Why You Shouldn’t Pay For DLC

Downloadable Content, otherwise known as DLC, is this year’s top gaming buzzword. Last year it was episodic content which gave us the Half-Life 2 episodes and a heap of discarded series, *cough* Sin Episodes *cough*. The year before that it was physics and way back in the early 1990’s it was 3D. The concept of free DLC has been around for some time, since the first level designers in Doom in fact. Throughout modern gaming modders have sought to not only customize their games but also to preserve their longevity and appeal. So how has this seemingly harmless update system evolved into the next fat cat con?

Paid for add-ons for games are not unheard of, those who have lived through the dregs of Doom and Quake level packs can tell you that. Another example of this system working well are the Gearbox expansions for the original Half-Life; Opposing Force and Blue-Shift. These games became so popular that they are now accepted by Valve as official Half-Life cannon. More recently though, things have taken a turn for the worse. For me, this started with Call of Duty 4.

The Call of Duty series have long been known for their excellent single player campaigns but in the fourth iteration they finally cracked the multiplayer system and CoD 4 became the first darling of the online console multiplayer age. Despite there being masses of content included with the game, the console gamers played at such an obsessive rate that they soon wanted more. Infinity Ward replied to this craving by giving the gamers what they wanted, more multiplayer levels but at a price. The public sold its soul, but I wouldn’t. Microsoft had ripped me off on one too many versions of Windows before and I was understandably sceptical. I have enough faith to pay for the Gold Subscription, even though its not like I have a choice, but the idea of paying money for this new content which I could get for free on a PC just seems ridiculous. This is another example of console-PC discrimination, which goes both ways I might add.

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I FULLY agree.....NO PAID DLC FOR GAMERS!

DLC is going to be the next hot thing being that so many gamers eat it up. I hate DLC with a passion. It gives developers more lenience at the cost of quality. Oblivion's horse armor was just ridiculous.

Now multiplayer games nickle and dime you for every new map. These used to be FREE. RPGs are updated with extra content...for a price. Stuff is left out of games, ect.


Ok, there are SOME DLCs that are worth the asking price. (Mass Effect, Knights of the Nine, GTA's?) It's the small, cheap stuff that I dislike.

I understand where you're coming from but I disagree.  As long as I am not paying to unlock content that is already on the disk and the developer is adding to the experience, I have no problem paying a few bucks to extend the life of a game I enjoy.

Developers and publishers are having a tough time managing the increasing cost of producing a game.  They need to find a way to generate extra revenue and DLC is part of the solution.  I would much rather have the choice to pay for extra content then see game prices rise to $69.99 as the base price.

I also don't like the fact that PC gamers get the same content for free (I strictly play on consoles).  But I think that will be changing soon.  Between subscription based services and distribution through Steam,  I think PC gamers will begin to pay for the updates one way or the other.

 I do agree that DLCs are a great way for developers to make a better profit. As long as the content they're releasing is stuff that should not have been in the 59.99 game to begin with, I'm OK with it. Small things like armor and additional characters just make me feel a little sick.

Whether or not DLC is worth paying for depends on what is added. CoD4's certainly wasn't worth it, because a single map isn't worth 2.50, and it being free on PC makes the price seem like a total insult. Something like The Lost and the Damned, however, is worth paying for. I may not like it at that price, but then again I don't even have GTA4 or a 360, so I won't pay it regardless.

Of course, what the guy is really complaining about is MS policy and possibly Sony policy (though it could have been charged on PSN because of the charge on Live, where it was released 3 weeks earlier). They are the ones that feel the need to nickle and dime the customer. If they were willing to give DLC away for free for PC they would have done that with 360 and PS3 too, if they could have.

With the costs of HD game development people need to accept that not all DLC will be free.  Also companies have a right to charge for content if they wish and people have the choice to buy it or not.

As for the original article, it's complete garbage especially the very lame off-topic flaming at the end of it.  I usually get annoyed at people that don't provide a link to the souce of an article they post (and in doing so basically show disrespect to the original site) but in this case a site should be embarrased posting an article like that.

Yeah map packs, themes and gamer pics should be free. But charging for single player expansion packs is ok. I think the vast majority of DLC on the 360 should be no more than 500 points since we have already paid for the game proper. I mean how long did it take to complete Knothole Island?

Still not as bad as paying for 3 new multiplayer maps.

When the Halo 2 map-packs came out, they weren't really that expensive. I could understand the pricetag in order to pay the guys who were making them and after a certain amount of time they became free which is when I downloaded them. Grand.

WoW expansion packs are pretty much the same as DLC, and the fact that they cost the price of an entire game outrages me because you're already paying for a disgustingly expensive monthly fee, I quit wow when the second x-pac came out. Xpacs force you to dish out a ton more cash or suffer being left behind at a lower level with nobody else around.

Cod4 map packs are still 10 euro, which for the price of 1/6th of the games value, all I'm getting is 4 maps? No thanks. They're still that riddiculous high price, so I'll never get my hands on those maps now.

I bought the LBP MGS4 packs, well because they weren't very expensive and it was content that had help from the Kojima team, and had the PAINTINATOR, I couldn't refuse. But when they release individual costumes and put a 2euro price tag on them, that's a riddiculous rip off. The Kratos Sackboy costume is 2 euro!

MS has invested alot of money in getting exclusive DLC for GTA and Fallout, so no doubt they'll have big price tags in order for MS to see a return on their investment.

All in all, I agree with you for the better part. DLC should be free, DLC should be the continued service of keeping a game good, after you've gone and bought the expensive product in the first place. Thank god the new UT3 DLC is free.

 lots of dlc nowadays are already on the disc. just ask namco and capcom

ive never bought any dl content........the only exception was expansion for psu.........i refuse to purchase dl content