Realigning the Azimuth

The introduction of DLC with the most current console generation heralded an easier way for publishers to add additional content into their games. Whilst there have been some outstanding uses of this, in particular, the support given to Burnout Paradise by its developers, there were also a number of staggering misfires (the Oblivion Horse Armour pack stands as a classic example of this).

With the years of experience gained on the consoles, I would have expected a decent experience with releasing DLC for iPhone games (I’m unsure how many non-games apps are using DLC, but that’s because I’ve simply not examined that area in detail) since the release of OS 3.0 earlier this year. Even with the recent policy change to allow free applications to also have DLC, the way this has been treated by some publishers has been one of the earlier micro-transaction pain console gamers experienced.

I’ve always seen DLC as a means to provide additional content for a game to help maximise the life time of it in the marketplace, so seeing DLC available upon release of a title feels like a desperate cash grab. For me, this is only reinforced upon paying premium price for a what ends up being a tiny subset of a complete game.

To start seeing this trend in the App Store (although, these cases are in games from the same publisher), is one I find worrying. Is this a tactic being employed by publishers to attempt to reduce piracy (simply by ensuring that users who do pirate are unable to access all of the content)?

But even then, is this the right way of ensuring that users will purchase the additional content? If a user feels that they’ve not received a fair deal on the base game, then I wonder how likely they will be to purchase said content? I might be cynical, but I feel it isn’t that likely.

I guess there are two viable models – the first would be to mirror the model used for titles on Xbox Live Arcade. The complete package is downloaded for free, with only a small subset of the game playable. If a user enjoys the game, they can purchase the DLC which enables the full game for a reasonable price. Doing this can ensure that the so-called lite versions of games are no longer required in the App Store (which will help close down the flood of releases).

Another alternative would be to mirror the more traditional console game. Charge a fair price for the complete game, and offer smaller pieces as DLC. This would work more for traditional games, but would require the gamer to pay more up-front for a title, with smaller pieces of DLC.

As it stands, I feel that pricing games (and any associated content) is never going to be easy. Striking a balance between giving the gamer a fair amount of content for their dollar, and being able to provide a means of getting a return on the time & money you’ve put into your title is something which requires a lot of thought in my own opinion.