49% Of Console Gamers Don't Buy DLC

[Warforger]

DLC is overpriced crap 99% of the time. The other 1% is shit that should have been included with the game and some clown decided to rip it out and sell it separately to moronic free spenders who can't understand they are being ripped off, taken advantage of, and helping to support a terrible system.

Once again this picture tells the whole story:

That picture isn't really fair since usually those Best Buy and Game stop exclusive content are just skins, which don't really matter at all. On top of that the "exclusive" content is then repackaged as DLC for later use like say AC:B or Just Cause 2.

 

[Monty McDougal]

DLC has practically ruined multiplayer. The game starts off with very few maps and after the DLC comes out, it gets harder and harder to find a match, i/e Gears of War 2 is now nearly impossible to play online with out DLC.

 

[Baresark]

I don't know if I'm just retarded from working two jobs today but....

How do we go from:

Nearly half of the respondents said they had not purchased DLC in 2011, compared to 60% in 2010, and 66% in 2009.

TO:

the numbers indicate acceptance is growing.

My addled mind tells me that if the number of people buying them decreases, then acceptance is actually not growing, but declining.... I'm so confused... where am I?...

Edit: Holy shit... I see what I did. To illustrate how retarded a person can be from working 18 hours, I'm leaving this up for all to see.

Edit2: OT: I never buy DLC, with rare exception. I am probably gonna buy the Deus Ex HR DLC... and that is all my plans for DLC. Other than that, the only DLC I have ever gotten have been pre-order bonuses or GOTY edition packages...

 

[Oroboros]

My main problems with DLC is Day 1 DLC/preorder stuff, and overpriced petty DLC. What we see with day 1 DLC is the sort of thing that would normally be included within the full game, either as part of the main game, or as unlockables. Now yo have to pay for those unlockables, rathethen earning them through gameplay. Imagine if Gauntlet: Dark Legacy came out today-Do you think that any modern developers would pass up the opportunity to sell off the unlockable characters? Have fun paying $3 apiece for the Minotaur, Medusa, etc. The other problem is that to much of DLC is unsubstantial. Too often does modern DLC bring only an hour or two of extra gameplay to the table, assuming it isn't just a new sword or gun or something insignificant, but they are reliably priced much higher when compared to content already in the vanilla game. This leads to a business model where buying all of the DLC for a game often becomes more expensive then buying the game itself, while simultaneously games are becoming shorter and smaller. Compare this to the likes of the Morrowind or Icewind Dale expansions, which were much more substantial.

 

[Ghengis John]

The reaction from the typical abstainer will be that "the sheep will always do the stupid thing, because they are fools and only I, the last voice of sanity rise above the masses" or some such rhetoric.

Case in point:

DLC is overpriced crap 99% of the time. The other 1% is shit that should have been included with the game and some clown decided to rip it out and sell it separately to moronic free spenders who can't understand they are being ripped off, taken advantage of, and helping to support a terrible system.

Once again this picture tells the whole story:

However there is some valid credence to what they say. When I see day one DLC launching or a multiplayer centric game with five maps I can't help but feel a little ripped off. The answer is for people to be more discriminating about what dlc they buy... but this is coming from a guy who bought both mass effect 2 costume packs and ... horse armor. So I guess I'm a fine one to talk. But Miranda and Garrus look so awesome in their new threads...

When I look at the prices of all the dlc that's come out for Civ V and compare it to what a Civ expansion pack used to cost, the expansion packs were the better deal. I guess we all just need a little more will power.

 

[Stall]

Could more of a blatant spin be put in the article? I love it how it is just glossed over that half of console gamers DO purchase DLC, and it is used as nothing beyond fodder for moronic anti-DLC hate. The fact that half of the people playing consoles actually BUY DLC seems pretty fucking important to me. But NOOOOOOOO-- the Escapist community generally hates DLC, so let's make the article look like it is bashing DLC!!!

What ever happened to journalistic integrity? This is the reason why people don't take gaming journalism seriously.

 

[Kadoodle]

Totally depends on the game for me. I usually don't buy DLC. However, there have been exceptions when the base game is so incredible that I still want more. I bought all the Red Dead DLC (and boy was it worth it) as well as Broken Steel for Fallout 3.

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

Most DLC is overpriced for the content you get. Here's some of the dumbest DLC I've seen:

6 new gun skins 6.99!
5 new multiplayer maps 14.99.
New story arc 15.99 (for like 2 hours of game play?...)
New playable character 5.99

That's MENTAL
5.99 is 1/10th the price of a new game for a character (or just a skin change), 5 multiplayer maps for 15? That's 1/4th the price of the game in question!! Most games are overpriced to begin with when it's 5 hours of game for 60 bucks but then there's this lackluster DLC with a pricetag comparable to the game cost. Why bother?

Agreed! I like to look at DLC from the perspective that it is a percentage of the original cost ($60) and from there, what am I getting? Maps I felt were a complete rip-off most of the time when I played online (It's a pack that I don't get to choose, and chances are I'll only really like one), particularly those taken from Single Player campaign levels. Characters and skins are especially ludicrous for that price point. How many character and models are in this $60 game again? So why is this terrible [fill-in=Gold] effect rifle so much? I remember map packs with three total, making them $5 a map. How does the stock game come with 20 or so, but scrapping together 3 more for a minimal increase in variety isn't convincing me to pay.

The worst part (other than not actually having the DLC in physical form as a backup) is the price structure itself. Games can depreciate in value pretty slowly, but even when they are finally cheaper, you can sure as hell bet those map packs and expansions will be the same price for quite a while. Before you might have had a $5-60 game plus a $15 DLC, but going back to the above and seeing it as a portion of the original, $15 DLC better be damn worth it when I just bought the game for $30. This day-1 DLC becomes really insane when you start to think that a character or gun pack is worth 800 Microsoft points. If such a small portion of this $50+"$10" game is so valuable, do the publishers feel that their game is really worth hundreds in the scheme of things? I've said it before, but if you tack on three $15 map packs, that $60 game just topped that one hundred dollar mark in the long run. Those are U.S. prices, so then consider other markets like Australia where they are marked up even more!

The last DLC I bought that I can recall was Shivering Isles on the 360, something I kinda regret considering they eventually released the edition with that on a disc. That was one pain in the arse to download due to the size, and considering my old 360 is the one with 20 GB of HDD space, any more DLC would be a joke to try and fit in there. Regardless, that was a HUGE portion of gameplay, so it was worth it as far as gameplay time. However, if anyone else remembers, there was the whole issue of it eventually DESTROYING YOUR CHARACTER after a certain amount of time due to a major glitch. Hypothetically if they couldn't fix the glitch, I would have felt very much cheated given the non-physical nature of the "product" that would leave any recourse to the whims of Microsoft and Bethesda. Never has a call to Microsoft support been a joyful experience.

Whew. Sorry for rambling a bit, I'm tired (and apparently over-zealous).

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I think the lack of demos/reviews and the pricing are probably the best reasons to skip DLC.

The full game IS the demo for the DLC. If you enjoyed the full game, here's more of it. If you didn't enjoy the full game, you probably won't be into the DLC either. Lack of reviews I can kinda see though, since sometimes the DLC can be the weaker part of the game, so if you're wary it would be nice to have a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

For me its price, though. Fallout 3 is a good example of this. At $10 each, and 5 DLC packs, you doubled the cost of your purchase getting the DLC for Fallout 3 (nearly doubling if you were on Console). Yet despite putting down enough money to have bought a second game, you maybe got 40-50% more content for Fallout 3.

I pretty much only buy DLC if I really like a game, as-in "I'm okay with the fact that it's over-priced and lacking content because I like this game enough to compensate that". I get that there has to be some cost to account for the fact that they paid a team to develop the content, I just don't like how the price for any set amount of content skyrockets for DLC.

 

[Oroboros]

Could more of a blatant spin be put in the article? I love it how it is just glossed over that half of console gamers DO purchase DLC, and it is used as nothing beyond fodder for moronic anti-DLC hate. The fact that half of the people playing consoles actually BUY DLC seems pretty fucking important to me. But NOOOOOOOO-- the Escapist community generally hates DLC, so let's make the article look like it is bashing DLC!!!

What ever happened to journalistic integrity? This is the reason why people don't take gaming journalism seriously.

Half of the target audience is unwilling to buy DLC, that's a pretty big chunk and indicates that they are doing something wrong and not reaching heir target audience. If half of your target audience disapproves of something you do, that should automatically be cause for concern.

 

[The Lugz]

and why would we? for the most part it represents terrible entertainment value
for the price of 5 minutes worth of dlc entertainment i could go buy an indie game

only time id ever buy dlc is if i was 'reallllllyyyy' into something, else it's just a bad deal

 

[Kakashi on crack]

The only DLC I ever see on my PC is the one included in the "Game of the Year" Edition.

Only DLC I ever see in general is in my GOTY editions.

I refuse to buy DLC because I can't test it out and usually it's dissapointing/too short in the rare cases that I do get. Thus, the only DLC I "buy" is the DLC included in the GOTY editions in which the DLC is only an additional 5-10$ to the pricetag compared to the normal one. I.E. I only get the good DLC for the games I like.

I.E. The only DLC I've found so far that was worth paying the extra 10$ for was Shivering Isles for Oblivion (for obvious reasons) and Tribunal/Bloodmoon for Morrowind.

I could probably agree to most of the things on that list though...

 

[Snotnarok]

Snip

I agree it's really upsetting to see the price of DLC so high when if they just perhaps made it half the price they'd probably triple their sales. I was never really into CoD but when I saw World at War at half price on a sale on steam I wanted to check it out, and it was totally worth the 25 bucks at the time, 60? Nnnnno, I just played it single player.

And now they're charging 15 dollars per map pack (never bought one) which is....1/4th the price of the title new..for MAPS. But that's just CoD, the worst of the worst with DLC.

Mass Effect 2 had a load of DLC that really added to the story and honestly it might have been a bit pricy but you know what? It was a full story arc, sometimes many missions, added gear, lots of actual content (voices, location,textures, story, bla bla bla). So if I spent 10 bucks on that and got 4 hours of excitement and such that's great, I mean there's 60 dollar games that are only 5 hours long so DLC that adds to another game for 10? Worth it to me.

I can understand what you're saying about the Oblivion DLC and it getting put onto a disc later for cheaper but you gotta understand when you and others buy that DLC, it funds the next one basically. I mean yeah it sucks a bit to be getting it for more but you are essentially saying "GIVE ME MORE" and that's what happens with bethesta titles. I had it happen with Fallout 3, but considering the fun that was had? I'm already repeating myself with New Vegas (a much better game with better DLC)

 

[WithmirTeigh]

The reaction from the typical abstainer will be that "the sheep will always do the stupid thing, because they are fools and only I, the last voice of sanity rise above the masses" or some such rhetoric.

Case in point:

DLC is overpriced crap 99% of the time. The other 1% is shit that should have been included with the game and some clown decided to rip it out and sell it separately to moronic free spenders who can't understand they are being ripped off, taken advantage of, and helping to support a terrible system.

Once again this picture tells the whole story:

However there is some valid credence to what they say. When I see day one DLC launching or a multiplayer centric game with five maps I can't help but feel a little ripped off. The answer is for people to be more discriminating about what dlc they buy... but this is coming from a guy who bought both mass effect 2 costume packs and ... horse armor. So I guess I'm a fine one to talk. But Miranda and Garrus look so awesome in their new threads...

When I look at the prices of all the dlc that's come out for Civ V and compare it to what a Civ expansion pack used to cost, the expansion packs were the better deal. I guess we all just need a little more will power.

Ya the good old days of expansion packs. I refuse to pay for the Civ V DLC unless I find it during a steam sale all bundled and cheap.

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

Yeah, I know. It is horrible that Developers are finding it easier to lock content from within the game as opposed to actually making them separate and/or unique to the original game.

On an unrelated note, I'm gonna buy all of the Batman: Arkham City DLC when they release.

 

[DustyDrB]

I haven't ever bought DLC on my PS3. I have bought quite a bit on my 360, though. It's more of an issue of space (my 360 has 4x the amount of space on its HDD) and privacy (after the year Sony has had, I don't care to use my credit card on their system).

Of course, I also won't buy some extra content on principle if I don't like the business practices of a company (and I'll buy the game used in those cases as well, even if it's just a day or two after release).

 

[Snotnarok]

Most DLC is overpriced for the content you get. Here's some of the dumbest DLC I've seen:

6 new gun skins 6.99!
5 new multiplayer maps 14.99.
New story arc 15.99 (for like 2 hours of gameplay?...)
New playable character 5.99

That's MENTAL
5.99 is 1/10th the price of a new game for a character (or just a skin change), 5 multiplayer maps for 15? That's 1/4th the price of the game in question!! Most games are overpriced to begin with when it's 5 hours of game for 60 bucks but then there's this lackluster DLC with a pricetag comparable to the game cost. Why bother?

Pretty much. I mean, I justified getting the new Deus Ex DLC (for PC, of course, not for console, CHRIST no) because I figured 2-3 hours gametime/15$ is about five bucks an hour, which isn't that bad of a rate seeing that I've paid sixty bucks for less than that rate -_-.

But new guns? Skins? Why? I can understand if it's something like CoD where people will clock in hundreds of hours per month (I know people that only play CoD multiplayer. What a horrible existence) so they drop some money on new maps to play in. But the skins and other promotional crap is just dumb.

Reminds me of the reskins you can buy for Dawn of War II. It's just models, folks.

If they ever do PC I would be interested in one statistic, though: How do the DLC sales compare for game that allow modding and those that do not?

Yeah I can't imagine some DLC doing really well on PC, like New Vegas just put out a ...gun pack for 3 bucks or something. That's great except I know a website that probably has over 200 guns that I can get for free.