All of these have been with us for a while, but there's something missing from that list. Day 1 DLC.
This is mainly because of the fact it's only really come to fruition in more recent times, as more and more developers catch onto the idea of releasing additional content at the exact same date as the release of the main retail game itself.
Naturally, it has caused a storm of sorts amongst gaming communities who believe day 1 DLC is nothing more than a shameless cash-grab, and the content of said DLC should have been packaged within the game already at no additional cost.
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| Mass Effect 3 is the latest game to embrace Day 1 DLC |
Mass Effect Producer, Casey Hudson, has jumped to the defence of Mass Effect 3 by stating, "It takes about 3 months from "content complete" to bug fix, certify, manufacture and ship game discs. In that time, we work on DLC."
From a purely personal point of view, I understand the argument, after all, isn't post game DLC exactly that? Whether it's released 2 hours, or 2 years after the game, the core factors such as the degree of content and pricing will still remain the same, so it somewhat baffles me why people are against getting their hands on DLC earlier, rather than later.
Do some developers take advantage of the concept of DLC by creating a game, deliberately chopping off 10% of it, and then shipping it out as DLC at a later date? Possibly, but that's a completely different argument entirely. There's a difference between offering an expansion unrelated to the core game experience, and purposely cutting off parts of the game in order to make room for the possibility of DLC later down the line.
Sure, the primary concern of both methods is to maximise profits, but the ethics of both are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
It's a shame in some ways, because I genuinely feel that most developers who offer day 1 DLC are doing so simply because they want to bring post game expansions to players at a greater convenience, but they'll always be under scrutiny for it because of how much of a juggernaught computer games have become in recent years and the amount of money the big dogs in the business make from them.
If you don't agree with day 1 DLC, then simply boycott it and either wait to purchase it at a later date or when it comes down in price, which still isn't guaranteed to happen. Whichever side of the argument you're on, it doesn't change the fact that day one DLC is becoming more common, and, in my opinion, we should embrace times where developers are willing to go the extra mile on games to offer us a greater all round experience, at the soonest time possible.
After all, how can it ever be considered a bad thing to see developers, who take such pride in their work, want to keep expanding it and giving us even more?
