Why aren't NetherRealm being scrutinized for DLC?

Honestly, I've got no problem with DLC, as long as it's done right. Releasing an overpriced Season Pass that won't even include all future content certainly isn't the right way.

Remember how NRS released a season pass for Injustice, only to then release more fighters outside that pass? It's only safe to assume the same will happen with MKX.

With all the well deserved ruckus over Evolve's DLC blunder, I figured NRS and WB would face the same heat.

So, why aren't they?

They are. I've seen lots of people complaining about them selling the pack of things already in the game for $30.

it's an old argument that's regurgitated every year. not sure how or why this instance is more or less egregious than those in the past.

make your peace with it. it'll only stop when it ceases to work as a business model.

Have you seen DoA5's DLC? Yeah.

I was never a fighting game guy and never into MK, but one thing thats apparent to me si that what used to be hidden unlockable characters are now "not-so-hidden" "unlockable" character if you get me... and its sad. i dont understand how is there not a bigger scrutiny over this, especially with a franchise like MK.

I'm more offended about the part where they're advertising it before the game is even out. That's just sorta gross. Well, that and the PRE-ORDER TO PLAY AS GORO at the end of every trailer.

@sterling:

Vanilla DOA5 was certainly ridiculous with this stuff. I'd give Last Round a pass though, since it was only 40 bucks and came with all the fighters/stages.

It honestly doesn't bother me much as it use to. After witnessing all the dlc character prices from games like Persona Ultimax, Blazeblue and Guilty Gear Xrd this is more of the same stuff. Those who want it and are heavily invested in the game will buy it, those that aren't simply won't.

I'd put my money on the fact that the majority of people who "game" don't care that much? The internet has a way of making any statement/cause a hyperbole. Let's face it - gaming is still just a hobby. It's the reason that most people roll their eyes when someone wants to bring up sexism, racism, or anything else. The majority of people just want to play and enjoy their game, and not constantly be berated with the multitude of personal issues that rise up on a daily basis. Hell, at this point we'd be so inundated with caring about everyone else's problems we wouldn't have enough time to enjoy games themselves!

Maybe sounds harsh but outside of the diehard fans, no one really cares about Mortal Kombat. Those people will buy anyway. It's also very strange Ed Boon was given so many interviews and so much screen time on Giantbomb while his games are notorious for DLC up the gluteal crevice and region-locking multiplayer.

People (at least on here) definitely seem to care. Basically every trailer that gets put up has a bunch of comments complaining about it. The reason it might not have larger recognition (i.e. news stories) is because this isn't new for Netherrealm? Both MK9 and Injustice had Season Passes, DLC Characters, DLC costumes.

Personally, I don't really care. I don't buy very many games in a year so I don't mind spending a little extra (30, or 20 with the PSN pre-order) for more characters and stuff to keep me coming back to it.

I've quit being upset about silly DLC. Its not worth your time getting angry about people. If its worth your time buy it if its not then don't simple as that.

They should be scrutinized more for misspelling iknonik.

At this point, does it really need to be said that 90% of all DLC is grossly overpriced, underwhelming, and a downright shitty business practice?

I think people being up in arms about dlc bothers me more than dlc. Evolves bad press left a bad taste in my mouth when the dlc for that actually isn't bad at all. The problem is that the Internet loves the complain and that bugs me more. It sucks that the age of cheats and hidden unlocks are now behind paywalls but this is really starting to tread the shitty ground of speak with your wallet.

MKX looks like a great, full game. I don't really see the big deal about the game having DLC, though DLC fighters if not implemented well can screw over the online multiplayer. I'll either want the DLC and buy it, or I won't and I won't buy it, it really doesn't bother me at all.

Want me to be critical? Vendor specific DLC is fucking garbage. Know what I'm gonna do about it? Not care about it and buy it wherever I want.

So there are characters in the game that you can only get by preordering and/or paying extra for? That sounds terrible for balance in a fighting game. Fuck this game if that's the case.

I don't care about cosmetic stuff, maps, etc. But paying for characters in a full priced fighting game is terrible. The fighters are the one thing that needs to be equal for all players. I was looking forward to this game too.

I think Warner Bros games are generally the shittiest about DLC.

I don't think it's strange at all. Neather Realms has been on a hot streak since MK9; they are making fun and accessible fighting games. Also the anecdote about only die hard fans caring is the complete opposite experience that I have.

@trafalgarlaw: mk is a massive hit for everyone not just die hards. Im a massive fan but none of my mates r but they will buy anyway coz its one hell of a spectacle to watch and fun to mess around with. As for the dlc it's only going to get worse because theres alot of ppl who just dont care about dropping 30bucks here or there it's not alot of money in the grand scheme of things. Ill buy whatever they peddle as i want to support netherrealm and i want them to continue doing what they're doing

Honestly the console makers really should standardize a lot of how DLC is allowed to be sold on the or stores.There is remarkable inconsistency between one comapny's season pass and another as well as how DLC is labelled and priced in general. Ultimately it creates a bad situation for all parties involved, gamers feel ripped off and dev/publishers end up with less sales than they otherwise might have as consumers just don't trust the market much.

I pretty much wait till GotY editions of games come out anymore to avoid all this nonsense.

People do care but what'cha gonna do at this point? Not buy the game, not buy the DLC, or wait until the "Komplete Edition" is released.

Personally I am leaning towards the last because I don't like not having characters, but $7.50 a character is absurd, especially when the main game characters cost like $2 apiece, and the main game development costs also involve an engine and a single player game and netcode and all the rest of it.

@trafalgarlaw: Giant Bomb has always focused on games that the guys like. Jeff and Brad are big MK fans, so they cover it. I don't see what dlc schemes have to do with that.

The only weird thing I see is that Goro ISN'T with the Kombat Kollection which creates a weird sense of missing out even when you get the season pass. I mean I wouldn't think the same thing about a separate season but I do think it's weird.

But I think NetherRealm has at least created a decent expectation for DLC. It'll be a couple of characters but the game still looks like it's shaping up to have a pretty sizable roster.

It's disgusting, but it's a fighting game, so i'm going to buy all of this garbage anyway.

I just hope that having all this DLC doesn't bring back the problems MK9 online had with people not being able to connect with each other due to not downloading the appropriate compatibility packs.

They are...obviously not to the degree of something like Evolve though because *insert your favorite Youtuber here* isn't rallying the troops to start the bitchfest.

I think we are past the age where DLC Is seen as evil as it was before. People who don't want it won't buy it. Leave it at that. The only thing I'll get up in arms about concerning DLC is day one stuff and preorder bonuses.

It just all sounds really silly now. Spend money where you want to spend money. If you don't think something is a complete package don't buy it.

The solution is easy, force every player to have the data with mandatory patches, which I am sure they'll do.

The big thing I think everyone needs to realize is decisions like these are not made by the developer they are made by marketing.

Say your in marketing and you want Gamestop to promote your game for preorder numbers. You do that by offering content customer have to go to them for like costumes or other dlc.

Netherrealm studios has nothing to do with stuff like this no studio does unless they do all their own marketing and promotion themselves.

If the game they're selling is lacking content then I'll complain about it (and won't buy it either) but it doesn't look like that's the case. It makes sense for fighting games to sell characters as DLC. Do I wish that stuff was free? Certainly, but that's not happening. As for announcing it before the game is out, a lot of people have talked about that they'll only start working on it once the game itself is finished and you can either chose to believe that or not. At least you know what you're getting upfront. Injustice was a great game I wanted to support so I didn't feel bad about buying the DLC. I'll play MKX and if I like it enough I'll buy the DLC for that too, if I feel like I had my fill I won't. That's pretty much how I approach that stuff for every game now.

There's always the Komplete edition coming sometime in the next 2 years.

DLC can be fine. But locking a former playable character behind a preorder is not. I loved MK9, but I'll be waiting on X.

Yep, something about that feels super shitty to me.

To me, this is how price increases have progressed. Rather than raising the price of games, you're now given the option to pay less for less of the game, pay later for the "extra" content, or pay all at once right now. And everything outside of the season pass is true DLC.

Not sure I understand. Was Goro announced as a playable character before he was announced as a preorder bonus?

Releasing more DLC after the season pass that isn't included is fine as long as the season pass is specific about what you get. Injustice's DLC was super clear what you would get up front and they delivered exactly what they promised. I bought a bundle and paid less than if I bought it separately. Why should they lose money for making MORE content than they promised by giving it to season pass purchasers for free, that would just have stopped them from making any of the other characters.

That being said, I hate DLC released in "seasons" as piecemeal content and would much rather they put them in old style expansion packs releasing the entire season's content at the same time after it is done.

The first step in throwing out accusations related to decisions that we'll never really understand... is to get the target right. NetherRealm aren't to blame. Devs don't elate in pouring all of their time and effort into a game only to chop bits of it off to try and squeeze extra cash from their most loyal fans.

WB Games are the assholes here. And they've been showered with scrutiny over tons of their shady-ass DLC/pre-order nonsense for years now. If you don't like either of those things, get the word out, don't buy it, and encourage others not to as well. But being angry that more people aren't angry is kind of a waste of time.

@mustainium: The fury over Evolve's DLC was twofold. First, they advertised their convoluted "options" of purchasing extra content before detailed info about the core game ever came out. And second, being a multiplayer only game, a player is directly limited if they choose to not purchase that extra content. The thrust of other successful multiplayer only games (TF2, for example) is semi-regular free content/new modes to keep the game interesting. By Evolve sectioning that all behind a paywall, they are implying that the only way for you to expand your original experience is if you're willing to pay extra for it.

MKX is just a different kind of game. Sure, you could say that the "point" of any fighting game is to play online, so it might as well be multiplayer only, but many folks (myself included) loved MK9 and Injustice mostly for the story mode and the challenge ladder stuff. DLC/Pre order sleaziness doesn't affect those aspects of the game, so it's just less impactful to MKX than it is to something like Evolve.

I don't really care as long as the DLC characters are not top tier or OP. Also with Injustice weren't they originally only going to do 4 characters which made up the season pass, then the other two were added due to fan demand.

I feel like Neatherealm gets away with it because of the amount of kontent they already cram into their games. You used Evolve as an example and there is an argument to be made that Evolve doesn't have enough game in it, so the season pass stuff is more frustrating. Mortal Kombat 9 and Injustice had loads of quality kontent to play. Also other fighting games are WAY worse than them at this (MvC3, DOA 5).

Companies completely planning their DLC before release and then having it start coming out on Day 1 is kinda shitty. It's the same case with this game, but at least I am excited to play the game so I guess I'm not too pissed off for this game at least.

It's hard to get too upset over MKX's DLC when every year another publisher 'one-ups' the previous year in shady DLC practices.

I'll probably buy the season pass for MKX because I'm pretty keen to play that game. Already quite invested. Does that make me bad person, or part of the problem? I will be upset if there is stuff outside of the season pass that I don't get.

He's been a playable character in previous games. I know fighting game rosters change regularly, but he's a pretty iconic character in my opinion.

He was playable in what, Trilogy and 4? And in both games it was in a rather unbalanced "playable boss" kind of way. I feel like if anything he makes the MOST sense as a DLC character since he's not really a "normal" playable MK character, but he's one people know. It also seems like they had no way of fitting him into the plot which seemed to be a pretty deciding factor for the main roster of this game.

They are and they should get bashed for it. Still I think NRS provides more than enough content in their games, especially considering other fighting games.

@mellotronrules said:

If people had just "made their peace" with Microsoft's outdated, invasive, and downright laughable DRM policies then where would the Xbox One be right now? Making a ruckus works.

Im just going to wait for the Komplete edition, should be ut for Christmas

They have been, though - ever since pre-order fatalities. It's just that while their practices are shit, they are still a tiny bit less egregious than Evolve's and I don't remember anyone from NRS come out to openly say that their 60$ game is specifically designed to be a vector for DLC.