DLC Greed

[RogerTheAtheist]

Forza has milked outrageously expensive DLC since Forza 2 if I remember correctly. Forza 3 eventually allowed players to have all of the game’s content with the ultimate edition, but to my knowledge this wasn’t repeated. (Perhaps Turn 10 thought it was a mistake since it wasn’t as profitable.) To make things even worse, eventually Forza 3 and 4’s DLC was taken down, so it was possible to pay for something while it was up, not download it for some reason, finally go to download it, and not be able to.

This generation of gaming in general is an amplification of the shady business tactics that became popular last gen. It’s gotten beyond ridiculous, with content obviously planned in advance to be sold separately at prices several times higher than what’s proportionally available in the game. Season passes with “packs” consisting of very little content each, pre-order DLC that encourages buying before reviews generally come out and makes content unavailable for those who buy later, retailer-exclusive DLC that guarantees that no matter where you get the game you’ll be missing out on something, VIP-exclusive content that’s even more outrageously expensive than other content, and games with intentionally slow progression designed to encourage microtransactions to speed things up. Players are often reminded of missing content in the form of shadowed-in character/car/mode slots and other in-game notifications. Also, while I don’t know if this is the case in Forza games, in many games DLC is overpowered, ruins a game’s balance, and/or feels out of place.

As far as I can tell, the only two ways to fight this are to vote with your wallets and for gaming websites to publish articles that convince people to expect DLC to be free for those who buy a game new if it’s not done yet or simply included with games at launch if it is. The nonsense of nickel and diming customers and selling $60 ads for sometimes hundreds of dollars of extra content has in part ruined the industry. Seeing the list of DLC known about two months ago for Horizon 3 has led me to question whether I even want to get the game in the first place (Forza is one of my favorites series in all of gaming), but if I do, I don’t plan to spend a penny on anything other than the game itself.

Thoughts? Do you mind having to pay sometimes hundreds of dollars for everything a game has to offer? Do you mind paying the game’s full price a second time for what compares to a tiny fraction of the game’s original content ($60 for the original game’s cars, tracks, music, graphics, physics, AI, etc. vs. $60 for maybe 1/4 of the number of cars and tracks at launch)?

[Soules_Reaper]

I still buy all the DLC knowing how much it will cost me. I buy the DLC to enjoy more of the game with new content.

[UFknight]

Well, back in the days it just too 1 to 3 dudes to make an Atari 2600 game. They would make them in 3 to 6 months and sell them for $60. Now, it takes teams of hundreds to thousands of people just to make 1 game. They all got to get paid and also they have to pay off their expensive college debt. It takes a lot to make a video game and DLC’s unfortunately help keep the games alive. However, EA went total dark side with Battlefront. Was absolutely ridiculous that it didn’t come with Story mode. I have only bought 1 DLC in my lifetime.

[CVG23]

if you want talk about DLC greed? Check up on Squarenix and EA

EAs been full on DLC always
and square is getting just as bad with deus Ex, all the shady stuff they are doing with that game, plants vs zombies and FF 15 is more worried about churning out DLC and extra crap then finishing the game

Forza more or less as been pretty open about the DLC from the jump. We always know there will be car packs. The tokens are much more behind the scenes. The expansions for H2 and 6 were really well done and wait a good bit after release. They aren’t ripping away the game, holding it up for DLC and hiding extra charges everywhere.

[Soules_Reaper]

@CVG23

if you want talk about DLC greed? Check up on Squarenix and EA

EAs been full on DLC always
and square is getting just as bad with deus Ex, all the shady stuff they are doing with that game, plants vs zombies and FF 15 is more worried about churning out DLC and extra **** then finishing the game

Forza more or less as been pretty open about the DLC from the jump. We always know there will be car packs. The tokens are much more behind the scenes. The expansions for H2 and 6 were really well done and wait a good bit after release. They aren’t ripping away the game, holding it up for DLC and hiding extra charges everywhere.

EA is horrible with their DLC and Games. Shift 2 Unleashed still has content on the disc that no one can get unless you have it on PC and modded that missing content into the game.

[ManteoMax]

10 Big Myths About Games Debunked By The People Who Make Them

“We’re not keeping anything back,” Greenawalt said. “I think people misunderstand the way these things work. It takes us six months to build a car, so when I say there’s a ten-car pack launching day one–they’re not done. We’re not done with them yet.”

^

Forza Motorsport 6: Apex on Windows 10 is free-to-play with optional microtransactions, but Design Director Andy Beaudoin told IGN that it’s “been built from the beginning, all the way to the end, not to be a microtransaction driven game.” Beaudoin explained, “We know that over time, we’ve looked at previous Forza games, and some people have liked to shortchange the progression system through other systems. So we’ll give players the opportunity to do that with purchases.”

^

Twenty six thousand trees line the track. To bring this gargantuan track to Forza 5 took more than 30 artists from around the world working to build the circuit from the ground up and putting in more than 13,000 man hours to bring the track to completion.

^ FM5 free Nurburgring track DLC (Note that FH3’s map has twice the drivable area and more variety than FH2 yet costs the same)

“John Wendl: It takes 4-5 months to build tracks for Forza Motorsport 6”^

@JONK1969

@ManteoMax

(snipped)…maybe Jonk or someone else there can comment, but if the ForzaTech engine is evolving, cars have to be redone for both physics and sound and light and function (wipers et al) for the new night and wet features, it’s not just a port from one game to the next.

That is correct; every car that goes into Forza takes considerable time & effort to build, test, tune, license, etc. Some more than others. Forza 6 shipped with over 450 cars, many of which were updated from Forza 5 or Horizon 2 (a lot of work by a lot of people), many of which were updated from Forza 360 games (considerably more effort in terms of time & resource), and many of which are brand new to the series (a massive effort taking many months per car).

None of these cars get magically ported from one game to the next with the press of a button or running of a script. It takes artists, engineers, audio designers, gameplay designers, testers, and licensing specialists a lot of time and effort that most of you don’t think about, and really shouldn’t have to, when you get behind the virtual wheel and take them for a spin. Track or world expansions are all that effort multiplied by a very big number.

All that effort mentioned above sometimes comes with additional cost to the player (buying the full game or buying DLC car packs or expansions), and sometimes no cost (free cars or free expansions).

At this point someone will be tempted to point out ‘those links aren’t about FH3’ which of course misses the point. “Greed” is a matter of perspective, and maybe it’s not the developers who are the ones getting more greedy. Between the professionals stating why they’re doing what they’re doing, and gamers claiming conspiracy, I’m going to choose to believe the professionals. Expression of value is one thing - if you’d buy the same content for a lower price maybe that’s helpful feedback for the developers and publishers - but tread carefully if you’re going to start throwing around baseless accusations of greed.

[Hieronymus1967]

The price of a new triple-A console title has not increased in over a decade now. In that time, the cost of living worldwide has increased approximately 26%. All the costs associated with developing a game have increased and yet the selling price has remained the same.

If you do not wish to pay for DLC, then by all means keep your money in your wallet. But please step aside as there’s a long line forming to pay for and get to that DLC.