What's the difference between an "expansion pack" and DLC?

[cummytummies]

What used to be expansion packs is now often DLC, but not all DLC are expansion packs.

Plenty of people have already outlined it in the thread, but an expansion pack was usually priced between $20 and $30, or half the price of the original release. They feature significant gameplay improvements, new content and commonly entirely new mechanics to overhaul the base game. If you want to be confused, there is also the concept of the "mission pack", which sits somewhere between the horse armor DLC and the expansion pack.

I suppose one way to look at it is that an expansion pack is something welcomed by players to augment an already great game, where as DLC is often a cash grab. That is obviously not a concrete rule, though.

 

[cummytummies]

No. Their both cut content that for whatever reason didn't make the deadline for release, so they instead charge people for it.

That's just objectively not true. Especially in the olden days, plenty of expansion content would start development after the original release, and was not content at any point planned for the original release.

Even some modern games like The Witcher 3 are like this. The expansion content was not something that "spun off" during development to be its own thing, let alone finished content locked off. It was entirely conceptualized after the original release was a hit and funding was secured to make more content using the same engine (the main reason for an expansion pack over a sequel).

 

[NineteenNinetyEight]

That's just objectively not true. Especially in the olden days, plenty of expansion content would start development after the original release, and was not content at any point planned for the original release.

Even some modern games like The Witcher 3 are like this. The expansion content was not something that "spun off" during development to be its own thing, let alone finished content locked off. It was entirely conceptualized after the original release was a hit and funding was secured to make more content using the same engine (the main reason for an expansion pack over a sequel).

First of all, making something completely different, and calling it an "expansion pack" is fucking retarded. Plenty of sequels to other games were made using the same engine with minor differences and were treated separate from the 1st game. The words "Expansion Pack" implies it's EXPANDING off of the original game, meaning adding onto it.

Second, you really want to being up the "olden days" argument? In the olden days we had this thing called "unlockables" where if you beat the game, or entered a secret code, you could play more game stuff that either enhanced the main game experience or was a separate mode or character with a different story from everything else. This was 100x better than paying for more shit ontop of the original shit you just got finished paying for.

In the olden days, most, not all, but most developers actually gave a shit about their games and wanted to not only make great games, but to give people the best experience they could have with said game by adding as much as they can. Hell, even DEMOS had so much shit added to them for the player to experience before they decided to buy the game... compared to now in where majority of the time you're just watching long-ass cutscenes followed by 5 minutes of gameplay.

Expansion packs are fucking retarded, and people that defend them is why the game industry is so shit. Sonic & Knuckles was the ONLY good reason for it because back then there were technical limitations on what could be done and how much crap you could fit on a cart, and even then it had issues with any game bigger than 2MB locked-on to it (Super Street Fighter 2 being the biggest with 5MB). Now that technology has gotten to the point where people are installing GBs if storage onto their hard drives and physical media is dead since everything HAS to be digital now, there's no excuse for it other than developer incompetence.

 

[cummytummies]

First of all, making something completely different, and calling it an "expansion pack" is fucking retarded. Plenty of sequels to other games were made using the same engine with minor differences and were treated separate from the 1st game. The words "Expansion Pack" implies it's EXPANDING off of the original game, meaning adding onto it.

Second, you really want to being up the "olden days" argument? In the olden days we had this thing called "unlockables" where if you beat the game, or entered a secret code, you could play more game stuff that either enhanced the main game experience or was a separate mode or character with a different story from everything else. This was 100x better than paying for more shit ontop of the original shit you just got finished paying for.

In the olden days, most, not all, but most developers actually gave a shit about their games and wanted to not only make great games, but to give people the best experience they could have with said game by adding as much as they can. Hell, even DEMOS had so much shit added to them for the player to experience before they decided to buy the game... compared to now in where majority of the time you're just watching long-ass cutscenes followed by 5 minutes of gameplay.

Expansion packs are fucking retarded, and people that defend them is why the game industry is so shit. Sonic & Knuckles was the ONLY good reason for it because back then there were technical limitations on what could be done and how much crap you could fit on a cart, and even then it had issues with any game bigger than 2MB locked-on to it (Super Street Fighter 2 being the biggest with 5MB). Now that technology has gotten to the point where people are installing GBs if storage onto their hard drives and physical media is dead since everything HAS to be digital now, there's no excuse for it other than developer incompetence.

Nothing in this massive pile of cope and seethe in any way invalidates the claim that expansions were often planned and created after the original development had wrapped up and were not merely "cut content" in any sense of the phrase.

 

[Pissmaster]

Nothing in this massive pile of cope and seethe in any way invalidates the claim that expansions were often planned and created after the original development had wrapped up and were not merely "cut content" in any sense of the phrase.

ooooooooooooooh @cummytummies is gonna explode again, everyone get your cameras ready

 

[cummytummies]

ooooooooooooooh @cummytummies is gonna explode again, everyone get your cameras ready

Am I supposed to know you?

 

[The Last Stand]

To me, expansion packs and DLC are similar to one another. HOWEVER, not all DLC are expansion packs.

Expansion packs expand from the base game with maps, modes, weapons, content, etc. DLC can do the same thing, but can vary in size and content. I would say expansion packs originate from PC gaming selling expansions of game via physical releases.

For instance, I would say GTA IV's The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony are expansion packs as they extend content for GTA IV AND DLC as they can be obtained through the Internet.

I would argue that buying weapons individually are merely DLC, not expansions.

 

[cummytummies]

I would say expansion packs originate from PC gaming selling expansions of game via physical releases.

That is actually a worthwhile distinction, because in the time before DLC (and before console games being installed onto console hard drives) the PC game was capable of being expanded via an auxiliary release, where as the console game was not.

 

[Marissa Moira]

To me, expansion packs and DLC are similar to one another. HOWEVER, not all DLC are expansion packs.

Expansion packs expand from the base game with maps, modes, weapons, content, etc. DLC can do the same thing, but can vary in size and content. I would say expansion packs originate from PC gaming selling expansions of game via physical releases.

For instance, I would say GTA IV's The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony are expansion packs as they extend content for GTA IV AND DLC as they can be obtained through the Internet.

I would argue that buying weapons individually are merely DLC, not expansions.

Yeah pretty much this.

Expansion Packs were more of a PC thing before consoles entered the online gaming thing. Consoles were the ones who popularized DLC, and with the melding of PC and console releases Expansion Packs and DLC co-mingled. Mobile games further muddied the waters with microtransactions and this spread to PC and consoles.

This is why I wait for GOTY edition when it comes to games.

 

[The Last Stand]

Expansion Packs were more of a PC thing before consoles entered the online gaming thing. Consoles were the ones who popularized DLC, and with the melding of PC and console releases Expansion Packs and DLC co-mingled.

I would say expansion packs can be physical OR digital.

This is an expansion pack. It was also DLC as you could download those maps via Xbox Live. I say WAS as original Xbox servers sunsetted in 2010.

This is DLC as its content that can only be downloaded.

 

[cummytummies]

Consoles were the ones who popularized DLC, and with the melding of PC and console releases Expansion Packs and DLC co-mingled.

And that happened during the console generation which first introduced hard drives, and hard drives were often a requirement for large DLC (such as the aforementioned Lost and Damned). I think we solved this mystery for OP.

This is why I wait for GOTY edition when it comes to games.

 

[verissimus]

As far as I'm concerned, expansion packs are DLC (i.e. an extra character(s), mission, quest, etc.) plus new material that effectively revolutionize the way the game can be played.

Consider for example

Diablo 2 - Lord of Destruction.
2 new classes added,
A new act added accompanied of course with new enemies specific to that act plus bosses and items
new class specific items,
Charms, jewels, and runes added along with rune words (essentially a type of crafted item), etc.

Age of Empires 2 - Expansion
5 new civilizations accompanied by new units and techs of course
New missions for at least 2 (or was it 3?) civilizations,
New maps for multiplayer or custom games, and
General changes to the game (for example I think it was the expansion that allowed you to garrison battery rams).


With few exceptions, most DLC usually never effects the base game excepting, from what I've heard, the Souls series games.

 

[Snekposter]

As far as I'm concerned, expansion packs are DLC (i.e. an extra character(s), mission, quest, etc.) plus new material that effectively revolutionize the way the game can be played.

Consider for example

Diablo 2 - Lord of Destruction.
2 new classes added,
A new act added accompanied of course with new enemies specific to that act plus bosses and items
new class specific items,
Charms, jewels, and runes added along with rune words (essentially a type of crafted item), etc.

Age of Empires 2 - Expansion
5 new civilizations accompanied by new units and techs of course
New missions for at least 2 (or was it 3?) civilizations,
New maps for multiplayer or custom games, and
General changes to the game (for example I think it was the expansion that allowed you to garrison battery rams).


With few exceptions, most DLC usually never effects the base game excepting, from what I've heard, the Souls series games.

God, I miss massive content dumps like that.

 

[cummytummies]

God, I miss massive content dumps like that.

Titan Quest got a new expansion less than a week ago that is fully in line with what those old expansions were (along with a free update for everyone else, which was not something you often got during the physical expansion era).

 

[Mike Stoklasa]

A new civ in Civilization is DLC. It adds a new playable faction or otherwise something small.

Beyond the Sword for Civilization IV is an expansion pack. It adds new gameplay mechanics and systems to the base game and a bunch of other, smaller things. It's also the best. I just wanted an excuse to say Civ IV BtS is the best.

 

[Blue Screen of Death]

Expansion pack is just a marketing term for a large DLC, mainly a carryover from when you actually had to buy an expansion pack in a store.

The difference between an expansion pack vs standard DLC would be just scale, when I think of the term expansion I think of things that are radically different to gameplay. For DLC I think just a minor addition. To use Oblivion as an example, Shivering Isles or Knights of the Nine are expansions. I would call Mehrune's Razor and Horse Armor just DLC.

 

[The Last Stand]

As far as I'm concerned, expansion packs are DLC (i.e. an extra character(s), mission, quest, etc.) plus new material that effectiv

I like that answer. Would Bad Company 2 Vietnam be technically considered an expansion pack?

It's still Bad Company 2 but in Vietnam. Moreover, new weapons, maps and UI exclusive to that map pack. It's slightly different from the base game than just another map.

DLC would be new maps but the game still functions the same as before.

 

[Calandrino]

No. Their both cut content that for whatever reason didn't make the deadline for release, so they instead charge people for it.

Or to put it in another way, this:
View attachment 2783746

Going further back to the early 1990s, you'd have shareware, which was basically handing out the Mona Lisa for free and politely asking you to buy more paintings. Then you could find more user-created paintings for free on the information superhighway or "world wide web" as it is commonly known.

Actually, this image would be better if modern games were represented by modern art, so even if you pay the full $500+$10/day Funpass™ to get the preorder and all the DLC it's still just a portrait of George Floyd painted in menstrual blood.

 

[Smug Chuckler]

Expansion packs were usually large additions, sometimes entire new games built on top of the old one, they also used to come on CD, you didn't download them.

DLC is funny hats and skins for $20 a piece.

Mostly agree, but I would consider funny hats and skins as microtransactions that you unlock with real life money, dlc to me is something like mission packs and additional features.

 

[Broseph]

The difference was that expansion packs were actually worth buying and DLC is just all the shit they gutted out of the game so they can nickle and dime you like jews.