Justin Lacey offers up a solution to the unpredictable world of single player DLC, but will gamers and developers compromise on their expectations to make it happen?
If the game is good enough, single player DLC will be just fine. There's a delicate balance however - release too soon, and you get the "screw you for leaving this out of the original game..." rage. Release it too far after, and you have a large portion of the original community that has completed the game, and moved on to something else - possibly trading or selling the game.
I think if you have episodic content, that doesn't ADD to the story, but rather enhances it (side quests, new missions, new characters etc) and you have a schedule that is consumer friendly, you're as good as gold.
Well what halo 4 is doing is perfect. While its not sp it is doing episodic weekly co op campaign missions. And seeing as it weekly it will either be free or a small subscription fee (or free with special edition) I can't see them charging a lot for it seeing as it will e weekly
You can add story - but you can't really add to the END of a story, because you'll eliminate the progression of those who don't purchase DLC. You may say "screw them" but there are far more people who don't buy DLC than there are that do in single player games.
If the game is good enough, single player DLC will be just fine. There's a delicate balance however - release too soon, and you get the "screw you for leaving this out of the original game..." rage. Release it too far after, and you have a large portion of the original community that has completed the game, and moved on to something else - possibly trading or selling the game.
I think if you have episodic content, that doesn't ADD to the story, but rather enhances it (side quests, new missions, new characters etc) and you have a schedule that is consumer friendly, you're as good as gold.
I'd rather have expansion packs that add hours of story/gameplay....not into 10 dollar sidequest....