Portal 2 - DLC Backlash

Recommended Videos

Bill Bread

New member
Feb 21, 2011
109
0
0
blaza said:
Im suprised not more people know that the game "goes gold" months before release and this day one dlc is done so companies dont get paid to sit around while the dvd's are made and shipped. Day one dlc is just released then because..there finished with it.
You're telling me it took a full development team to come up with some halfassed skins.
 

blaza

New member
Nov 26, 2010
36
0
0
Bill Bread said:
blaza said:
Im suprised not more people know that the game "goes gold" months before release and this day one dlc is done so companies dont get paid to sit around while the dvd's are made and shipped. Day one dlc is just released then because..there finished with it.
You're telling me it took a full development team to come up with some halfassed skins.
Not necessarily. Some where probably working on the skins, while others worked on somthing else. Im not sure of the dev team size but I highly doubt it would be trouble to make that many skins in two-three months waiting for release day.
 

Elamdri

New member
Nov 19, 2009
1,481
0
0
believer258 said:
They can say "that chunk is worth 60 dollars", but ultimately it's the consumer that decides what is and isn't worth $60.
And the consumer decides by buying or not buying the product. The consumer doesn't get to purchase the product and THEN ***** and moan after the fact. Caveat Emptor.


believer258 said:
If you've got all that content ready on day 1, it should be on the disc. Whether that's as unlockables or rewards or whatever, if you've got it ready when you're done with the game then it should be on the disc because when I pay that much money, I'm expecting the complete experience, not most of the experience with an extra price tag on the rest of the bits.
Why? What makes you entitled to the content simply because it was completed at launch? There is no RULE that says that a developer has to sell you a completed game at launch. Hell, look at what Blizzard is doing with Starcraft 2. You have to buy THREE games to get the story!

And to be honest, Developers do release games completed at launch, because it's good business strategy. DLC is optional side quests, Expansions, or cosmetics. I've yet to see a game where the ending of the game was some extra purchase.

That being said, there is nothing to stop a developer from releasing a game and making you buy the ending separate (so long as there is no consumer fraud). I don't think that would be good for the industry, but there is no rule against it. In that case, the consumer's remedy is to vote with your wallet so to speak and not purchase that game.
 

ekkaman

New member
Feb 19, 2009
126
0
0
Their is no DLC for the game, you can get a two pack or portal two with other steam games but there is no DLC.
 

Treblaine

New member
Jul 25, 2008
8,682
0
0
Bill Bread said:
No, actually, it's not. How about you stop being so obnoxious. If I spend £30 on a game I expect that to be EVERYTHING, not 'that minus the sum of £28 of DLC'.
I never said TF2 had day 1 DLC,
You said 'TF2 did this', when it didn't. Take it back.
The issue is that this is all day 1 DLC. The TF2 stuff was added later, that's excusable. This isn't.
You're being pedantic.

He OBVIOUSLY meant "TF2 charges for cosmetic extras" not "Day 1 DLC"
 

Wicky_42

New member
Sep 15, 2008
2,468
0
0
I personally don't get the issue here. I'd be riled if it was in any way game content, but cosmetic things like paintjobs for the co-op bots? Nah. It's like that horse armour thing - silly, but some people might like it so why not have the option?

Very silly to get all worked up about it - it's not DLC, it's trivial microtransaction extras.

Then again, maybe enough backlash will dissuade Valve from trying anything heavier next time; they could have been piloting the idea (well, TF2's already done that but...) with potential to upscale to more DLC content in future games. Better to nip it in the bud early maybe ;)
 

Beryl77

New member
Mar 26, 2010
1,599
0
0
Can someone please explain to me why people care so much about a cosmetic DLC? I honestly don't know. It makes basically no difference whether you've got the DLC or not. When Valve will release DLC that actually matters, then it will be for free.
 

Treblaine

New member
Jul 25, 2008
8,682
0
0
-Dragmire- said:
grabbed this from my quote in http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.278315-Whats-the-problem-with-day-1-dlc?page=2#10845435

"day 1 dlc means to me that the developer had a completed game and took nonessential bits out to raise the price of the game.

For a weird analogy, look at it this way:

You buy a cheeseburger, everything is there upon you ordering it but then they decide to scrape off the condiments and charge you extra if you want ketchup, mustard etc.. You don't have to have it but it was done already and it's supposed to be part of the product.

... makes sense in my head anyway...

Basically they purposely created an unfinished product to raise profits."

^I'm not saying this is a bad practice, I just think it's rude to tell people the game they just bought is not really complete unless your willing to pay an additional fee.
Well in this case they didn't remove anything essential to enjoying the product, just a bunch of cosmetic shit that frankly only big girly-men would care about. It's essentially make-up, expensive make up at that.

I mean what would having extra skins show about you? That you EARNED them by completing challenges? That you CREATED them yourself. No. Just that you flashed your cash and bought them, that you are a stooge with more money that sense.

I wouldn't be surprised if it became deeply unpopular to ever join a Portal 2 co-op lobby with premium skins, for fear of being griefed.
 

internetzealot1

New member
Aug 11, 2009
1,693
0
0
Hydro14 said:
My 2 cents on this: I hear a lot of 'It should have been included with the game.' and I have just one question. Why? Until I get an answer I don't give the complaints any credibility. That said I come from a heavily MMO-based background to gaming so this whole idea of your game and all its associated files being a single-purchase is a little alien to me.

EDIT: Also, it's not DLC, it's a microtransaction.
The original purpose of DLC was to provide a way for developers to add content to their game post-release. It benefitted both sides: the fans got more out of their game, and developers got paid. Now, DLC has turned into an exploitative business strategy. Developers make the game, then strip content out so that it can be sold to people who have already made their purchase. Some developers are going so far as to leave content on this disk, then restrict access to it until it is unlocked via microtransaction.
 

Hydro14

New member
Sep 23, 2010
87
0
0
Erm, something I've just noticed: is it possible that these micro-transactions aren't yet available to PC users? I just say this because I can't seem to find them.
 

Amishdemon

New member
Jun 3, 2009
155
0
0
I figure they put the DLC in incase anyone didn't have the hats in tf2 yet or didn't have TF2. It is DLC but in this case DLC stands for Down loadable cosmetics. blame the tf2 team not valve if your gonna blame anyone.

Beryl77 said:
Can someone please explain to me why people care so much about a cosmetic DLC? I honestly don't know. It makes basically no difference whether you've got the DLC or not. When Valve will release DLC that actually matters, then it will be for free.
the last part of this is very true all gameplay things in TF2 have been free (you just speed up getting them by using money.)
 

nYuknYuknYuk

New member
Jul 12, 2009
505
0
0
Hydro14 said:
My 2 cents on this: I hear a lot of 'It should have been included with the game.' and I have just one question. Why? Until I get an answer I don't give the complaints any credibility. That said I come from a heavily MMO-based background to gaming so this whole idea of your game and all its associated files being a single-purchase is a little alien to me.

EDIT: Also, it's not DLC, it's a microtransaction.
It's like a restaurant making you pay for condiments. It's not that big of a deal like some people are making it, but it certainly is low that Valve didn't just put these things in the game to start with. The thing about Day 1 DLC is that it isn't adding additional content to the full retail game, it's taking some content out of the full game and then billing it as additional content.
 

Treblaine

New member
Jul 25, 2008
8,682
0
0
As to the argument "It's $60 worth of DLC"

Well that is skin variation, no one would buy ALL of them! That would be pointless, you'd buy the hats/skins that you like, not every shade of pink, purple and other crap that doesn't appeal to you.

It's like walking into a clothes store:

"WHHHAA! It would cost me $100'000 to buy every item in this shop. That's it, fuck this place, I'm leaving"
 

Deminobody

New member
Nov 18, 2009
38
0
0
It's day 1 TF2 store. It may not be pretty, but I would hardly call it DLC. In fact, Portal 2 has even less gameplay effecting items on sale than TF2 does.

It's a personal gripe that some people have scared others in to overestimating. It doesn't break the game. Can we move on now?
 

Hydro14

New member
Sep 23, 2010
87
0
0
internetzealot1 said:
Hydro14 said:
My 2 cents on this: I hear a lot of 'It should have been included with the game.' and I have just one question. Why? Until I get an answer I don't give the complaints any credibility. That said I come from a heavily MMO-based background to gaming so this whole idea of your game and all its associated files being a single-purchase is a little alien to me.

EDIT: Also, it's not DLC, it's a microtransaction.
The original purpose of DLC was to provide a way for developers to add content to their game post-release. It benefitted both sides: the fans got more out of their game, and developers got paid. Now, DLC has turned into an exploitative business strategy. Developers make the game, then strip content out so that it can be sold to people who have already made their purchase. Some developers are going so far as to leave content on this disk, then restrict access to it until it is unlocked via microtransaction.
Ok, so it's possible that the term DLC has been mis-appropriated; while it used to mean 'patch' it now more often than not means 'expansion,' I don't believe that the nature of what is being offered has changed; expansions have always been available (Starcraft Brood War, anyone?) and patches have been available for a long time. (This just re-enforces my initial point that this is not DLC, it's micro-transactions and they are not the same.) I'm guessing though that the same complaints would have been made if an expansion pack had been released on the launch date because 'it should've been in the game.' If a studio works on two games at once and releases them at the same time (stupid idea since they'd be competing with their own product but bear with me a second) is the player who buys one immediately entitled to the other? No, I think we'd all agree that would be silly. So why is it different when the two products are linked by the same intellectual property and one requires the other to be bought in order to be any use? The point I'm making is that the game 'Portal 2' and the hats are separate products.
 

Caliostro

Headhunter
Jan 23, 2008
3,253
0
0
Irridium said:
Its just fucking hats people. Seriously, are hats and costumes so god damn important to you that it makes the game inherently worse?

WAAAH! WE DON'T GET PURELY COSMETIC ITEMS FOR FREE! VALVE AND PORTAL 2 TOTALLY SUCK BECAUSE OF THIS! WAAAH!

Jesus, its one thing to be pissed about hefty content being released for a price at day one, but some fucking hats and skins? Come on.
Actually personally, my issue isn't that we don't get them for free, is that we shouldn't get them at all. It's junk.
 

Netrigan

New member
Sep 29, 2010
1,924
0
0
AbsoluteVirtue18 said:
I love the people using this as a weapon against Valve. It's hilarious, because it's stupid. It'd be different if this was like Broken Steel or something, but it's just cosmetic crap, like gamer pics or avatar items.

[sub]It's funny as hell, I swear to God it is.[/sub]
Yeah, it's exactly what they've been doing with Team Fortress 2 for the past few years.

There's random bouts of bitching about TF2's store, but I think it's as close to a non-issue as possible. LittleBigPlanet 2 dropped with four or five DLCs that let you customize your characters. Virtually all of their DLC (save for three or four level packs) are just costumes for your sack-boy. It's just a bit of fun. If you feel like pimping out your avatar, you buy them... if you don't, it's easy enough to ignore it.