Day one DLC detrimental to gamers and publishers alike

Ryan Bromsgrove
Opinion Editor

Feb 03, 2012

Thanks to changes in console hardware and the jump to get them online over the past several years, downloadable content and online passes have taken off in some questionable ways — the worst of which being day one downloadable content. Outside of subscription-based MMOs, it used to be that when you spent $60 on a game, you got the entire product. Now? Not so much.

Extra content isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. If you’re a PC gamer, the idea of expansion packs not quite reaching the status of full-on sequel but still offering significant new content at a small cost is so common it’s almost expected. Most gamers are happy to pay a little extra to get a few more hours of entertainment after the initial release. But the situation we’re fast finding ourselves in is when you buy the game used, you’re getting less content than if you’d bought it new. Their’s no reason why a digital product should degrade over time, but the increasing practice of withholding content from second-hand buyers is essentially artificial wear on the product.

It doesn’t have to be a bad thing. When it comes to online passes that are tied to one person’s console, it’s not unreasonable to charge used players something. There are real costs associated with keeping the servers running, and the used game market brings with it a constant refreshing of people using those servers, rather than the steeper decline due to bored gamers you’d expect to correlate with new game sales. Games can change hands several times and extend the life of the multiplayer aspect beyond what the company is obligated to provide.

And expansions that offer significant new content, such as Dragon Age: Awakening generally go over well. It’s a relatively cheap way to breathe some new life into a game that many played through once or twice and moved on.

But where people get justifiably mad is with day one DLC: single-player content integrated within the main campaign that often comes free with a new purchase, but is not available to used customers. Dragon Age did this twice, with Shale’s and the Warden’s Keep quests in the first game, and Sebastian’s quests and the Black Emporium in the second. The upcoming Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is doing the same thing with the House of Valor faction quests: they’re free with new purchases, but everyone else has to pay.

It’s no secret that companies don’t like the used-game market, but they’re not seeing the whole picture. They claim they don’t get any money from a used-sale, but in reality, they do. People who sell games often buy them with the intention to sell them later when they’re done with them. Part of the value of spending that arbitrary $60 is that they’ll be able to get some of it back when they’re finished. If companies insist on continuing offering content exclusive to new purchases, however, then those who buy games used will start demanding lower prices. Those selling their new games will see themselves getting less money, and will be more hesitant to buy new themselves. By continuing to push this greedy, cash-grabbing practice, publishers are going to find out that the used market is intimately tied to the new, and that seeking to kill it will only hurt themselves in the long run.

There’s no industry more self-righteous about its used market, though, than that of video games. Toyota doesn’t complain that they’re losing money when someone buys one of their cars used. Apple doesn’t care if a Macbook is sold on the used market, and not even the record companies complain about used CD sales. But for some reason, video game publishers feel entitled to a cut of the money every time a game changes hands.

Day one DLC is content that was developed alongside the actual game. To try to spin it as an “extra bonus” for their loyal fans who buy the games new doesn’t work, because it’s only extra by virtue of them saying so. In reality, it’s content that they arbitrarily pull out of the game to use as essentially a tax on a used sale. Yes, you can play through the game without it, but you often are genuinely missing out on content relevant to the game. With Sebastian in Dragon Age 2, for instance, the way in which you end the game might have him leaving the party, threatening to bring an army to the city of Kirkwall on his return. Thus, his character isn’t merely an unimportant opportunity to flesh out the world a bit more for those interested, but a potential sequel hook. But if you bought the game used and didn’t pay for the DLC, he won’t even show up. This is like putting your car up on Kijiji but ripping off the passenger-side door. Yeah, your buyer can drive the car without it, but if they want the full experience, they’re going to have to go back to the manufacturer just because.

When a game is released, it should be complete whether you buy it used or new. Sell me the whole game at every point of the reselling chain, just like any other product, or lose the sale at the head of it.

© Gateway Student Journalism Society — All Rights Reserved