Hey guys. This a multi part series that I thought of doing to share my opinions on the way the industry is going and the problems we face as gamers. Please remember that these are my own opinions and this is the first thing I've posted on here, so any constructive criticism is entirely welcome. There's the intro done, lets begin!
As the gaming industry has developed, consumers want more and more out of their games. This demand is normally met with expansions for the game, which is usually released in the form of DLC. When this DLC is priced and positioned fairly in relation to release date, both the consumer and the businessess in question, as the consumer gets his content increase while the business gets some more revenue.
Releasing some DLC expansions throughout a game's lifespan is a fair business model and pleases the majority of people as long as the DLC is worth the asking price. Day one and pre-order DLC however, is an entirely different cup of tea. Day one DLC is something that just shouldn't happen, considering the fact that the majority of this stuff is just some content that the guys making the game do not see as essential to the game's story or gameplay so they segregate it off to sell it seperately. In doing this they are reducing the base game's content, and those who (smartly) don't pre-order the game have to pay extra for this content which should have been in the base release in the first place! This is slightly more acceptable in singleplayer games where not getting this DLC won't affect you as severely. In multiplayer games however, there is a risk of this content being overpowered, such as a weapon or a specific buff to your character. This means that DLC owners get a leg up in the game and people feel like they have to purchase this specific DLC to get the overpowered item to feel like they have a chance.
Pre-order DLC is another way to milk the crap out of anticipated games. As a lot of you know, a lot of games on steam use a tiered pre-order system, an example of this is Bioshock Infinite. Where the third tier allows you to get (I believe) X-Com Enemy Unknown for free if a certain amount of people pre-order. This is an awful business practice, as, especially children or younger teens will try to encourage their peers to pre-order the game so that they can have a higher chance of getting the free game, even if they are not guaranteed the game in the first place. Again, day-one and pre-order DLC is just parts of the game not deemed important to the game as a whole so is sheared off the game instead of putting it in for a full release
These are just some of the examples I can think of and as this series goes on I might revisit this topic to expand what I've said in here. As I said in the intro, any help with how I can improve this is welcome, and there will be many to come on this subject.
The next subject will be focused mainly on micro-transactions and why EA were right to reconsider putting them in normal paid games.
Cheers for reading and long live Britain!! ;)
BatchTheBrit