Exclusive DLC good or bad?

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VideoGameCritic
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Exclusive DLC good or bad?

Postby VideoGameCritic » July 8th, 2011, 5:32 pm

I hear that if you purchase the new Batman game from Best Buy you'll get exclusive Robin DLC (downloadable content).  How do you guys feel about this?

I'm not crazy about the idea.  First of all, the ability to play as Robin was obviously programmed into the game well before the release date.  Therefore this qualifies as "stuff that would have been included in the main game but was held back to make an extra buck".  I suspect Best Buy is paying the publisher  to get this exclusive DLC.

In this case DLC is not only being used to make extra money, but it's also penalizing customers who buy the game from other places. 

DLC was once considered a "bonus" but now it's being used to penalize gamers.  Have you noticed that? 

Originally DLC was extra stuff that was free.  Then if was extra stuff that cost money.  Now it's basic components of the game that are being held at ransom.

It just goes to show that any new technology will be abused if there's money to be made.


Greisha1
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Exclusive DLC good or bad?

Postby Greisha1 » July 8th, 2011, 6:47 pm

Eh, retailers (like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart) have been doing this with music cds for the past few years. I bought The Cars' new album from Best Buy a few weeks ago because it had -- wait for it -- exclusive bonus tracks.

It was only a matter of time before games went the same route.

Sudz1
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Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Exclusive DLC good or bad?

Postby Sudz1 » July 8th, 2011, 7:02 pm

They aren't the first ones to do this (Best Buy, I mean).  There have been several instances of games that being released where you can get 'exclusive content' by buying it from a particular seller or pre-ordering it (another ridiculous trend I wish people would stop falling for).  I think now it's mostly being used to try to squelch the used game market, which has been a major thorn in the side of publishers/retailers for years.  They see every game purchased and resold as a lost full-price sale, which of course is ridiculous, but that's their driving motivation. 

JesusSaves

Exclusive DLC good or bad?

Postby JesusSaves » July 8th, 2011, 8:15 pm

[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]
I'm not crazy about the idea.  First of all, the ability to play as Robin was obviously programmed into the game well before the release date.
[/QUOTE]
If Robin was programmed into the game, you wouldn't need to download anything and could probably just use an Action Replay to unlock him. It's completely possible that the game was created with expandability in mind and that more characters could be released in the future.

bluemonkey1
Posts: 2444
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Exclusive DLC good or bad?

Postby bluemonkey1 » July 8th, 2011, 8:43 pm

Or look at it this way, the extra revenue stream from Best Buy meant that the game had greater funding.  Some of that money will have gone into improving the content outside of the Robin DLC.


PacMan000

Exclusive DLC good or bad?

Postby PacMan000 » July 8th, 2011, 9:33 pm

It's a way for stores to get money from downloads; developers do it to keep brick-and-mortar retailers from complaining about loosing sales to downloads.

Leo1
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Exclusive DLC good or bad?

Postby Leo1 » July 8th, 2011, 9:44 pm

They've been doing this for since the last console generation with exclusive content for specific retailers.

I don't care for it, but I'm also not especially bothered by it so far. It's all been fairly unimportant and trivial stuff from what I've seen. I'm not going to be too upset if a NASCAR game from BestBuy has a few exclusive paint liveries that the Wal-Mart version doesn't have, for instance.

And I really don't see what's to be gained by them ever doing it with a substantial and worthwhile component of the game (They're trying to please retailers with a little bonus to entice people to shop there, they're not going to cripple their games for other retailers).

So I don't think it sets a bad precedent going into the future like some other stuff does (Unlock codes for new games, for instance, is a real problem). It's annoying, but it's also fairly trivial from what I've witnessed.

[QUOTE=PacMan000]It's a way for stores to get money from downloads; developers do it to keep brick-and-mortar retailers from complaining about loosing sales to downloads. [/QUOTE]

Stores aren't getting any money from downloads via this. There isn't even usually a download involved. The retailer specific content that a retailer pays for to be exclusive to copies of the game sold there is just an incentive to get someone to buy that game at that specific retailer rather than the store across the steet. And it usually resides on the disc itself with the code just merely unlocking access to it (Which I think is the crux of the issue for many of us).

PacMan000

Exclusive DLC good or bad?

Postby PacMan000 » July 9th, 2011, 11:08 am

Clarification1- I agree that stores are not getting money directly from downloads; I meant that tying downloaded content to a real, non-downloaded, game (or other media which they do make money off of) would convince stores that downloads aren't all bad.
 
Clarification2- This does not mean that I like the concept.

andrew

Exclusive DLC good or bad?

Postby andrew » July 9th, 2011, 3:27 pm

[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]I hear that if you purchase the new Batman game from Best Buy you'll get exclusive Robin DLC (downloadable content).  How do you guys feel about this?

I'm not crazy about the idea.  First of all, the ability to play as Robin was obviously programmed into the game well before the release date.  Therefore this qualifies as "stuff that would have been included in the main game but was held back to make an extra buck".  I suspect Best Buy is paying the publisher  to get this exclusive DLC.

In this case DLC is not only being used to make extra money, but it's also penalizing customers who buy the game from other places. 

DLC was once considered a "bonus" but now it's being used to penalize gamers.  Have you noticed that? 

Originally DLC was extra stuff that was free.  Then if was extra stuff that cost money.  Now it's basic components of the game that are being held at ransom.

It just goes to show that any new technology will be abused if there's money to be made.

[/QUOTE]

Critic you're so melodramatic. Most exclusive dlc consists of minor skins, weapons or characters that usually get unlocked for free or add next to nothing to the gameplay.

 

From joytiq: "Best Buy exclusive downloadable Robin character" for use in two challenge maps."

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/12/best-buy-pre-order-batman-arkham-city-for-playable-robin/

Who cares? That's not much of an incentive at all.

 

If you compare that to actual exclusive bonus tracks for albums where there can be as much as four different exclusive tracks on four different album versions, this is nothing. Even then most of those are throwaway B-side tracks so you aren't missing much.


Michael Prymula

Exclusive DLC good or bad?

Postby Michael Prymula » July 9th, 2011, 7:13 pm

Yeah, with DLC you gotta read the fine print, if the only thing you get out of the BestBuy version is the "use" of Robin in a couple of maps, it dosen't sound like it's worth buying from there.



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