Maniacal Microtransactions
Mon, April 18, 2011 at 7:47 PM I was once a strong proponent of downloadable content (or DLC). I loved the very concept. The lifespan of my favorite games could be extended, giving me more reason to play a beloved title. New ideas could be injected into a finished product. Fresh concepts could be brought to a game already solidified and stamped on a disc.
Increasingly I find myself disillusioned and disappointed with what the reality of this idea has become. I find myself struggling to find things to spark my excitement in a digital marketplace strewn with blatant examples of publishers using DLC in all the wrong ways. Even when it’s used in the right ways, which is rare enough these days, it still brings some troubling trends to light.
Perhaps it would help to begin by demonstrating what lies at the root of the problem: cost. DLC could have been a fantastic way to extend a gaming experience in a meaningful way beyond what was possible on the disc, and indeed you do occasionally see it used for this purpose. More often than not however, it seems to be little more than a way to increase the cost of the game without actually having to mark up the price tag in stores.
As one example, consider the fighting game BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. It is but one example of a game simply riddled with DLC that overcharges and under-delivers, complete with a side dish of greed and deceit.