the ‘Expansion Pack’ as we know it is for all intents and purposes dead – a relic of a bygone age. And now Microsoft are launching their Games on Demand service – delivering entire games through the net to the hard drive – is this the end of disc based gaming as we know it for ALL platforms?
Unfortunately, until companies like Steam and Microsoft decide to release exact numbers and values of their DLC, we probably will never know exactly how successful DLC is, but it does seem that everyone wants a piece of this pie. It’s not perfect yet – developers may still have a lot to learn about DLC, but then again – so do the players.
What are your experiences with DLC? Do you have any favourites? Any that you think are just plain stupid? And just what is ‘good value’ in terms of DLC? Let us know in the comments.
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever bought any DLC. I got some extra units for Empire but they came with the special edition, and I considered getting some for killing floor – but that’s coming up in a post soon.
Other than that there hasn’t been anything that’s grabbed my attention enough to warrent a purchase. I love the free updates for tf2 though obviously but with l4d it’s going to take a lot to make to go back to playing that and I doubt I’m going to get the sequel until its on cheap weekend.
Being a largely Xbox gamer, I’ve bought and reviewed an awful lot of DLC.
It varies greatly. GTAIV: Lost and the Damned was incredible. 1600 MS Space Bucks (or around £13.40 in old money) but worth every penny. It took me around 8 hours to complete and was actually a better game to me than GTA’s main story.
Fallout 3 was a mixed bag. I played all 5 pieces they released – three of them I bought (at a cost of around £20 I guess) and 2 I got promo codes for. Typically, I ended up reviewing the rubbish ones and buying the decent ones.
I don’t mind it as long as it’s clearly not stuff that was already on the disk that they’ve held back. There was a fairly high profile reveal that the We Love Katamari DLC was far too small to be the actual levels it promised, and was more than likely just an unlock code. That’s plain scummy.
I’m really quite mixed about DLC in general. Some works, some doesn’t. I think it’s particularly because we’re going through a period of experimentation. The range of DLC is hugely varied in both content and distribution model, and what works for one developer or game wont work for all. I do worry that some developers (Nitro with East India Company, particularly) are making a habit of releasing what would be patch fixes/content as DLC and charging, though generally this doesn’t seem to be too widespread.
Not all developers could adopt the TF2 model simply because their finances wouldn’t allow it – much like the average band couldn’t go releasing its albums for free ala’ Trent Reznor simply because they’ve got bills to pay that Reznor’s extensive back catalogue has already sorted for the next century or 10.
I actually quite liked Empire: Total War’s DLC model – £2 for 14 units isn’t too bad really. The special edition was total arse of course, and I was never interested in it. Fallout 3, as Alan says was very mixed – I wasn’t inspired to buy the latter 2 anyway, since Broken Steel was a bit of a let down (the plot was wank.) I also entirely support Valve with L4D2. L4D has easily had more support than most games people could care to mention, so I’ll be happy to buy the sequel.