Rebellion Says "No Justification" for DLC Already on Discs

[Tom Goldman]

Rebellion Says "No Justification" for DLC Already on Discs

The game director for Aliens vs Predator [http://www.amazon.com/Aliens-vs-Predator-Xbox-360/dp/B001TOQ8MU/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280176805&sr=1-1] is with consumers on the overuse of DLC as a form of extra profit in today's videogame industry.

Rebellion's David Brickley, director for the new Aliens vs Predator game coming to next-gen platforms and the PC this year, told Spong in an interview that he feels DLC which ships on a game's disc just isn't cool. He also offered an explanation for DLC that might come out on the same day or soon after a game hits shelves. With DLC a huge component of the videogame market today, it might be worth listening to his words to allay some of that pent-up anger on the matter.

"I do think players are entirely right - if the content is on the disc already there's absolutely no justification for studios to offer DLC which is essentially an unlock key or something," Brickley said. He continues: "But I guess what doesn't come across to some people is that when a game hits the shelves, it's probably been wrapped up for four or five months in any true sense. The time between finishing the game and retail is usually spent on debugging."

It's in this debugging phase that resources, meaning members of the development team, are freed up to do other things. Rather than sit around twiddling their big toes, many teams will now create DLC. Brickley understands how this looks to the consumer, as he relates: "I can understand why that's hard to appreciate though, and people are right to question when they see things like that."

In regards to Rebellion's own Aliens vs Predator DLC, the company "saw an opportunity in-between finishing the game and actually putting it on the shelves to build on what [they've] already completed, so hopefully players can enjoy it more." See, development studios just want to make us enjoy their games more, they could care less about the money lining their pockets that is associated with this enjoyment. It must be accepted that at least part of the time, Brickley is right, DLC isn't another quick money grab.

Source: VG247 [http://spong.com/detail/editorial.jsp?eid=10110049&cid=&tid=&pid=&plid=&page=3 target=].


Permalink

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Of course this is coming from the perspective of the developers, what would really be shocking would be to hear somebody from the publishers saying that DLC that comes on the bloody disc is beyond the pale. With them you can be absolutely certain it's a money grab at least, so no worrying about getting angry at people who don't deserve it!

 

[dagens24]

He makes a great point but let's face it, consumers are idiots (myself included). Sure we'll piss and moan about DLC already being on the disc, but we're still there on day one downloading it because we don't want to miss out. We complain about it in one breath, and then support it (through revenue) with the next. Money speaks louder then words.

 

[Bretty]

I see a pretty cool trend of getting Pre order bonuses as DLC. This, to me, is awesome.

And I think people, recently, have just been unhappy that they have to pay for something else.

 

[Void(null)]

You don't have to do a DLC Money grab when you can make a game like Rogue Warrior in half a day and charge people $50 for it.

I'm always so torn on Rebellion, on one had they do some amazing work and have great philosophy, on the other they also make Games like Rogue Warrior and Judge Dread.

 

[Jhereg42]

I've never been that bothered by Day 1 DLC. I agree that if I buy a disk I should have access to everything on the disk that I have already paid for, but in the end I have no trouble paying for quality DLC on a quality game, even if it is on day 1.

Then there is the middle ground, the free DLC if you bought our game thing that EA and Bioware seem so happy with. It basically makes buying used games pointless because even when it gets down to $45 used you are STILL better off buying new. Personally, I like it as an interesting form less intrusive DRM. . . but I know a lot of people who never buy games new due to limited resources that are a little sour on that.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

If it's already on there to me that's just less time i have waiting afterwards

 

[inpachi]

I cant stand DLC! It ruins the entire worth of games! Hell its ruined now.. But with it, it will make games completely worthless.. Only profitable to the licensed distributors themselves..

It would also mean a end to all classic games.. With trad ins completely worthless trading shops such as family owned business's will lose money because of the lack of new products.

You can only resell the same game so many times to the same person.. And TBH DLC will only increase the rate of pirated games on the market. And make it easier.. Its like moving the playing field to the hackers home. Just not so smart.. DLC is just another way for greedy game company's to make another $! At the cost of all us gamers!

 

[Kazedarkwind]

i believe downloadable content only works with services like steam, where the games already downloaded so that you know the content will always be there

 

[Trivun]

Right, sadly I can't quote inpachi because the quote button isn't working. But this would have been directed partly at him/her.

Basically, I happen to design and make games in my free time, and have also just started a computer programming elective at my university. And your point is lost on me. DLC is, as explained in the interview, not necessarily always a money-maker. Do you really expect the development team to sit on their arses for a few months waiting for release? The development team for any game nowadays have to stay together so that they can continue work on any updates and patches and whatnot after release. They don't just get instantly freed up to work on other projects. In my programming course one of the things I'm learning is about debugging, and that it takes a hell of a long time. Non-programmers won't really be aware of this, but to create even a very simple program takes a lot of lines of code. To program an entire game, there could be thousands of lines of code, probably much more than even that, and debugging involves the programmers going over every single line to check for any errors. This can take months of work on it's own. If they find any errors, which are very common, they have to change it and correct it and then go back over the code to make sure it's all in order now. It takes bloody ages. So in that time, the development team have to do something...

So, they develop additional content. And that's a good thing. It means they are doing something to earn their pay cheques, and it means more enjoyment for the user when they come to play the game. And fine, most DLC is sold, but some companies release it for free, like Valve, which is even better. I honestly can't see why you don't like DLC...

 

[Spleenbag]

Thank God a developer is trying to explain the whole "games are wrapped months before release" thing that SO MANY PEOPLE don't get. Seriously, it's like consumers think a game is done the day before it comes out or something.

Bravo, Rebellion.

 

[inpachi]

Right, sadly I can't quote inpachi because the quote button isn't working. But this would have been directed partly at him/her.

Basically, I happen to design and make games in my free time, and have also just started a computer programming elective at my university. And your point is lost on me. DLC is, as explained in the interview, not necessarily always a money-maker. Do you really expect the development team to sit on their arses for a few months waiting for release? The development team for any game nowadays have to stay together so that they can continue work on any updates and patches and whatnot after release. They don't just get instantly freed up to work on other projects. In my programming course one of the things I'm learning is about debugging, and that it takes a hell of a long time. Non-programmers won't really be aware of this, but to create even a very simple program takes a lot of lines of code. To program an entire game, there could be thousands of lines of code, probably much more than even that, and debugging involves the programmers going over every single line to check for any errors. This can take months of work on it's own. If they find any errors, which are very common, they have to change it and correct it and then go back over the code to make sure it's all in order now. It takes bloody ages. So in that time, the development team have to do something...

So, they develop additional content. And that's a good thing. It means they are doing something to earn their pay cheques, and it means more enjoyment for the user when they come to play the game. And fine, most DLC is sold, but some companies release it for free, like Valve, which is even better. I honestly can't see why you don't like DLC...

Oh sorry i didn't read the article... I thought it was referring to Down-loadable games instead of Cd's.. DLC as in add-ons is completely fine on my part.. However when the entire games become the down-loadable product then that's when it pisses me off! Due to all the reasons i stated above..

And i know how much work it takes to make a game.. I have tested games been through the entire bug/glitch process... And it is such a insanely long process.. Gotta step on every tile in the game gotta test every item on every other item gotta attack every monster gotta have them attack you.. And so on and so forth. And i don't see your point about the DLC making them earn there pay check's.. I mean after all well known game devs get paid quite a bit last time i checked..

 

[DTWolfwood]

At the end of the day you cant employ ppl with just fun and enjoyment <.<

So pay up or shut up!

I've never bought a single piece of DLC, as a PC player id expect the stuff free of charge. Ever since the Console gamers, they are charging for it on PC too so i said fuck it, im not buying any of it. and they can't make me.

I do appreciate the explanation about day one DLC

 

[lawdjayee]

Ha! Nice headline, which should have read, Developer Offers Justification for DLC Already on Disks.

That said, I don't understand the complaints. Everyone knows that it's an attempt to recoup profits from the resale market. And everyone knows that if you purchase DLC in the first week or so you are paying to test it. And like the crank above (and comments like those are frequent on boards with these questions) you can threaten to never purchase DLC and possibly follow through. "It should be free because I say so" isn't exactly a compelling argument.

 

[LunarCircle]

So, they develop additional content. And that's a good thing. It means they are doing something to earn their pay cheques, and it means more enjoyment for the user when they come to play the game. And fine, most DLC is sold, but some companies release it for free, like Valve, which is even better. I honestly can't see why you don't like DLC...

In my opinion, if DLC adds value to the game, and is priced well, it's fine. It's when companies take parts of a game that have usually been staples and offer those as DLC that it becomes a problem. For example, the storage chest optional DLC in Dragon Age: http://www.destructoid.com/ea-not-behind-origins-dlc-storage-chest-feature-154187.phtml.

There is a pretty simple solution to the DLC issue: Don't buy DLC. It's simple economics. If a company sees that a certain product isn't selling, or that certain business tactics aren't appreciated by its customers and is costing it revenue, then usually the company stops such antics and attempts to get into consumers' good graces in order to regain lost revenue.

Personally, I liked it better when multiple DLC items were packaged together and sold as an "expansion pack." I feel there was much better value that way since developers were pretty much required to have quality items in order for the expansion packs to sell. Also, that way the consumer was sure to have a physical copy of the content instead of some ephemeral code sitting in a hard drive.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Ha! Nice headline, which should have read, Developer Offers Justification for DLC Already on Disks.

That said, I don't understand the complaints. Everyone knows that it's an attempt to recoup profits from the resale market. And everyone knows that if you purchase DLC in the first week or so you are paying to test it. And like the crank above (and comments like those are frequent on boards with these questions) you can threaten to never purchase DLC and possibly follow through. "It should be free because I say so" isn't exactly a compelling argument.

Sorry buddy i dont like it when its been free forever to suddenly have them arbitrary say no we are gonna charge you now. kinda like y they make yall pay the extra $10 for a console disc. But hey you can bend over and take it if you like. But as far as i know, a game is done when it releases.

but then again theres two sides to every story. And yes they should be making money, and if this help all the power to them. its rather cheaper to release DLC rather than printing new disc for an actual expansion pack. if that translates to $10 for an extra 8 hours instead of $30 awesome.

 

[tkioz]

I don't mind day 0 DLC when it's done like Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age (well if you don't count the bullshit DLC that was only free if you got the collectors edition, but otherwise had to pay for it) designed so that developers can make money off second hand sales, but otherwise I don't care what they have to say about time between finishing the game and releasing it, yes work on DLC, but how about you actually do some decent DLC rather then what most of the crap we see is... 30mins of gameplay and some pretty pictures.

I can honestly understand wanting a bit of the second hand game market, and I think retailers only have themselves to blame for it, some digital distrabution companies are already offering ways to transfer on old games you no longer want, if normal retailers set up something so that publishers/developers saw a chunk of the massively obscene margins on most second hand sales, publishers/developers would be a less of an ass about it.

Unfortunately it's us customers as per normal getting the shaft ram up where the sun don't shine. Just like with DRM, it's not the people with any culpability taking the flack, it's the normal people who buy their games taking it.

 

[SimuLord]

Virgil had a nice rant about how 0-Day DLC is often a result of the team continuing to work on content after the game has to be packaged, mastered, and prepared for distribution.

But DLC on the disc? That's not "downloadable content." That's "unlockable content", and that is a plain and simple naked cash grab that has no place in this industry unless publishers are TRYING to create a customer-value proposition that is hostile to the consumer. If they keep shit like that up, it's gonna be 1983 all over again.

(although personally I am quite strongly rooting for that particular outcome, the ensuing shakeout will re-open the field.)

 

[JeanLuc761]

I've never bought a single piece of DLC, as a PC player id expect the stuff free of charge. Ever since the Console gamers, they are charging for it on PC too so i said fuck it, im not buying any of it. and they can't make me.

I'm a PC gamer myself but I am at a complete loss with what you're saying. Why are PC gamers above console gamers, and more specifically, why shouldn't PC gamers be required to pay for extra work on the developer's part? Game development ain't cheap man.