The sad part is that the idea behind DLCs (to develop further content for a game already released, in exchange for additional money) is reasonable. Or it would be, if shitty developers didn’t abuse it to the point that it stopped being “downloadable content” to become “dumb and lazy cashgrab”.
I also think that CA isn’t just being benign with this statement, or his whole “let us not be arseholes” approach towards development. He’s being smart; player trust might be hard to measure but it has direct impact on word-of-mouth advertisement and piracy, so it’s basically the difference between “everybody knows it, plenty bought it” and “the few ones who know it pirated it”.
Another excellent example of this working is Factorio.
The original game doesn’t cost a fortune, it’s made by a small extremely dedicated team. They polished it so hard the shine made everything else look like vanta black. Playing Factorio ruins other games because the depth and quality of everything else is so poor in comparison.
The game came out in like 2013 early access. Full release completed in 2020. A decade after initial launch, they are going to offer a DLC, that will cost money.
Absolutely happy to pay for a DLC for that perfection.
I’m not happy to pay money for that DLC.
Are you kidding me? Already have 1400 hours in the game. And if this DLC is gonna double the base game, I’m screwed.
IMO Wube (Factorio’s devs) is a lot like ConcernedApe, when it comes to not violate the players’ trust. That’s why for example Factorio never goes on sales - because the people there believe that it would be disrespectful to charge a larger price to some than others, simply because the others delayed buying it. (Cough Paradox Interactive aka Hipsters’ EA cough cough)
They also have the decency to offer you a demo so you can make an informed decision before buying it, in a clear contrast with certain companies that expect you to buy it blind.
About the DLC: I’m one who typically pirates games, mind you, but I’m probably buying it, just like I did mit the base game. The base game isn’t incomplete or anything like that; fuck, people compare it with crack for a reason - it’s functional, polished, and fun to the point of addictiveness. And the FFF (devlogs) clearly show enough content to be worth it.
Yep.
I pirated Factorio way back when it first came out (0.72?) and I actually didn’t like it. It was… Bad.
A few months later someone suggested I give it another go, so I pirated it again. It was a lot better. Like way better. I did a couple of months and was like … this is soooo good I’m buying it.
I will pre buy the dlc the moment it’s available.
Agreed. If CA charged a few bucks for the 1.6 update, I’d have bought it without hesitation. Same with 1.5.
The best example right now is Factorio. There’s a new expansion coming out in October. It isn’t free, but it adds basically an entire new game on top of an already excellent and fully fleshed out game. I’m gonna buy it the day it goes on sale without question and without waiting for reviews.
Then there’s crap like Starfield where they added 1 mission for $7.
Slay the Spire is current $8.50. Starbound is $4.50 (both are on sale rn for future readers) if you’re looking for a space game.
Factorio DLC is going to break global productivity for a month when it’s released in October.
Every single engineer and factorio fan I know have taken that day off. Nothing is getting engineered for like 4 days minimum
I can’t actually recommend Starbound. It’s a game sure. And made by an indie team. But it’s past is stained. The game is also hollow and devoid of true substance and this is clear after less than 5 hours of gameplay.
FTL is a much better space themed indie masterpiece.
I also can’t recommend Starbound for much the same reasons despite loving it for a long time.
I’ve purchased Stardew Valley on 3 different platforms. I’ve never done something stupid like that with any other game. And idc because it’s only like $15 and he seems like a good guy. You take care of us, we take care of you.
Yeah, agreed, a good DLC is awesome. The example that comes to mind for me is From Soft. Top notch content, delivered well after the release of top notch games, at a fair price, which expand on the level and boss design and improve it every time, while stepping up the difficulty for those who loved and fully completed the base content.
I wish every game I ever loved would get DLC like that.