I think DLC is out of control, video games are already an expensive product and I do not care for the idea of having to pay for the right to pay them more for the rest of the game.
Originally the idea of DLC was for game companies to develop and distribute signifigant content cheaply. The idea being that one of the big obstacles to releasing expansion packs like say "Forge Of Virtue" and "The Silver Seed" for Ultima 7, or the mission packs for the "Wing Commander" franchise (all by Origin) was that it cost money to have all of that put on disks, put in a box, and shipped, when they were selling the product for a lower price due to it not being a full game.
The criticisms of Capcom are right on the money, selling fighters singly is not signifigant content for the game. What's more, holding out popular characters for download at this point is simply them saying that they would put them into the game if they didn't think they could make more money off of it.
The problem with the entire logic here is that his arguement is that this kind of thing is "part of the business model" because so many people have been making money that way. It's all about greed, the rising cost of game design has nothing to do with it, most of the cost of game design is human resources and what developers choose to pay themselves out of the development budget. Things like DLC allow them to make more money off the content and give themselves pay raises.
Of course in the end the person to blame for this is YOU the consumer. These guys are just exploiting us, we're the ones who are acting like bipedal cash bags. We're the ones who have been buying increasingly trivial DLC, paying $15 for a map pack, and similar things. People make their excuses for doing it, but in the end when you wave money in front of a business they are going to move to take it.
Here is the thing, how many people are going to buy "Marvel Vs. Capcom 3" anyway? Probably a ton of people. Those people are also going to invest in the DLC. Oh sure those same people are going to be going "BAAAAAAAW" in the forums, but since they buy the product anyway, why should anyone listen to them?
It's sort of like how despite all the antics of Activision people STILL bought "Starcraft 2" and STILL bought "Call Of Duty: Black Ops." and enough copies of each to make them massive successes. Why shouldn't Activision continue to exploit us? Why shouldn't Bobby Kotick refuse to pay the game designers who built up a franchise and eject them with thugs? Heck, why shouldn't Bobby Kotick act like a complete jerk to the entire gaming community. We all buy the products, we give Activision millions upon millions of dollars. Heck, despite everything there are people who advertise for "Black Ops." by talking about the latest cool thing they found in the game, while missing the entire point that no matter how cool the game might be the guys who made it are a complete group of jerks, and what's more are going to gouge them for everything they are worth.
If you don't like what they are doing with "Marvel Vs. Capcom 3" then do not buy the product. Don't whine about it, don't cry about it, simply do not buy it. Once they have your money it doesn't matter WHAT you say.
Right now the only way to stop the abuse of DLC and bring it more into line with what it should be is not to buy the products that are abusing us through it. Also do not buy ANY DLC that does not add signifigant content to the game. Every time you pay to download a new character, a few weapons, or a couple of maps you are making the problem increasingly worse. Ditto for when you buy a core product where DLC is being planned right from the beginning, because that means they aren't making the best game possible (no matter how awesome it might be), but rather deciding what cool things they figure they can get people to pay for individually.
Such are my thoughts. It's just as much OUR fault for paying as it is that of the people on the other side of the equasion.
