DLC and the Death of a Complete Gaming Experience

[gf78]

For me, DLC is a sad trend in gaming. It goes hand-in-hand with download-only games. In the future, most of this content will be unavailable as far as console gaming goes. I've never worried that a favorite PC game would become unplayable. Because the internet isn't strictly controlled by one party as the PlayStation store or Microsoft store is, updates, patches, add-ons and mods have found homes in archives that you can access easily. To this day, I can load up Wolfenstein 3D or Leisure Suit Larry or whatever oldie I want.

We've seen it time & time again already. Right now, Nintendo is shutting down access to the titles on the Wii U and 3DS. If you dont already have these games downloaded, you'll probably never see them again.

Modern games with "season passes" and other add-ons face a similar fate. Unless they get a "game of the year" or "complete edition" physical release down the road, you may never again be able to play what in n reality is the FINISHED PRODUCT.

Even Nintendo who has been the most stubborn is starting to do more and more DLC. Breath of the Wild has an expansion. When they move on to their next system, will access to this content be lost to us?  What about the upcoming fighters in Super Smash Bros Ultimate? 

As a collector, video game enthusiast, fan and consumer - I WANT access to these games in the future!  But sadly, starting with the PS360 era to an extent and now nearly every current gen PlayStation and Xbox title (as well as some switch titles), gaming is becoming a service where the games of today will be tossed aside like so much trash for the next "it" titles. Forgotten & unplayable. Retail discs full of broken, buggy & in complete games all but unplayable without their mandatory day-one patches. 

[bikingjahuty]

Not trying to be pessimistic, but I feel like gaming as we knew it 15-years ago is dead, and gaming even as we know it now will be equally dead in that same period of time. I truly believe that the upcoming generation of consoles will be the very last to embrace physical media, and from then on everything will be digital just like the PC gaming industry is. Of course because everything is digital, implementation of DLC, micro transaction, play to win, and all other matters of tacked on digital content aimed and increasing the game's profitability will be tacked on in copious amounts.


So in other words I have a very grim view of where the video game industry is headed based off where it has been and where it is now. I know without a doubt if this happens then I will only being playing "retro" games, or games that were released before this madness began. I even have worries about how used games are going to be handled for the current generation of consoles since many of them require massive downloads just to make the game playable, and how that will look once the servers for those games go dark. I have a plan towards the end of this console generation to buy two or three PS4s, dump massive HDDs in them, and make sure all the most up to date downloads and patches are installed on every game I own. This might be overkill, but I'd rather do that than be stuck with hundreds of games I can't play.

[gf78]

Gaming as we knew it IS dead already. I think that is part of the reason "retro gaming" is so popular right now & prices are so high.

I also believe that the trend of "retro" sprite-based titles is a side effect of this. Unfortunately, big publishers are tone-deaf to the reason retro gaming is so big. It's not necessarily because if the charm of old graphics, but because you can actually buy a complete, functional physical game and just PLAY IT! 

I'm old & I'm stubborn. I have no problem "renting" a movie by watching Netflix which is basically what you are doing. But I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to pay $20 or more to "buy" a movie that is a digital download! 

[oldgamerz]

Gaming as we knew it IS dead already. I think that is part of the reason "retro gaming" is so popular right now & prices are so high.

I also believe that the trend of "retro" sprite-based titles is a side effect of this. Unfortunately, big publishers are tone-deaf to the reason retro gaming is so big. It's not necessarily because if the charm of old graphics, but because you can actually buy a complete, functional physical game and just PLAY IT! 

I'm old & I'm stubborn. I have no problem "renting" a movie by watching Netflix which is basically what you are doing. But I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to pay $20 or more to "buy" a movie that is a digital download!

Well there is at least some kinds of homebrew games on the market still. But I am not sure what consoles except the Atari2600/VCS are getting physical video game homebrew games made by fans, I am hoping that dedicated people will make other kinds of homebrew for other consoles too. The collectible and physical  future might be in the hands of devices that contain multiple games and that plug directly into tvs or even custom video game handhelds or free phone games.

and maybe?

Otherwise like I mentioned earlier in another thread the primary video game companies consoles SONY Microsoft and Nintendo. May be rented out and not legally own able (rental only) to the public. and require a monthly bill to both access and play future modern video  games

[mark1982]

Yep, the statements in this thread pretty much sums up what I think as well...

The future for video game collectors are definitely dire with the way the industry is moving. I give it one more gen to have physical media, then after that everything is gonna be digital, just like our music and movies. I mentioned this in another thread as well, the reason why I have a decent sized retro collection is to have enough to play when I call it quits from modern gaming. Once we get fully streaming based consoles with a subscription plan tied to it to access games then I'm done.

It's frustrating already knowing that patches and DLC won't be available in the future, but for me I'm still holding on, getting games for the PS4 and Switch. As bikingjahuty said, I'll probably back up the games that I know I will play again down the line. As for the others, guess I will just be stuck with the vanilla versions...

I avoid online based games now, since they will be pretty much useless once the servers eventually shut down. Anyway that doesn't really matter to me, can't stand multiplayer games with the amount of vitriol being thrown around these days. Ah well, still have a decent amount of good single player games coming out, then there is always retro games to fall back to.

[justin8301]

I think there is a right way and a wrong way to do DLC.

If a game comes out unfinished, and the paid DLC is required to understand the core story of the game, the developer clearly fucked up. (looking at you FFXV)

BUT if the DLC simply expands on an already complete game or gives us a back story that they couldn't fit into the main game i'm totally down with it. Last of Us is a great example of this. At no point while playing through the main game did I ever feel like I was missing anything. But at the end of the game I was delighted that I had another few hours of story that I got to spend with these characters that I've come to love.

[masamune]

The good news is we currently have more complete physical games available across multiple platforms than we could ever play. So no matter how the future of gaming pans out, we still have games from the bygone era to whet our gaming appetites.

[bikingjahuty]

The good news is we currently have more complete physical games available across multiple platforms than we could ever play. So no matter how the future of gaming pans out, we still have games from the bygone era to whet our gaming appetites.

100% this

[sworddude]

There are two sides of a coin as far as dlc goes.

I'm pretty sure breath of the wild as a complete game might have some extra's if dlc was not charged and the game was worked on for a bit longer before release. However i think with the option of dlc they might give a game more content than if you would complete a game at once it kinda sucks but that seems to be the way. Also mario kart with double the stages compared to every other mario kart as an example including like many brand new ones.

Imagine games like or mario 64 or mario galaxy having dlc, More stages or hub worlds would have been available.

I would rather have a complete game from the get go, but for certain favourite games of mine wich are older, the idea of having worthwhile extra content thanks to dlc might have been interesting.

Brand new content wich is otherwise just not a thing that will happen from the original creators. obviously not forever but it could have made certain classics even better. The costs are a negative though. I mean from a 50 - 60$ to like double the price or even multiple times with dlc that's pretty **** in my opinion.

That being said in the past game freak with the pokemon ranger series released a sort dlc in special missions

These where just multiple story sized missions with legendaries wich where actually really fun  especially in gaurdian signs with multiplayer. I mean mystery gift is a thing in the pokemon games but those are just minor events, in pokemon ranger they where of a pretty decent size.

A very decent chunk of brand new content for free. Would be kinda fun if they would add dlc for free but with the current status it's unfortunately not going to happen I mean even nintendo has gone on the dlc band wagon.

[gf78]

Breath of the Wild is a pretty complete experience out of the box. To do everything would take you over 100 hours!  The DLC is nice, but doesnt significantly change the story. In fact, if you've beaten the game, to play the DLC you have to continue right before the final battle with Calamity Ganon.

[kypherion]

For me DLC really depends. A bad example of DLC IMO is Mortal Kombat X's, which is garbage. Hyrule Warriors or Smash Bros with extra stages and characters is good option IMO if not too pricey.

[hoshichiri]

We've seen it time & time again already. Right now, Nintendo is shutting down access to the titles on the Wii U and 3DS. If you dont already have these games downloaded, you'll probably never see them again.

Ingoring the focus of the topic here- where did you read this? I haven't seen any announcements about the Wii U/3DS closing up their online stores. the Wii's storefront is gone, but considering they shut down buying points back in March last year, it's effectively been gone awhile already.

There's also no 'time & time again', at least not yet. The Wii is the first of the truly online systems to shut down... and it wasn't exactly known for its robust digital library and DLC content. We'll have to wait for the PS3/360 to really see how bad it can be.

I'm not super worried, becuase of one big thing- piracy! Many of these games we're risking losing the content for are already cracked, copied, and available in slightly sketchy downloads as we speak. I don't think it's too hard to imagine the retro gamers of the future finding a way to get this content available in some form, just like how many rare/expensive/prototype games are well preserved via emulators & repro carts.

I do lament the state DLC is in, but more for what it means to today's consumer than what it will mean for retro users 20, 30, 50 years from now.

[gf78]

My apologies hoshichiri. It is indeed the Wii shop closing up effective at the end of this month. I misread. You will no longer be able to transfer purchases on Wii.

However, with that being said, I stand by my statement that this has happened time & time again. Sony has shut down access to past purchases as has Microsoft. Dozens of titles from the Xbox/Microsoft store are no longer available.  Quite infamously, when Sony shut down PlayStation mobile development in 2015, hundreds of games were gone forever. Not even available to redownload if you've previously purchased them.

We are already seeing a multitude of 360 and PS3 games delisted, sent to an early digital graveyard.

https://delistedgames.com/xbox-360-games/

https://delistedgames.com/all-delisted-playstation-3-games/

While you may still be able to redownload SOME of these games if you've already purchased them, many you can not. And how long until Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, etc. decide they no longer wish to host this content at all? 

This isn't even taking into consideration add-ons/DLC - nearly all of which is digital only except in the very rare case of a GOTY or complete edition. In many of those cases, the "complete" edition is just the vanilla version with a code voucher in the box anyway.

[azotam]

But there are still games being made that are completed, contains no DLC or microtransactions, mostly from the indies and middle tier markert. Modern AAA games, on the other hand, are a different story.

[pzeke]

This is a post a made about a year ago, which was for a discussion we were having regarding a possible second crash:

In all honestly, it would mean nothing to me. In my eyes—and let me emphasize that—IN MY EYES gaming changed for the worst with the advent of DLC. Ever since that concept became a reality (in this day and age), everything slowly devolved into a greedy practice. Don't get me wrong, overall, I think DLC isn't intrinsically a bad idea because in the end its intended premise is to extend/expand your experience with the game, it's merely there to provide some sort of extra, an incentive at a modest price. However, as the years went on it became the main focus of a game. I mean, I can only imagine a meeting for a AAA title and the discussion veering towards DLC with the game yet having been developed. These days we see companies releasing games at full price in essentially beta stage, where pretty much the consumers become their testers. It's ridiculous. Content is hidden under a DLC wall, season passes, and micro-transactions. Just absurd. Corporate greed has been running and ruining gaming for far too long now, if you ask me. It's time to stop.

It's because of this type of behavior that I think a crash would be purely beneficial. However, I reckon that it may take longer given many gamers these days seem to be way too complacent.

Anyway, just my two coins.

Rereading that, I still stand by it, and as I sit writing this, I honestly don't see DLC getting any better any time soon. Sad truth.

Pointless edit: w00t! Hundredth post.