To DLC or not to DLC?

To DLC or not to DLC? What are the questions that developers ask themselves when deciding to include DLC in their titles? Is it a case of fleecing us of more of our hard earned pennies? Or is it to carry on giving us great content for our much-loved titles? I know in the case of some games <ahem> Resident Evil 5 the DLC was a bit dubious as whether it should have been included in the full title and it also brings us to that age-old line size does matter!

The bigger the GB the DLC weighs in at the more we feel we are getting for our money – and this also means we are downloading fresh content and not just purchasing the ability to unlock content that was on the disc all along, which in the case of Resident Evil 5 was a weak addition of multiplayer. This caused much speculation amongst gamers as to whether this was done as a money-spinner and the content was ‘removed’ from the full game code; the DLC purchase just unlocked the content that was there all along.

A new fashion of cuts from games has also surfaced recently with Gears of War being the first to do this – a DLC code card within the game, which from the day of release offers additional maps/content. This seems more of a way to reward gamers who purchase a brand new version of the game and is a dig at the pre-owned market, by the time you have bought the game pre-owned then bought the DLC you would have been better off buying the game brand new.

One of the latest games to offer up one of these codes is Mass Effect 2. The Cerberus Network costs 1200 MS Points if you buy this game pre-owned and is well overpriced as the plus points of owning this DLC to me seems very minimal – It hasn’t furthered my game experience in any way and really to me seems like you have to own this to be able to download further DLC – that’s right 1200 MS Points to have the privilege to be able to pay for more DLC! Fair enough at this moment there is free DLC on the network but I really don’t see this trend continuing, after all it is EA games however I will stand corrected and even take my hat off to EA if all the content on the network is free and the 1200 point charge is just a one off, or free if you had bought the game brand new.

These codes have also begun to find their way into special editions, rewarding gamers who pay the extra £10 or so with a little extra something. This brings in a whole new debate on special editions and the influx of extra junk just to get you to pay an extra £10-60. In both cases the content eventually becomes available for others to buy on the marketplace adding an extra ‘exclusive’ deal to the DLC card codes.

Now I realise that making the decision to bring out DLC, allows developers to release a game on time and continue to add the content that they wanted to include in the full title. But it’s the whole cost thing that concerns me when we are paying £30 – £40 a game an extra £8.50 here and there soon adds up, it’s also the case that a much loved game will get more purchases of DLC than the lesser titles which is pretty obvious but when the DLC is substandard then the DLC debate is cause for concern. A 30-60 hour game at £40 works out as £1.30-66p an hour, bring out an £8.50 piece of DLC and by the same standard you would expect the same quality so a 7-14 hour piece of DLC.

I feel it’s also noteworthy to mention our beloved achievements points, now hands up those that wont buy DLC if there are no extra achievements? Achievement are also a measure in which we all gauge our DLC purchases, they give weight to justifying an additional price on top of the initial purchase of the game.

Now to flip the coin and bring into play 2 of the greatest games I’ve had the pleasure of playing: fallout 3 and Borderlands. The greatness of Fallout 3 speaks for itself but Borderlands for me was the real treat. Not only did Borderlands take a radical overhaul in the look of the game as it was thought too many comparisons would be drawn with Fallout 3, but the game was an absolute blast to play and I actually preferred it to Fallout 3.

In the case of DLC the 2 have had great support from their studios, Fallout’s even being released on disc so those without internet connections or credit cards could enjoy in the DLC goodness and of course make Bethesda more money. The discs came out with 2 pieces of DLC on them and 2 discs were released. They also allowed for multiple installs on different consoles, so trade-ins and game sharing was an option. The DLC was very well received, although there were bugs here and there, it expanded the Fallout universe in which we had all fell in love with.

Borderlands has also received similar support although nothing has been released on disc or an all powerful new edition with all the DLC included on it. I must say I’m most impressed with the latest DLC from Borderlands, weighing in at a whopping 1.66 gb and costing a measly 800 ms points, I’ve played for 8+ hours on the new content and it doesn’t look like I’m nearing the end anytime soon – it has a large main story and plenty of side missions.

So In the cases of Fallout 3 and Borderlands then DLC is yes please – a huge development of an existing story and/or a development of a new one is great to bring us back to these gems of games.

When developers ask themselves the question of to DLC or not to DLC? I would simply reply look at 2k/Gearbox’s and Bethesda’s attempts and if you are going to match their efforts then be my guest.