Launch Day DLC – When its ok and When it isn’t.

Like it or not, Day 1 DLC is in a lot of our favorite games, whether it be the fresh out of the oven Portal 2, or the ever so popular Killzone 3 and Little Big Planet, DLC released on the first day is a reality, but is it ok?

[DeathProof]

Very cool article man. Valve did it right this time..even with their DLC!

[qface64]

ANY day 1 DLC that you have to pay for is terrible Period

[blumatt]

That's exactly what I was gonna say. Any day 1 DLC should be free, no matter what! There should not be any paid-for map packs, etc. within the first month or so. Free DLC is fine with me, but not paid dlc.

[HenryFord]

Why? Why should day1 DLC be free? Where is the logic behind that?
You do not have to buy into this stuff - know what you can do? Just not click the shop-button for instance. Why do you even care?

If the DLC adds nothing to the gameplay experience, no new maps, guns or whatever - then why should you care about? Just leave it if you do not want it.

[blumatt]

Because it's just the principal of the idea of releasing something for a price on the day you bought the game, that could've easily been put ON THE DISC! It's a slap in the face to us gamers. On games like KZ3 or CoD, I don't want to see any map packs within the first whole month. If it's out by then, my thought is that they left it off the disc just to sell it to us later and make more money.

[qface64]

if they had the time to make and finish the content BEFORE the game is finished why not put it on the game to begin with?

anyone who is ok paying for something that was deliberately held from the game just so they can charge for it is somewhat stupid

DLC was made to extend the vitality and interest in a game no matter how small it is having DLC that you have to pay for on the same day the game is launched is a terrible joke

[saladthieves]

Totally agree with one of his points. When you purchase some DLC only to find out that it is a mere KB worth of content. It kind of pisses me off as it makes me feel like I just payed twice for the content.

What's worse is that some developers purposely do this just for the sake of money. A good example is Dead Space 2 for the PC. EA had said that none of the DLC was coming out for the PC. An edited game save file (of a few KBs) showed that the DLC that had to be downloaded on the console versions was already on the PC version on the disc, ready to be used but blocked for some reason!

Why would they include it on the disc in the first place, if they weren't going to even sell it as DLC?

[Nitrowolf2]

Yeah if it's like costumes or stuff that isn't really needed to add better gameplay, then i guess it's oky.

But if its like new map packs, levels, weapons, ect, then i think it should at least be free if they plan a day one release. I look at Killzone 3 and i feel that the dlc really killed this game off super quickly. Got both DLC free but when i play the latest one its usually 1vs1-2. I rarely got into into matches that were full on junkyard and once in stalh arms. It might be because of the patch issues idk.

anyway yeah i feel that Guerrilla games killed or split up the community far to quickly with there dlc

[-Alpha]

What truly screwed it up was that they failed to deal with the issues of map rotation which are still persistent.

The DLC, party limits (you can't join DLC maps if your friends don't have it), and the bugs killed the community. I'm also really mad they removed lobbies/servers.

Day one DLC for maps, weapons and all that BS really does suck, and I agree Killzone suffered from that problem, but they honestly could have made it better if they fixed the damn issue. It's honestly getting worse.

Withheld content
Cosmetic content like skins
Timed DLC/boosters for a day
Exclusive maps
Store-specific DLC
DLC for the campaign

It's ridiculous and getting way out of hand. Bad Company 2, SOCOM, Killzone, Crysis, etc. It's such a hassle for consumers to just sit down and play a properly released game without any strings attached anymore

[Ducky]

I kinda like the cosmetic-only DLC like BadCompany2 and KillingFloor (among others)

To me, it's a way of rewarding/supporting devs who's game you enjoy.

Edit: @mandf below
If you buy the KZ3 DLC, does it download something? O.o
2gigs seems like plenty of room for maps.

[mandf]

Killzone3 shipped using 43 gigs of data on a 45gig disc. It just didn't fit. Killzone also gave you 2 ways of getting it free pre ordering or ps+. The problem is developers are scared people are going to beat the game then trade it immediately thus losing out on dlc sales. I hate dlc that is on the disc and you got to pay to unlock it. That's the worst.

[Horny Melon]

This is why I don't buy games until all the DLC is on the disc usually GotY editions. If there is no GotY edition I don't buy it.

[Pandamobile]

What DLC? All there is is a bunch of cosmetic items.

[jidery]

Looks like someone didn't read the article.

[Pandamobile]

Nope. Assumed it was just about Portal 2 like all the other stuff today.

[DeathProof]

Wow, someone on N4G didn't read the article but still made a comment, that almost never happens. Lol. At least he admitted it : )

[Kon]

Launch day or not, DLC sucks.

[user858621]

Lost and damned
Balled of gay tony
Undead Nightmares

... says otherwise

[persistentlobster]

I used to be against dlc but after seeing so many articles lately about how risky it is for developers to release a new IP and how much used game sales are hurting the industry, I now fully support it... provided that everyone that purchases the game new gets that first batch of dlc for free :D

[fullmetal297]

I think the worst kind of DLC is the ones already on the disc and must be unlocked. That kinda thing pisses me off so much. Paying for content already on the disc.