BioWare: Some Gamers Want Day-one DLC

[Tharic-Nar]

Do you enjoy day-one DLC? Chances are good that you do - at least if you consider BioWare's Director of Online Development Fernando Melo's words to be gospel. He believes that day-one DLC helps cater a developer's launch to all players, including those who tend to complete their game in just a few days. While some gamers might consider day-one DLC to be unfair, given they just paid $60 or so for the game, those who complete the game fast can find it unfair that they completed the game and have nothing left to do.

You can read the rest of our post and discuss here.

 

[Kayden]

I don't mind if there is a preorder bonus and then later released as DLC for every one who didn't preorder, you take a chance on a preorder and in a way this kind of a thank you for taking a chance on it. There is a value in DLC even if it is horse armor, but here are the three no noes to saying something is DLC when it isn't.

1: Having specific content cut from development (because of time or budget) and going back to it to sell it as DLC so you can have it soon after release day for an extra profit. IE Mass Effect 3 and the Prothean DLC.
2: Developing content, putting it on the disc and then holding on to it for a few months after release, just to make a greater profit for work that should have been included in the first place. IE Bioshock 2 MP pack.
3: Developing DLC that is nothing but an in game cheat system and calling it DLC. IE Saints Row the Third.

These are NOT DLC, they are cheap attempts to get more money from people and this statement people want day one DLC is foolhardy at best. I have enjoyed almost every single Bioware title I have played, but that DLC statement has to be looked at the source and that's Fernando Melo. He previously worked at 2k Games, the guys who pulled the Bioshock 2 DLC shenanigans, and I do not think this an opinion Bioware would have had the pre-EA merger.

Mr. Melo wasn't apart of Bioware until the time of that merger so I believe he is some one who is in that position because he has the same mind set as EA money cows behind the yearly Madden franchise. Therefore in my opinion this comment is coming from EA because Bioware is a name people have trusted and believed in for years and EA has run their credibility for the consumer into the ground, so they are using any one who thinks like them to get this message out. Hey, it's not increasing the price of your all ready $60 video game if you choose not to buy that $10 or $15 DLC at launch right?

 

[Rob Williams]

Your second point ties into what I mentioned in the post about there being different development teams for DLC. In the developer's eyes, the DLC is an entirely separate project, and though it's included on the disc, it's just because it's the common-sense thing to do. The problem of course, is that it doesn't feel like the common-sense thing to do, because as gamers we feel like we're being ripped off.

I admit that after thinking about it, I am fine for the most part with this practice. It's not ideal, and it assumes that I feel like the game itself had a ton of content to begin with (Borderlands is a great example of this; same with Saints Row 3 and even Darksiders II).

On your third point, I agree... that drives me [IO]nuts[/I]. This isn't new, either. I remember when the Xbox 360 came out, along with Need for Speed: Most Wanted, there was DLC at the get-go that would allow people to purchase cars that they'd end up earning later in the game anyway. But on the business side of things, it's pretty hard to blame the publishers, when people do buy it. And if it's an offline game, then whatever. Still doesn't feel great. Sleeping Dogs is a good example, where DLC exists to literally boost your character XP and give you money... you could probably use a trainer to do the same thing.