Have Your Say: DLC Culture, Has it Gone Too Far?

Paul Jeffrey

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With the growing trend in the gaming industry to release DLC after DLC, has it now gone too far, and do you miss the old days of everything on a single disk?

Pre order bonus, sponsored car packs, special events, new cars, new tracks, new features, it seems like anything and everything is fair game to make into a DLC package in today's day and age, but has it gone just a little bit too far?

Gone are the days when you parted with your hard earner cash for a physical copy of a game, went home, popped it in the console and played until your hearts content.

In today's digital marketplace we seem to be drip fed our games piecemeal, with additional content coming on a seemingly monthly basis for an extra cost, moving that initial £40 purchase into the 100's over the course of a games life expectancy.

With exclusive pre order bonuses and aggressive DLC programmes as actively employed by franchise such as Forza and Gran Turismo in recent years, has it got a little bit silly in the last few years?

For this Saturday then, our question is -

DLC content, has it gone too far and should developers concentrate on producing a more rounded experience out of the box, rather than regularly adding multiple additional content packs to games?

Don't get me wrong I love content, and pretty much buy up anything that comes out racing related, but has the recent focus on content taken away attention from the traditional task of producing a well stocked and finished title right out of the box?

Fire away with your opinions folks!
 
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To an extent, but DLC is an important part in prolonging a games future and keeping fans/players interested until the sequel or next evolution of the game is released. I don't mind it in some cases but if I do not approve of the business model a game developer is using I will simply not buy the DLC.
 
DLCs in a healthy amount with fair price and great new content is great and I gladly pay for it. See AC. However, day one DLCs with basically 30% of the game being cut to sold separately is what hurts the industry. See Project CARS 2.
 
I'm happy to get DLC if it's priced fairly and the devs listen to what the players want.

Despite the controversy against the game, I think the best DLC plan in the sim world was Project CARS. I bought every DLC and they were all priced so well. Although I don't like the fact pCARS2 isn't even out and it already has DLC. Forza is hands down the worst. £15 for 10 cars nobody asked for or £30 to some snow.
 
As far as racing titles go, I'd say I'm alright with it if there's GOTY editions available later; it's nice to have a complete concise package without stretching too much to add more and more content, but most of all, DLC floods mean a lot of game content outright disappearing for earlier titles when licensing agreements end. Physical "complete", "ultimate", or "GOTY" editions prevent that nicely. I'm all for add-ons, but I hate picking up a title only to learn I can never get all of the title's content no matter what anymore.

I will say that I'm also more likely to purchase a title if there's only a sparse bit of focused DLC. Much as I love games having long lifespans, it's off-putting to look into, say, a Forza game and find a massive wall of paygates for more cars than I can ever use. And I'll always prefer extra courses, tracks and stages over car variants.
 
Honestly I rarely ever have problems with a DLC provided its quality content which varies depending on genre.

The issue I have is how the DLC is distributed and inviting in those that dont currently have the content.

Assetto corsa is in a weird area because of that, I dont like how it is for users without DLC and due to how open they are with modding I have the feeling that locking off cars that you dont use but still being able to race againest them would be a challenging thing to achieve what with all the ways we have of tampering with the game.

There is also the gating off sort of effect the game gives to the average random that stumbles across the game. Basically they see a wall of dlc and are overwhelmed so I feel like grouping dlcs together may help more. Im not entirely sure as I still dont fully understand how the average steam user thinks especially the type that doesnt research things
 
Depends...
Something like P CARS model is nice, the game has a lot of base content and you can drive a car without owning it (AMS also follows that route). Same for RaceRoom where you "build your game"
AC model is a bit strange to me with less content on the base game and more on the DLC. But what I dislike is seeing people forced to stay out of a race because they are missing only one DLC (this happened in a league, it sucked, felt sorry for the guy it was the final round). It end up in a point where you are forced to buy it all and then you are paying for a lot of cars you don't want.

Tho whatever keeps the dev in business is acceptable to me even if I don't like at all. Better than doing what ISI did to rF2 for example. Dear devs, don't follow that example ;)
 
Maybe this makes me a hypocrite, but my answer is "it depends".

I have much less tolerance for large, well funded devs who sell millions of copies doing it (Microsoft/Forza, looking in your direction).

I have much more tolerance for indie devs (Reiza, Kunos, etc) doing it, cuz I feel like I'm helping a product that the big devs wouldn't touch.

The one that really gets my goat though is the iRacing model - content I've paid for that I can't use because it's behind a paywall.
 
So let me get this straight... You would rather pay the full price of $59.99 -$99.99 every single year, so you can get the couple of new cars and/or tracks... Well that is SO much better than paying the exorbitant price of $3.99 - $9.99 once or twice a year... Screw that. Give me an update, if there are any improvements to graphics and such. Sell me dlc packages, then if they are not interesting, I don't have to buy them. The only reason to buy a whole new game each year is for an useless collection that collects dust.
 
Disjointed DLC where you have to buy all of it to get the race series you're interested in is stupid (I'm looking at both of you, AC & pCARS). The intelligent consumer will just wait for it go on sale before buying. If you're going to sell DLC, then it ought to be packaged so it is meaningful (well done AMS & RaceRoom).
 
Not really the best example. AC is like the "buy all the DLC or get ****ed" simulator.
Whilst i like the DLC AC offer... this statement is true... My friend does not buy all the DLC's because he does not like some cars in a pack. Why would he want to buy something that he would never race, Waste of money... But when trying to play online we are so limited server wise because of the content lock...

Whilst Project Cars may be a bad example for selling DLC in some peoples eyes, they do the DLC implementation right. I can host a server with a DLC car and my friend can use a non DLC car even though he does not own the car i drive. Something i think AC needs. Just when selecting a server have the Car choice greyed out because you don't own it.
 
i dont know how rockstar does it (i guess more people buy shark cards than i realize), but all the additional content they've added to gta:o for FREE has been absolutely phenomenal. i mean ya, the stuff is expensive to buy in game, but you CAN buy it with a bit of grinding. its not like forza where you end up paying will over a hundred bucks every single year (if you play motorsport and horizon) just to have access to everything. i just cant justify spending that much on ONE game. what killed it for me was fm6. i was a fan of forza since fm2 and 6 was gonna be the first one i played with a wheel. i WASTED $100 preordering the game w/season pass because i had no idea how unplayable it would be with a wheel. i probably have an hour or two into that game.
 
I personally don't like the DLC model. Just decide what cars/tracks you want in your game and put them in there.

And another thing... If you're a software company and you want to make a game, then wait until it's finished, bug-free and ready to be released. Don't release it, then unleash it on poor slobs like myself and expect us to enjoy it in a broken state while you take the next 2 years to forever to make the thing actually work. This is the state of things nowadays. And don't tell us you're a small studio. Too bad. I don't market myself as a home builder, and tell you you're getting a house and then not build it for you as expected by the date I told you. If I did that you wouldn't care that I was a small company either. If you can't build a game, then go do something else.
 
Not really the best example. AC is like the "buy all the DLC or get ****ed" simulator.

Agree 100%; AC is designed to force you to buy all DLCs so you can race online, usually against cars you may not like or ever use, but you had to pay for them

I also think that DLC simultaneous to launching a new product is not ok, launch the frigging game and add new content as you develop it
 
There are some DLC`s that are all right, but what is doing SMS with project cars 2 is just..... dont know how to say it.

They are even releasing photos of the DLC cars already in the game, done, they are there but you need to pay to unlock them....
 
If DLC is with rare cars or very limited, special race or prototype it is ok. When, like in this case, is that E36M3 or RS2, CRX or Lotus Omega 3000 - they shoulb be in game all the time. And they are in vol. 1 FM. Now only DLC. So...FM from vol.5 is like unfinished product, when You buy only game, without DLC. Really i have this feeling. I start the game and see...WTF? Where are evry car from vol.3 or 4? In DLC...It is too much and FM6 i have no buy. I done with this series beacouse its only a track pack with couple of car and when you want to drive with your favourite cars, buy a DLC...So i said - F...c Y.. FM is not only one...
 

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