The Witcher 2 DLC Won't Cost You a Dime, But Expansion Packs Will -- Er, What's the Difference?

What is downloadable content, anyway? These days, the term is ridiculously broad. Clothes, interface themes, trailers, new quests, additional worlds--it's impossible to tell, covering basically everything.

So when CD Projekt announced during a fan question-and-answer session on GameStop's Facebook page that all downloadable content for The Witcher 2 would be free and the developer would only charge for "expansion packs," I had to dig a little deeper.

In this case, the free downlodable content will encompass shorter and smaller additions, including "half-hour side quests, etc," according to a company spokesperson.

The first piece of free content available is an additional quest called "Troll Trouble," said to include as much as "90 minutes" of additional gameplay. Bigger pieces of content would move into "expansion pack" territory, harkening to when "expansion pack" meant hours of content and often a retail product.

"The implication is that if we’re going to go ahead and charge for something, it’ll be significant content akin to the expansion packs of yesteryear," the spokesperson continued.

(I'll also take this opportunity to ask CD Project to pleasepleaseplease release this on a console.)

Expansion packs are good value for your buck. That's the difference.

Only DLC's that can be seen as Expansions in my eyes are DLCs like Undead Nightmare.

cool


AWWW so close

anyways, still downloading the witcher, it's taking forever.

CD Projekt is fucking awesome! Love those guys and what they´re doing.

I miss expansionpacks.

This is the model I wish more developers would use. Give us cool bonuses for continuing to play your game but don't be afraid to charge for expansion packs that really give huge amounts of content. That's an honest and fair way for both consumer and developer, I think.

How very Valve of them. Very much approve.

I hope they never release it on a console.  There are too many restrictions on the mature content and they would have to compromise on the visuals.

I don't understand what the confusion is over this. Maybe if you're 10 and don't remember what expansion packs are, but I think everyone else gets the distinction. Point Lookout is DLC, Shivering Isles is an expansion pack.

having just played Dragon Age Ultimate Edition (had already played DA and Awakening on 360 but not the dlc packs), this would be a perfect example of what CD Project Red is refering to, as all the small shitty dlc packs like witch hunt, golems and leilana's song would be free, and awakening would be paid. Of course thats not what happened with DA, hopefully they come through on Witcher 2

God I love this game. The second Dragon Age has been vanquished. 

I hope other developers will learn from this.

DLC seemed like a great idea, when it was first introduced.  It was supposed to be a way for developers to keep games constantly updated with smaller chunks of content, rather than waiting a year or two for a full expansion pack.  It's a shame that the market managed to twist it into something so hated..  Hopefully we see more developers returning to proper expansion packs, I'm done with (paid) DLC.

I hope they never release it on a console.  There are too many restrictions on the mature content and they would have to compromise on the visuals.

I am perfectly happy this is on PC only.  I hope it stays that way.

Hearing this almost makes me want to wait for an "ultimate edition" that has everything in the package.  Thats what i did with the first Witcher... i should probably finish the first Witcher >.<

Despite the wording this makes sense.

No DRM, free DLC...I really, really hope those habitual pirates who complain about those things put their money where their mouth is and support this small developer who are putting an AWFUL lot of trust in their PC-only game.

Get yourself a PC Patrick 

The difference is that nowadays single player DLC addons last a few hours at best and cost anywhere from 5-10 dollars and generally leave a lot a to be desired. CDProject is referring to the time when Expansion packs were actually a full length game, just reusing the engine (obviously) and some of the assets from the original games which I'm very stoked for. Aside from the Shadow Broker, Mass Effect 2 dlc and many others have really left a bad taste in my mouth over the nickel-and-dime era of addon content. Even Civ5 is disappointing. 

No DRM, free DLC...I really, really hope those habitual pirates who complain about those things put their money where their mouth is and support this small developer who are putting an AWFUL lot of trust in their PC-only game.

@Rayeth said:

I hope they never release it on a console.  There are too many restrictions on the mature content and they would have to compromise on the visuals.
I am perfectly happy this is on PC only.  I hope it stays that way.

I don't know what your problem is with Witcher getting a console release. PC owners always complain about their experiences being diluted by being developed alongside consoles. However here you have the perfect scenario - you get your superior PC version first and then later on consoles get a port for you to sneer at.   Everyone's a winner.

Get me on the line with CD Projekt and I'll get em to release this on consoles, with my mad Polish talking skills.

Considering how much it feels like the controls were designed with a controller in mind, I would be very surprised if this game didn't come to consoles some day.

Nowadays basically an entire game can be downloaded. The term really does need to be changed, but DLC and an expansion are fairly different concepts. DLCs are just usually small tidbits of extra content of the same exact game. Whereas, Xpax are usually further additions to the same game, but usually more mechanics, more levels to gain, new skills, actually important story development (where DLCs are not very important), and so on. They should start calling expansions DECs or something, if not to clarify since everything is basically downloadable nowadays.

@PK: We'll allow you to have this on console if you can get them to make LA Noire for PC.

A fair swap I think! ;)

Translation: that shit BioWare charges you $10 for? Ya, we're giving that away because it's just cutting room floor stuff with little value but it will keep you in our cool world for a bit longer if you'd like. Unlike BioWare, we won't nickel and dime you via in-camp NPC. However, you guys who have been playing games since way back when, before Halo invented video games, you guys remember a real expansion pack right? Ya? We'll be charging for those.

I am on chapter 4 of The Witcher and I am loving it. Can't wait till I carry my save over to 2.

No DRM? Ouch this is going to be pirated to high hell; the pirates can pretend they have standards...but really all they have are justifications. 

Pirate: Oh yeah I wouldn't have pirated the Witcher 2 because it didn't have DRM, but I wasn't going to buy it anyway, so I pirated it.

What an amazing looking game. A friend invited me around for a looksie, but I need to finish the original first!

@Undeadpool said:

No DRM, free DLC...I really, really hope those habitual pirates who complain about those things put their money where their mouth is and support this small developer who are putting an AWFUL lot of trust in their PC-only game.

bahahahahaha, please.

Pirates are going to steal this game just like any other.

@PK: We'll allow you to have this on console if you can get them to make LA Noire for PC.A fair swap I think! ;)

@Kpek

harkening to when "expansion pack" meant hours of content and often a retail product    

That would be a dream come true <3But I do find it funny how you can get scoffed at if you want something on the PC, but not on the consoles...

Downloading this right now on Steam, if the game is even half as good as it looks I think i'll be in for a treat.

Game's great so far although optimisation could use a little work judging by how many people on the official GOG forums are having issues.

A company that treats DLC as a reason to have someone keep playing your game, as opposed to a reason to make someone pay you again - is a company that I want to see do well.

Get a decent PC and enjoy the game in its full glory Patrick. There's nothing quite like.

I just purchased the 1st witcher for $4.99 and have to say I am totally engrossed.  I might wait a bit to get the 2nd so as not to get burnt out, but I am really, really enjoying it so far.  Best RPG Ive played in quite some time.

To me, DLC is simply additional stuff like quests, weapons and whatnot. Expansions pack are story-driven continuations of the main quest, or simply spin-offs that takes the high road of six hours and more of content.

I'm glad that CDProjeckt decided to treat their fanbase such as this.

Technically if it's content that is downloaded, it's downloadable content. 

Technically if it's content that is downloaded, it's downloadable content. 

@MooseyMcMan said:

Technically if it's content that is downloaded, it's downloadable content. 

Technically if it expands the game, it's an expansion pack.

What's the difference? I hate them both...

Patrick - I think they will port this to a console for sure.
I just plugged in my GamePad and started going at it - it's fucking superb with a GamePad. Stopped playing with my Keyboard and Mouse almost immediately after changing some config files so I had inverted GamePad controls!