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.
Based.
Though I would 100% be fine with paying for Stardew DLC, the base game is worth so much more than its current price
I have bought it twice, possibly on sale both times but still. I’d never heard of it, and I’d never played any style of game like that, but Nintendo advertised it to me when it launched on the Switch and I eventually bought it. Later my family started taking the Switch more and I eventually bought it again in Steam. No regrets! Happy to support good games from small developers that don’t break the bank!
Oh shit, didn’t know it was on switch. Is there a digital only copy or do you need the game cart?
I would rather buy it again or have the update/dlc released after some sort of community milestone in buying and giving away copies.
I really like the fact that its all one complete game and also every gaming person should have a copy, regardless if they can personally afford it.
Anything that is worked on for that long is fair game for versioning. It used to be that you bought a version of a software and it was yours for life, but if you wanted the new fancy stuff, you had to buy the new version.
Now it’s either a subscription or an “app” model, how long can a developer continue to support a 3€ one-time-buy app with new features? Buyers run out sooner or later.
30 million copies sold. even if he only made a dollar into his pocket for each sale…hes doing alright.
But I have absolutely no problem with that whatsoever. Dude wrote a good, solid, complete game, sold it for a fair price, and made bank. That is the business model I want software to be sold under, and I’m thrilled to see it working for him.
Right, not only do I not have a problem with this - but it SHOULD be rewarded.
Personally I beat the v1.1 version of the game back in Oct 2016 - but I purchased the game a second time on android because a) i wanted to support a cross platform port and b) the guy really deserves it.
I like it when I have the option to support a developer more, but it isn’t expected or required.
I purchased the game a second time on android because a) i wanted to support a cross platform port and b) the guy really deserves it
I did the same. This game hits almost all the buttons for me.
Being an absolute Factorio addict, the only thing I miss is proper automation.
I mean, we could argue on whether his work is worth tens of times that of an average person, but I mean, there’s people who make more and whose work is actually detrimental to society, so he’s all right by me.
Actually, I want to go even further and say that I think his work actually is worth quite a bit. Not that he is worth that much, or others aren’t (again, I don’t know him), but he has given millions of people hours upon hours of enjoyment, and that’s nothing to shake a stick at.
And what he’s doing with it is also important. I haven’t heard of him dumping millions into Trump’s campaign or the Proud Boys or whatever.
And honestly, even if he did, my real respect is for the work that he did and the business model he used, not for him as a person. I don’t know him at all. I don’t even know his real name. I just meant that this way of doing software professionally should be more common.
The Ape family name is honorable
There is a difference between the DLC that is one and whatever the hell nowadays is practice. When its something like the eldenring DLC a dlc is absolutely fine.
Yeah but concerned ape added about half a game’s content with that new island. Nobody would’ve blinked if they charged for it.
This. It all boils down to value for money. 5 dollars for a skin cosmetic is bullshit. 5 dollars or more for DLC with meaningful content is okay.
If you’re going to sell a DLC that is only a skin and people buy it, I don’t have an issue. A skin adds nothing outside of “looks” and it’s purely optional. If you the player want to pay for it, be my guest.
It’s when games release a game that is unfinished, has bugs, and what should be a patch is sold as a DLC, I have problems with that.
Or when DLC adds a competitive advantage, that is just wrong. Like for $5 a month, you get extra “stability” in your scope, or the whole “pride and accomplishment” crates.
Those DLCs can go fuck themselves.
My issue with skins is that it is completely immersion breaking. You have Homelander and Gaia running around Call of Duty now. It’s comical and just destroys my enjoyment of the game.
The skins get worse and worse because to continue the money machine they have to make more and more unique skins that just destroy the cohesion of the world they’ve built.
Even if its 5(money) for a supporter item or skin it would be fine. Its different depending on the studio size.
Studio size has nothing to do with it, the only important matter here is whether the DLC is “required” or not. I’m fine with BS cosmetic DLC, that really doesn’t matter, but when you promise features X, Y, and Z, and deliver X and Y but gate Z behind a DLC, that’s unacceptable. I don’t care if you’re have 1000 employees or 1, that’s wrong.
DLC should be for:
- optional items, like skins, soundtracks, etc
- additional story content not promised in the original release
Elden Ring’s DLC is pretty atypical though, even as far as DLCs are concerned. Comparing it to past FromSoftware DLCs for Dark Souls, Shadow of the Erd Tree is like the size of all of the Dark Souls DLCs combined.
Expecting every DLC to match Shadow of the Erd Tree is setting yourself up for disappointment. Would it be nice? Of course, but it would be unrealistic to expect every DLC to match it.
Absolutely but its the standard studios should be aiming for or at least in this direction and not whatsoever EA and Paradox are doing.
While I agree EA and Paradox are lazy in making DLC, studios should absolutely not be aiming to make every DLC like Shadow of the Erd Tree. That would only lead to studio closures and developer disappointment when they ultimately fail to meet that very high standard.
I would rather developers stick to making something that they realistically can, that way they can finish it and get the satisfaction of completing a DLC they wanted to make than get burned out making something with too big of a scope for their team.