Microtransactions and DLC in Video Games

[Stratomsk]

I'll be the first to admit fighting games aren't my thing. I'm aware of the most popular ones (BlazBlue, Street Fighter, Marvel v. Capcom, Killer Instinct, Guilty Gear, etc.)

These are the types of games I would never have expected to have micro-transactions. Until today.

Mortal Kombat X apparent allows you to buy "Fatality Tokens" that allow for much easier fatalities, essentially destroying any semblance of fairness on what is supposed to be a relatively level playing field where skill is supposed to be the most dominant factor.

Its incredibly ridiculous and more to the point feels like a bait and switch with how the reviewers were not made aware of this prior.

Discuss how you feel about Micro-transactions and DLC in general. How they can be positive or negative, their overall function or even whether they're truly necessary at all. Anything about them really. These practices are becoming increasingly relevant in modern gaming and I'm not quite sure of the reason why.

 

[exball]

It's fucking bullshit cashgrabbing. Regular developers have seen all too well how idiots are willing to spend money on shitty iphone games to make things go a little easier. I don't really mind regular DLC usually as long as it's not on-disc.

 

[ASoulMan]

I don't mind DLC as long as:

1) It's not locked on the disc.
2) Not available on the day of a game's release.
3) Isn't a microtransaction.
4) Isn't overpriced.

 

[AnOminous]

These practices are becoming increasingly relevant in modern gaming and I'm not quite sure of the reason why.

Simple. They make money. At least until they kill the game's fanbase, but who cares about that? EA loves this shit.

 

[The Lone Wanderer]

Costumes and extra characters I can understand, but that shit is down right cheating. I hope they are banned from online play, the coins I mean. Expansions on the story and new maps are cool too.

 

[StallChaser]

It's a cash grab. There's the releasing an incomplete game and charging for the rest. Especially when we're talking about day one DLC. If it was done on day one, it's part of the game. But it's ultimately up to the consumer. Game companies will take it as far as the players are willing to go. Same goes for crap like preorder DLC. I won't touch it, even for a game I'm really hyped about, purely on principle. DLC abuse just makes me more likely to wait a couple years for the inevitable used/GOTY version that has all the DLC included.

I have no problem with optional cosmetic stuff that doesn't affect gameplay. This includes the fatalities. They don't give an actual advantage in gameplay, so all you're left with is an option to do a visual thing more easily for a bunch of money. Not worth it to me. Maybe it will be to someone out there, but as long as they're not paying to win, it's not really a problem.

 

[Clown Doll]

I don't really like microtransactions very much, unless it's like a F2P multiplayer game and the microtransactions are the main way the game makes money in the first place. But "DLC" can be fairly good too, like take for example the Dark Souls DLC's or the Fallout : NV / Arma II DLCs that actually introduced a good load of content into the games. DLC as a means of expanding the lifespan of the game and introducing new, meaningful content without having to wait for years for a sequel is imo a good thing, but sometimes games go really overboard with putting microtransactions into single-player games.

 

[Jaimas]

DLC and Microtransactions fall into categories:

Fucking Amazing Tier:
* MH4U DLC (Free, tons of it, more planned)
* Hyrule Warriors Free DLC (Free, ten fucktons of content)
* Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (Update Version)
* GTAV Free DLC

Great Tier:
* Most Bethesda DLC
* Most PC Game Expansions
* Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (best PVP areas, great content)
* Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams DLC

Good Tier:
* Etrian Mystery Dungeon DLC Packs (Free; possible new classes eventually)
* Metal Gear Rising: Sam/Bladewolf DLCs (Free; Amazing)
* Mass Effect III Multiplayer DLC (Multiplayer is shittily balanced and pack system is broken, but these add a lot of content to the game)
* Dark Souls II: Crowns Trilogy (Horrible design and good design often in the same DLC)

Mediocre Tier:
* Most Battlefield Unlock Packs (optional - just makes the path to get goodies easier for those who want them and have zero patience)
* Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2 DLC (Amazing content, but broken as shit at launch and required me to contact KOEI just to get my goddamned refund)
* Duke Nukem Forever DLC (DLC better than the game it's attached to; main game is shit)
* CoD DLC (Good content; sadly same shit every year)
* Dawn of War II: Last Stand DLC (Great content, locked behind a paywall because FUCK YOU)

Poor Tier:
* Soul Calibur V (Costume Components and cool goodies locked behind paywalls and priced like shit; money only charged due to excessive greed)
* Final Fantasy XIII-2 (BUY OUR DLC IF YOU WANT THE ENDING, LOL)

Horrible Tier:
* Destiny DLC (Renders progress by pre-DLC players irrelevant; imbalances game; game demonstrably sucked at launch and is worse now)

Shit Tier:
* Dead Space III DLC (Micropayments and random packs in a game that needed neither)
* Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (Next-Gen.DirectX 11 versions - BUY A WHOLE NEV VERSION OF THE GAME IF YOU WANT THE NEW CONTENT)

AIDS Tier:
* Final Fantasy: All the Bravest
* Dungeon Keeper Mobile

 

[Naamaleipuri]

As long as microtransactions have no effect on gameplay, I'm cool with them. The Mortal Combat Easy Fatality tokens baffle me though. It's not like fatalities are THAT hard to pull off (unless something has changed since my MK days) also if you ask me it's far more sweeter not to use a fatality; it's like saying: "Hey, you're so pathetic, I'm not even going to bother".

Probably my most hated type of DLC is weapon packs, specifically the kind that unlock weapons far superior to those of the main game (I'm looking at you Payday 2!). It's one thing to give a choice of more variety, but when the new guns outshine the old ones in every statistic, then it's a problem.

I long for those days when we had actual on disc expansion packs with tons of content. I really don't like shelling out ~20€ for 2 hours of content. For example take Artorias of the Abyss DLC for Dark souls. A few really enjoyable bosses and cool new areas and equipment, but ultimately it's barely 3 or 4 hours worth of new content (not counting pvp). Damn good DLC, but also damn overpriced back then.

 

[Stratomsk]

DLC and Microtransactions fall into categories:

Fucking Amazing Tier:
* MH4U DLC (Free, tons of it, more planned)
* Hyrule Warriors Free DLC (Free, ten fucktons of content)
* Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (Update Version)
* GTAV Free DLC

Great Tier:
* Most Bethesda DLC
* Most PC Game Expansions
* Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (best PVP areas, great content)
* Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams DLC

Good Tier:
* Etrian Mystery Dungeon DLC Packs (Free; possible new classes eventually)
* Metal Gear Rising: Sam/Bladewolf DLCs (Free; Amazing)
* Mass Effect III Multiplayer DLC (Multiplayer is shittily balanced and pack system is broken, but these add a lot of content to the game)
* Dark Souls II: Crowns Trilogy (Horrible design and good design often in the same DLC)

Mediocre Tier:
* Most Battlefield Unlock Packs (optional - just makes the path to get goodies easier for those who want them and have zero patience)
* Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2 DLC (Amazing content, but broken as shit at launch and required me to contact KOEI just to get my goddamned refund)
* Duke Nukem Forever DLC (DLC better than the game it's attached to; main game is shit)
* CoD DLC (Good content; sadly same shit every year)
* Dawn of War II: Last Stand DLC (Great content, locked behind a paywall because FUCK YOU)

Poor Tier:
* Soul Calibur V (Costume Components and cool goodies locked behind paywalls and priced like shit; money only charged due to excessive greed)
* Final Fantasy XIII-2 (BUY OUR DLC IF YOU WANT THE ENDING, LOL)

Horrible Tier:
* Destiny DLC (Renders progress by pre-DLC players irrelevant; imbalances game; game demonstrably sucked at launch and is worse now)

Shit Tier:
* Dead Space III DLC (Micropayments and random packs in a game that needed neither)
* Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (Next-Gen.DirectX 11 versions - BUY A WHOLE NEV VERSION OF THE GAME IF YOU WANT THE NEW CONTENT)

AIDS Tier:
* Final Fantasy: All the Bravest
* Dungeon Keeper Mobile

Don't forget:
* Asura's Wrath and how Capcom locked the 'True Ending" as DLC for the final 19-22 episodes.
* Need for Speed World and how EA decided to make it possible to purchase and play the game before it released for a premium of 20$ to go up to level 50 (Freemium members could only go to level 10). Even more ridiculous was how a DLC "Elite" car was listed for 100$. No, I'm not kidding.
* Evolve's DLC was really bad simply because there was so much of it. Consumers were easily confused by a game that practically requires a spreadsheet to keep track of which version of the game you have and how much content it had.

Simple. They make money. At least until they kill the game's fanbase, but who cares about that? EA loves this shit.

I meant more along the lines of why DLC and Microtransactions are becoming more common. Thinking about it now used games are probably at least partially to blame for this. Resales of a game only provides revenue to the retailer, with the publisher stuck paying the bills for the online features everyone uses. There are probably other problems, but this is the biggest one I can think of at the moment.

 

[Overcast]

I have mixed feelings on DLC.

On one hand, I'm against Day 1 DLC. If you're going to release DLC that early, you might as well have placed it in the game to begin with I feel. Such as Mass Effect 3's Prothean squadmate. Which, I'll admit, I willingly purchased before I realized how bad this kind of thing is.

But then there's the stuff @Jaimas mentioned, such as Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's free DLC that comes out every few weeks and large expansions such as Oblivion's Shivering Isles or Dark Souls' Artorias of the Abyss.

 

[Watcher]

I meant more along the lines of why DLC and Microtransactions are becoming more common. Thinking about it now used games are probably at least partially to blame for this. Resales of a game only provides revenue to the retailer, with the publisher stuck paying the bills for the online features everyone uses. There are probably other problems, but this is the biggest one I can think of at the moment.

DLC unfortunately is here for a reason.

Prior to the days of DLC publishers had to basically invest a ton of money into a game, and then take a huge risk selling it. Games were well known for only making money during their first few months of sale and after that point unless you ported it, never again.

After DLC though developers were able to extend the lifespan of a game. You could suddenly have players buying a game and playing it years after release due to DLC. This, and the rise of digital distribution contributed to a lot of the kinds of games we see today like Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2. Where a game can actually continuously make money and be developed upon years after release. This would never have happened previously outside of mmorpgs due to monthly subscriptions. A big reason why mmorpgs had a huge boom in the mid to late 2000s is because of the promise of a game making large amounts of money years after release. Now DLC has supplanted that and it's much cheaper to produce.

DLC isn't going anywhere and people will not stop buying it. Simply because there are so many ways to sell it and manipulate the consumer into buying it. Map packs for Call of Duty were entirely manipulation on the part of the publisher. Because players would then find themselves locked out of the more popular multiplayer matches and would find themselves having to buy the DLC inorder to continue enjoying their game.

As Scorptatious has said there has been legitimately good DLC. But you have to make no mistake. DLC is not designed to give the consumer more value for their purchase. It's solely designed to extract more money from you post release. Mortal Kombat X is the most blatant example of this but a lot of other publishers are just better at hiding it.

To avoid being entirely negative there have been really good examples of post release content that remains better than the core game. The best example I can think of is Assassins Creed 3's Tyranny of King Washington DLC being vastly superior to the core game. The same goes with games like Neverwinter Nights 2 where the expansion pack Mask of the Betrayer is often cited as being far superior to the vanilla campaign.

 

[dabluearmedbandit]

I'll buy DLC and expansion packs if they're worth it. Blood Dragon for FC3 is absolutely worth 15$. But charging 5$ for costume switches in Mass Effect 2 is dumb. I don't inherently disagree with the concept of DLC, it should just be good.

 

[Watcher]

Blood Dragon for FC3 is absolutely worth 15$.

Blood Dragon's a bit different. It was stand-alone and could largely be considered it's own game if not for being relatively short and having significantly less content.

Stand-alone post release content like Blood Dragon or Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare is fine by me. It does not require the original game and allows the developer to be able to tell additional stories using the same assets with the expectation of having to make it worth the additional cost.

 

[AnOminous]

I meant more along the lines of why DLC and Microtransactions are becoming more common.

Partly because the transactional costs have come down to the point microtransactions are economically feasible. When credit card and other transactions required actual pieces of paper, modem phone calls, etc., hefty fees by credit card companies, etc., it wasn't feasible to charge a quarter or a buck for something. Now that's cheaper. You also have things like people reloading Steam accounts and the like by $25 or so, the App Store and similar things for phones, etc. that make it trivial for companies to piss out little bits of DLC for relatively painless amounts of change.

People with no self control can rapidly rack up hefty amounts of money for these microtransactions in these shitty pay to win games.

Now I don't have problems with DLC when it introduces huge advancements in a game, but as pointed out, a lot more often, you have crap that should have been included in the original game and it's basically a rip-off because you paid full price for an incomplete POS and then get charged more.

 

[Whatisgoingon]

My biggest problem with the new Mortal Kombat (and why I will just wait for an "Ultimate" or "Komplete" edition to come out) is that in addition to the Easy Fatality micro transactions (which if I recall correctly, that was originally just a cheat code in an older MK), they have Goro as a pre-order bonus who more than likely could've been included on the disc, and they already announced 3 or 4 DLC characters before the game even came out. That just screams cash grab to me.

 

[Stratomsk]

My biggest problem with the new Mortal Kombat (and why I will just wait for an "Ultimate" or "Komplete" edition to come out) is that in addition to the Easy Fatality micro transactions (which if I recall correctly, that was originally just a cheat code in an older MK), they have Goro as a pre-order bonus who more than likely could've been included on the disc, and they already announced 3 or 4 DLC characters before the game even came out. That just screams cash grab to me.

30$ for just 4 characters. Using the fans nostalgia for Goro and love of other characters such as the Predator is exploitation of their fanbase and something that seems to be becoming more and more common among AAA titles.

 

[Jaimas]

My biggest problem with the new Mortal Kombat (and why I will just wait for an "Ultimate" or "Komplete" edition to come out) is that in addition to the Easy Fatality micro transactions (which if I recall correctly, that was originally just a cheat code in an older MK), they have Goro as a pre-order bonus who more than likely could've been included on the disc, and they already announced 3 or 4 DLC characters before the game even came out. That just screams cash grab to me.

I know a lot of players waiting for the updated edition.

 

[Ification]

I actually don't mind DLC, as long as the game is Free to Play, or I'm told about it beforehand. I also don't care whether the DLC is locked on the disc or not, since no matter where that content is, all that matters is that you can't access it without paying money.

 

[Conrix]

Costumes and extra characters I can understand, but that shit is down right cheating. I hope they are banned from online play, the coins I mean. Expansions on the story and new maps are cool too.

I actually don't mind DLC, as long as the game is Free to Play, or I'm told about it beforehand. I also don't care whether the DLC is locked on the disc or not, since no matter where that content is, all that matters is that you can't access it without paying money.

Pretty much this, it's one thing to have DLC that expands on the story/gameplay or new costumes/weapon skins to help pay the bills. Accelerated unlock is cool if it's not too expensive and game breaking (like Plague Inc, where accelerated unlock just gives you more content. And because it's a scenario-driven single player sim strategy game, that works okay since more disease types/scenarios = more gameplay for you, rather than an edge over everyone else and also reasonably supporting the devs). Pay to win, especially in multiplayer games, is cheating sanctioned by game devs/publishers to line their bank accounts with money and ruins a lot of games like Dungeon Keeper Mobile.