This Retail-Only DLC Nonsense Has To Stop
I don’t update this site much, mostly because I’m busy with work, and play, and many other things. But this new tactic of EA’s to release DLC that’s only available to people who purchased the game is a direct fuck you to used game buyers and game renters. And it’s made me mad enough to create a post about it.
Here’s the situation, quickly. EA has recently started inserting DLC codes into retail packages of their games, like Dragon Age: Origins. They do this so that people can go home and enter in these codes and get content not found on the disc. I can totally understand their mentality behind it–discourage people from buying used games from GameStop, because the publisher gets 0% of that used game sale, and GameStop gets a free $30 profit just for essentially leasing out their shelf space for a little bit.
I get your mentality; you want every single person to purchase a new copy of the game, and then when they are done with it, let it sit on the shelf to rot forever. Every business wants to maximize their sales, but this isn’t the right tactic. By trying to screw over GameStop, you’re screwing over your own customers. Here’s how.
Imagine a guy heading to GameStop to purchase a new copy of Dragon Age. It’s a popular game, so it’s likely that it would be sold out by the time he gets there. But ‘lo! There’s a used copy for $5 off retail. Not seeing a huge difference in buying a used version and driving somewhere else to track down a copy that hasn’t been groped by a sweaty guy before, he picks it up. He pays, goes home, and is pleased that he saved $5.
It’s not until he fires up the game, heads to the DLC section and reads the descriptions that he realizes that some of the content up for download–a new character, a new mission and a special customized armor–is included free in the game. Frantically, he searches the used game box only to realize that it’s not in there! Why would it be? The previous owner probably registered it for himself, or if not, sold it on eBay.
Also imagine a scenario of a game renter, who assumes he’s getting the full experience of the game by using GameFly or BlockBuster, only to find out that there’s chunks of what was supposed to be there missing because he didn’t buy the game at retail.
This wouldn’t be so bad if the content were both available online for purchase afterwards–the publisher would then make a little back from that used-game buyer–or priced reasonably. This is not the case with Dragon Age. The Dragon Armor, which gives you an exclusive armor for both Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2, coming soon, isn’t even available to download online. And the other DLC, which gives you “hours of questing” and a new character, has maybe three hours worth of gameplay in it. Guess how much it sells for. 1200 points Guess how much other, similar DLC with a similar amount of content sells for? 540 and 400 points. If pricing the day-one, retail-only DLC at three times the amount as regular DLC isn’t a complete “fuck you” to the buyer, I don’t know what is.
Taken to the unlikely extreme, you’d going to see cases where 1/2 of the game is on the disc, and half of the game is reserved exclusively for downloading on day one. Is any publisher ballsy enough to pull this off? Maybe. I never thought they would do what they’re already doing either.
On the same token, why isn’t it reasonable to expect that you’re able to experience the “full” game, as in everything the developer intended, without jumping through all these hoops? I don’t mean just buying the game at retail, I mean buying OTHER games at retail in order to unlock content for another game, or buying cans of Pepsi to unlock special pieces of armor, or even pre-ordering to get content not available after retail. Why is this?
I understand the idea of “bonus” content, but take a look at the Star Trek Online preorder rewards. There are almost a dozen different reward types, spread out among different retailers, including ones that are only available in collectors’ editions and digital download. What’s a person that wants to experience the entire game to do? Pay ten times for ten different packages so he can experience everything? This is absurd.
I understand the idea of making things “special”, and that making these items available for purchase for everyone negates the idea of it being exclusive or rare. It’s the same idea that by making everyone average, nobody excels. But it’s very frustrating not being able to do everything in a game just by buying it. Imagine if, on the original Super Mario Bros., you were only able to access levels 1 through 6 on the cartridge, but you had to buy it from Walmart in order to unlock level 7, and Target to unlock level 8. Would you feel slighted, even though technically those levels are bonuses? I would.
There’s no easy solution to this escalating war between content distributors and used game retailers. It’ll never be illegal for people to resell their goods, nor should it be. I’m just asking for you to take a hard look at yourself and ask whether you’re irreparably damaging your customers’ good will by purposefully locking out a portion of them who prefer to buy games used, or prefer to rent games they can finish quickly instead of buying them outright. The only two options aren’t buying the game used and buying the game new, they can just not buy your game at all.
p.s. Thanks to the wife and her quick thinking, we found DLC codes on eBay for about $10, which meant that–after counting in the $5 discount from buying a used game–I had to pay $5 extra for the privilege of buying something pre-owned. Thanks, EA. Thanks.
