Why is it that so many people are so ignorant, uniformed, or just plain stupid when it comes to discussing DLC? Every single time DLC is released the week of or close to the release of a game people flip out and lose their shit about it. The same exact points come up every time too, "This should've been included in the game." or "They should've released this later." or "They intentionally cut this so it could be DLC." or whatever BS it is that some random moron on what random post is always spouting about DLC.
Remember back when Dragon Age: Origins came out and there were a number of people that ended up being a bunch of whiney ass cry babies over the fact that it had DLC on day one? They didn't care that there was perfectly good reason for it, and that EA/Bioware wasn't actually trying to screw them over, but rather formed their own opinions about what exactly happened in regards to the day one DLC because as we all know the masses of gamers out there are completely rational.
The reason why their was DLC day one for DA:O was because the PC team finished the game long before the console team finished the console ports of the game and so the PC started working on Warden's Keep, Shale, and various other things for DA:O, but none of those things were finished when the main game was finished and sent off, however they were completed before the game hit store shelves and so those elements were able to be DLC on day one of the game's release. Bioware in the time since has continued to make DLC packs for DA, as well as an expansion, and a full on sequel too. They (like alot of companies) don't have some sort of elaborate scheme to screw people over via DLC like so many people think devs and publishers are doing to them.
The developers and publishers that are bad when it comes to DLC are Japanese developers. In Japan they know western audiences like DLC, but since they're so ass backwards when it comes to anything online related they don't pay any sort of attention or care that western audiences don't like it when DLC is already on the disc, which is what almost all Japanese DLC is like (notably Namco-Bandai)
Why not release DLC months later instead of day one or so close to the release date? Well you think any idiot could figure that out on their own, but apparently that's not the case. The reason why so many publishers try to have it ready as early as possible is because most (if not all) games are at the peak of their popularity the first two weeks of their release, so that window is usually the best time to release DLC because thats when the most people are going to be playing whatever game.
Releasing DLC months later is pointless for most games, especially when people trade in games so early, or given that only half of console owners are online, then factor in that only a small fraction of that half are going to buy the DLC anyways, plus ontop of all that Microsoft and Sony are taking a cut/percentage of whatever the DLC makes. You also have to keep in mind that in order a game to a game to have DLC months later or for a game to keep producing DLC means that a developer/publisher has to keep a team working on DLC for a product that's already been released when it makes more financial sense to just have those said team members work on whatever next full on project instead.
People will ask why developers don't do more with DLC, ie exapansion packs, more characters, or anything really "major" in alot of cases and (aside from the reasons above) it's because they (the developers) know that they stand to make more money of any sort of big feature in a sequel rather then doing it as DLC where it's not going to reach alot of people. Ask yourself why fighting games don't tend to have DLC characters, stages, etc, when thats exactly the type of thing people want for those type of games? It's because the developers know that those things (more characters, stages, etc) stand to make more money by including them in a sequel rather then DLC. There's been what 7 fighting games this generation of consoles and only BlazBlue 2 has a downloadable character? Not counting the Star Wars character unlock DLC for Soul Calibur 4. The new Mortal Kombat will have DLC characters as well, but the point is this case is that sequels tend to screw over alot of DLC.
Just take a minute and realize that DLC is not as cut and dry and most people make it out to be. There are so many factors that most people are so unaware of when it comes to DLC yet they're so ready to flip out over.
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