After reading a recent post about DLC over at fantopro.com, I got to talking with the author, Steven Savage, via email and agreed to try my hand at a guest post about the recent history of DLC in gaming.
You can read it here
Ahh, this one is good.
EA Canada senior producer Jason DeLong believes that pretty soon publishers will have to start thinking of new ways to deliver and charge for their content.
In a Game Informer article, Jason has this to say,
I think that we’re going to start to see – maybe not in the next year, but in the near future – games go down the route of smaller up-front experiences and lower prices at the beginning and then the ability to extend the game through episodic material or future feature material. I think that’s a direction we’re probably heading in.
Fair enough, Valve have shown how well episodic gaming can be done and several other companies are adopting this method of distribution already. Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Half Life 2 are just a small selection of games that have taken the episodic route with varying success.
What interests me is the following quote,
Games are getting more expensive, and times are tough, and it’s getting harder to purchase every game you want. So, how can we keep people playing and offer them more but not have to make them break the bank to do it? It’s going to be an interesting creative problem for us to solve
Now, call me cynical, but if this was coming from anyone but an EA employee, I’d be more willing to accept it at face value… But this is EA after all, and old habits die hard in my opinion. There is every chance I’m wrong, but if I were a betting man, I’d lay down some serious cash on the possibility of EA moving towards releasing stripped down versions of games with the option to add the bulk of normal content via DLC.
About 3 years ago there was a rumour that Sony planned to ship Gran Turismo without cars or tracks, but make them available via the PSN Store as paid DLC packs. Now imagine that but with a Madden release, or Tiger Woods. You can buy the game, but it only comes with one golfer and one PGA course on the disk. If you want more, the Live Marketplace is over there…
This is all speculation of course but I would not be at all surprised to see a tiered content/pricing structure appear from EA within the next 5 years. This could actually work pretty well if the prices are reasonable and gamers pay no more for a complete game via DLC packs than it would cost to buy the equivalent amount of content on a DVD. The sceptic in me however, is pretty sure that this will not be the case.
In conclusion, to paraphrase a classic quote, “beware of EA bearing gifts”
I’ve talked about digital distribution in another post but I recently read that Logitech may be working on a UMD attachment for the PSPGo which if true interests me a great deal.
Assuming this attachment is real, there must be significant demand for such a product in order for it to be made. This is the last thing Sony needs if its experiment into digital distribution with the PSPGo is to be a success. They are already on shaky ground with some games still only releasing on UMD, digital PSN titles not always available alongside the UMD release, and most importantly, to the best of my knowledge there isn’t a complete digital catalogue available (as promised) for gamers to exchange physical UMD’s for to use on the new system yet.
The PSP has already been suffering from low sales compared to other handhelds and consoles on the market, and piracy is all over the device like white on rice. Now Sony has split the PSP user base in half and PSPGo adopters cannot use software they may have already bought for the system. Not a great state of affairs for anybody. Throw in a UMD attachment and any future plans Sony had for digital content are swirling around the toilet bowl ready to be flushed.
So is it a failed experiment? Well perhaps, but more importantly it was a failed experiment in an already failed area of Sony’s product line. If the PSPGo fails in digital distribution it will be less of a problem than it would have been trying this out with the PS3 slim. You could say this is a smart move by Sony enabling them to test the digital distribution waters without crippling the flagship product.
It will be interesting to see how other companies pay attention to this. There is a very strong chance that should the PSPGo fail (and if pushed I’d bet it will), other companies may become wary of attempting a move into the digital distribution model. Sony’s failure will underline the concern that perhaps the market is not ready for digital distribution just yet.
Personally I do not feel that pushing digital only devices such as the PSPGo is the way forward. Good implementation and value for money in DLC will do more towards converting people to a microtransaction/digital only model in my opinion.
Twitter: Eckyman
