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Zekkyou on 23 October 2014
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Vena said:
Zekkyou said:

Why buy a console now, when you could buy it cheaper in 5 years and have hundreds of low price games? Why go to see a film at the cinema when you could get it on DVD later? Why get it on DVD when you could wait and see it on TV? Why buy an iPhone now, when you could wait 2 years for it to be cheaper? Why ever buy anything new at all?


Not applicable. Movies, books, the console itself, iPhones, etc, do not have eventual DLC. What you buy is what you get, theres no magical "the complete version" sans a director's cut for a movie since no one is going to sit in a movie theater for 6 hours to watch the Lord of the Rings. Disney likes to pull this same bullshit by rereleasing the same thing over and over, and calling it something special but at least they don't tend to add in content to the package.

I buy a book new? The book will be the same book later. I don't have to wait for the "definitive version" nor would I ever expect one. Same for hardware. Same for just about everything. Nowadays with games though? Short of Nintendo (they barely even market their games at this point) and a few other publishers, I have to pause and ask myself do I really want to buy this "X" new when I know, not long down the road, DLC will be launched and, not long after, deals will go out with "buy X get Y free! Get the complete experience". Why should I pay out of the nose for the fresh game, then the DLC, when I can just wait and get both for cheaper? The only reason this mindset even exists is because publishers have made it this way.

And as I said, in a vacuum, I'd be fine with it for the most part. Its when you take into account that this is breeding the hype-culture and the two are basically results of one another, that it really looks ugly from my point of view. Games are already getting chopped up piecemeal by M$/Sony for "exclusive" bonuses before they've even launched, and games are promising and asking people to buy DLC before the game is even out... only to a little later release the Definitive Version for 40$. I hate it when Pokemon does this too with their "third" version.

They are applicable. How directly comparable each is to the others varies, but the base point of "early adopted get less for their money, but get it earlier" remains constant. Time is money, and waiting is a coupon.

DLC is not inherently bad, nor does TLOU itself change. They are simply giving you the option to buy new content that they created after the original went gold (the latter point being why i'm fine with paying for it). A GOTY edition is simply a way of them collecting it all up, and offering it to you cheaper than if you'd bought it individually. You make up for the cheaper price by having to wait for it. If you decide you don't want the DLC at all, there is nothing stopping you getting the core game on its own. It's still the same critically acclaimed title that released in 2013, and it will be cheaper than the GOTY edition. 

Games aren't even a particularly prevalent example of modular and collection based sales. Just look at TV.

Millions of people choose to pay a lot of money to watch shows like Game of Thrones live, when they could just wait for the series DVD collection. Following on, some people choose to buy each series on DVD, when they could just wait a few years and get several series collections. The longer you're willing to wait, the more affordable it will be. Everyone knows this. Everyone makes a choice. People do the same with comics, manga, and books like the Silo series.

It's all a matter of choice. A matter of how long people are willing to wait, and what sort of practices they are willing to participate in. I'm not going to criticize a company for the choices of their customers, not as long as those customers had a choice in the matter.

As long as that choice remains, i couldn't give two shits what [x] or [y] do. If i don't like it, they don't get my money. Simplez.