One of the biggest complaints about the gaming scene I see most of all is all this "DLC" stuff publishers keep pushing to customers. Gamers nowadays are making claims that games are "half finished" and in order to experience everything the game has to offer you need to purchase more and more content from those evil publishers. Now, Ubisoft of all people, have heard those complaints and are deciding to do something about it. Anne Blondel-Jouin, the Vice President of "live operations", has announced that from now on, Ubisoft games will feature support for up to 5-10 years, and to keep players engaged they're going to be "very careful with monetization", removing compulsory DLC from their future games.

"Monetisation is something we have to be very careful about, and my team is in charge of that and making sure we find a right balance," Blondel-Jouin says.

"The key is if it's not adding something on-top of the actual experience of the game, then it is no good. Because you'll be asking for more money for the wrong reasons. Also, if the content is compulsory for the gamers, it's no good as well. It is a way to deliver more fun to gamers, but they have a choice to go for that extra fun or not. If I take an analogy of an amusement park, you can go through all the rides, but then you can also go to the shop to buy some food or merchandise or whatever... regardless of whether you spend in the shop, you're still part of the whole experience. Nobody is making you buy if you don't want to, but it is another way to have a different entertainment experience. If you're with your kids, and there's a toy you want to get, we will make sure it is an extra experience. It won't be the case if you don't buy it then you can't do anything else.

"It wouldn't work if it was about making it compulsory for gamers. No more DLC that you have to buy if you want to have the full experience. You have the game, and if you want to expand it - depending on how you want to experience the game - you're free to buy it, or not."

So what does this mean, exactly? Rainbow Six Siege already uses this practice for it's content; maps and additional things like game modes are given out to players in free updates, whereas things like character customization and new characters themselves are optional DLC. All optional DLC in the game is cosmetic and changes nothing gameplay wise, as Blondel-Jouin put it "everyone gets the same full experience".

In my opinion, this is the perfect way to monetize your content while keeping players happy. While some people may agree, any DLC is bad DLC, things like character customization and simple visual additions that have no impact on gameplay are much preferred over "pay-to-win" and "exclusive maps" that games like Call of Duty boast. I, for one, hope to see publishers adopt this same policy when it comes to DLC.

Source

 

[kingsora831]

I really feel like this has something to do with the death of the divison's player base, a game they promised would last a couple of years.

All of The game's dlc still hasn't even been released, yet the player base is severely diminished and they are still continuing to charge for the dlc that would more than likely reinvigorate the player base and reel in people to start playing again.

This hurts both players who already purchased the season pass (dumb decision) and those who would continue to play but dont want to make a $40 purchase for subpar additional content.


Also all this; Regular Edition, Deluxe Edition, and Gold Edition for all of their releases is dumb.

 

[retrofan_k]

The same could be said for constant balance patches for fighting games like MKX because that was released as a BETA and is now a completely different game. Gone are the days of "WYSIWYG" and make do with what is offered to the table, however, patching to fix bugs is okay but nothing else. Bring back late 90's/early 2K way of doing things and ditch all this DLC crap and constant patching and actually do a proper QA test cycle, instead of letting the consumers be the testers.

 

[Deleted-379826]

Woo this is awesome. Why can't every company be like this

 

[ov3rkill]

Too bad people are still buying it. Heck, even the so called 'Early Access', you pay to beta test their product. haha.

 

[Arras]

The same could be said for constant balance patches for fighting games like MKX because that was released as a BETA and is now a completely different game. Gone are the days of "WYSIWYG" and make do with what is offered to the table, however, patching to fix bugs is okay but nothing else. Bring back late 90's/early 2K way of doing things and ditch all this DLC crap and constant patching and actually do a proper QA test cycle, instead of letting the consumers be the testers.

There's only so much you can do with testing. You can't expect the testers to spend thousands of hours practicing and getting tournament-level skilled just to see if some characters have an edge over the others.

 

[darklordrs]

There's only so much you can do with testing. You can't expect the testers to spend thousands of hours practicing and getting tournament-level skilled just to see if some characters have an edge over the others.

Bingo. Do you even realize the level of horrible shit we get from not being able to patch games?

SF3 Third Strike. Dominated by two characters. SSBB. Dominated by one character. SF2 Turbo, dominated by one banned character and one soft-banned character. It just keeps going.

 

[Burlsol]

Now if only they could do something about their always on DRM and having to sign into U-play to play single player games.

 

[Phemeto]

Maybe its because im a huge From Soft fanboy, but more companies should do DLC like them. They make GREAT games (even before souls, Armored Core was AWESOME, as was their other RPGs) and the DLC usually adds a fair amount of ACTUAL content to their games, is paced out over months or years, isn't expensive, and is genuinely good. The only complaint they've ever had with DLC is this Ashes of Ariandel, which I actually enjoyed a lot. Some people think its too short, but thats fine, thats their opinion.

 

[CathyRina]

I'll believe it when I see it.
Rainbow six siege uses it but it was necessary considering the game would've been dead if they didn't.

Also what happened to muh "Games are too expensive to create so we have to put priced DLC everywhere"?

 

[Öhr]

Now rethink your shitty DRM uPlay policy and you might actually have me back as a customer. There are so many Ubisoft games I wanna buy and play, but well, not like this. I don't accept DRM punishment for buying your products!

 

[Autz]

What about no Ubisoft?

I'll believe that with a new game, not with empty words. No offense but you guys are way least reliable than Capcom.

 

[Foxi4]

Most times I skip the DLC shenanigans altogether and just buy GOTY versions with DLC included, unless it's a game I truly love and the expansion provided is justifiable. I recommend that stance to everyone - we need to stop supporting these nickle and dime operations. If it's not a whole new campaign, I'm just not buying it - it'll be included in the GOTY release either way.

 

[Jayro]

I have to thank Nintendo for not forcing paid DLC in Splatoon... Every update gave us new maps, weapons, or clothes. At the end of the last update, they gave us all a full game's worth of content. I feel happy with my $60 purchase, as I feel I got my money's worth.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Woo this is awesome. Why can't every company be like this

Cause every company hates us, thinks we're scum and want to make money off of pressuring us to buy "enhancements" for our games we don't really need, and shouldn't be "enhancements" in the first place.

I hope they haven't forgotten the reason why they are still in business is cause WE BUY THEIR STUFF!

Lesson to everyone, you want a company to stop making games, go out of business? Don't buy their stuff, laws of supply and demand. Basics ONE-ZERO-ONE.

Resist temptation to do these things and defend what you believe is the golden path.

 

[Deleted-379826]

Cause every company hates us, thinks we're scum and want to make money off of pressuring us to buy "enhancements" for our games we don't really need, and shouldn't be "enhancements" in the first place.

I hope they haven't forgotten the reason why they are still in business is cause WE BUY THEIR STUFF!

Lesson to everyone, you want a company to stop making games, go out of business? Don't buy their stuff, laws of supply and demand. Basics ONE-ZERO-ONE.

Resist temptation to do these things and defend what you believe is the golden path.

Couldn't have said it better my self! lol

 

[JAWS_XS]

I've been gaming before and after DLC. First, I've only ever bought DLC a few times. The last one was probably MarioKart 8. I enjoyed the game, so I wanted to reward the devs with my money. I've never bought ANY season passes. Fuck that. Hey game companies? Why would you want to split up the community? When these map packs come out there goes half (or more) people alienated from your mp game. Battlefront I'm looking at you!!

 

[Xuman]

DLC. Devs Leeching Cash.

 

[Bladexdsl]

BS i'll believe it when i see it.

 

[LaronX]

Ubsioft stoping to usw AC as a dildo to please investors and ditching DLC? Holy dagger we might even see them get creation again and last time that happened we got Prince of Persia and resulting out of that AC. I honestly doubt it till I see it, but who knows.

 

[Luckkill4u]

Seems kind of weird they are saying this that Watch_Dogs 2 just came out and the DLC system is already annoying. It's actually making me not buy the game until a 'Game of the Year' edition comes out. What happened to completely making a video game for a release? I'm just tired of the gradual roll out of features that should be in the game on day one. Games like the Witcher 3 is different with its expansions. You get the main game with its story that can be completed as a whole then you can buy expansions for it that are about the same length as a full sized game. There is also what Konami did with Metal Gear Solid V where the DLC adds no extra story but just costumes, weapons and online multiplayer maps. Which is okay because it doesn't give much advantage over another player or is completely aesthetic (Except expensive Konami).