Old Games: Should Downloadable Content Be Free?
by dkpatriarch
© 2009 David Hilton
I would love to see sales figures for downloadable content for games that were released 1-3 years ago. Some of this content hasn’t ever changed in price and competes with new release games’ downloadable maps and features.
Old Game Content Should Be Free
In a world where everything, including the retail games themselves, depreciates does this make any sense?
No it doesn’t.
But of course those in charge are certainly not obligated to lower prices or, even better, make the added content for older games free. But it would be both logical and, well, nice.
This is the point raised recently on the Xbox.com.au forums by user mchiefvs360. The comment was:
It’d be nice if older games like GRAW1, COD2 or PGR3 made their content free as I don’t know many people who would want to pay full original price for maps for a game that is five years old, Perfect Dark Zero did it right.
And he (or she) has a good point.
Games like Gears of War, The Outfit, Lost Planet, Perfect Dark Zero, Fable 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and GRAW 2 have some or all of their content free and are praised for it.
Of course the latest trend has been to re-release the bundled retail game and downloadable content some time later as a “Game Of The Year” edition at full or near full retail prices, as with Lost Planet, Oblivion, and Fable 2.
Should Oblivion content be free now?
I’m not sure of the sales figures for those editions either, but I believe it would be good PR and even prolong the use of many of these old games if all the content was made free after a certain length of time instead (which Lost Planet has since done).
Let’s face it: these days gamers move on pretty quickly. If your game isn’t Halo 3 or COD:4, and fewer people are playing your game online (or offline in the case of added missions, cars and tracks) what is the purpose of keeping a high price on it?
If a gamer has a lot of downloaded content on their HDD that they got for free for your game, they may just keep it instead of throwing it away for a few bucks trade-in at EB Games.
When the game’s content is announced as being free it may very well revive interest in the game and propel a few sales (used or new). Yes the game-maker makes nothing off a used copy sold, but any creator wants their creation used as long as possible, and this may keep up interest for an upcoming sequel. It’s not as if they are making anything if nobody is paying to download the content anyway.
So what would be the drawbacks?
Well not everybody goes on N4G, Gamegrep, or the forums to find out about new initiatives like a game’s content being made free, so how would the good publicity reach the public at no cost? Sure, the Microsoft (or Sony) Dashboard could advertise it, but otherwise word of mouth will be the only way people would even see the goodwill gesture and take advantage of it.
Then there is the worry that some gamers would just wait for the content to become free and therefore it would cost in download sales, though I doubt most gamers who really want the content would wait that long.
Still, these concerns aside, it certainly could be something besides the “deal of the week” idea to give added value to being part of the online service. Some gamers still aren’t online with their consoles because they don’t play online games, but if they could get free content for their retail game they may connect more readily for the added missions or race tracks and be tempted to try online gaming.
The future of gaming.
Then there are the implications for the future of console gaming.
If future consoles, as is sometimes surmised, focus on digital distribution, as with the PSP GO!, then you may have a situation where prices do not reduce very far as there is no competition between retailers.
PSP GO: expensive digital distribution the future?
With the PSP GO! we have the situation where the retail versions of PSP games with full packaging and discs are more often actually cheaper than the downloadable version. Digital distribution with consoles remains very fixed in pricing with only the “deal of the week” lowering the price of only a few items. Will this trend continue in future consoles?
Yet the PC crowd can revel in digital distribution thanks to Steam, where prices drop often on a large variety of games. This model is in stark contrast to the one with the PSP GO!.
If Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and all the game-makers start winning the gamers over to digital content by adopting the ‘depreciation’ model and by giving all older content for free, they will be a lot more successful in winning converts (especially skeptics like me) to the concept of digital distribution-only consoles in the future.
They really should start by giving older content away now.
So what games offer “some” free content on Xbox Live Marketplace?
Well here they are:
- GRAW 2
- FORZA 3
- Gears of War
- Call Of Duty: World At War
- Halo 3
- Fable 2
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
- Call of Duty 2
- Call of Duty 3
- Left4Dead
- Midnight Club: LA
- FEAR 2
- Project Gotham Racing 4
- The Last Remnant
- Rainbow 6: Vegas
- Rainbow 6: Vegas 2
- Endwar
- Infinite Undiscovery
- LOTR: Conquest
- Timeshift
- Frontlines: Fuel At War
- Kameo
- Crackdown
- Civilization: Revolution
- The Darkness
- The Outfit
- Lost Planet
© 2009 David Hilton
Filed under: 1st Party Titles, 3rd Party Games, Blogbanter, Console gaming, Editorial, Handhelds, Industry News, Microsoft Games, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 News, Xbox 3rd party exclusives, XboxLive Marketplace Tagged: | "Batman: Arkham Asylum", COD2, COD4, Digital distribution, download', downloadable, Fable 2, Gamegrep, GEars Of War, GRAW 2, GRAW1, Halo 3, Hard drive, Lost Planet, Microsoft, Microsoft xbox 360, n4g, nintendo, Oblivion, PC, Perfect Dark Zero, PGR3, PS3, PSP GO, PSPGO, Sony, The Outfit, Wii, Xbox, Xbox forums, Xbox Live Marketplace
One drawback maybe fans of the game that had paid full price for the content previously, creating complaints and negative feedback that the content is now free. I do feel for anyone that bought some DLC the day before it got reduced in price.. or became free. It’s not a great reason at all of course, but it could be one thing that puts companies off doing it.
Personally I approve of paid DLC. Knowing just how much effort goes into any game cost wise, and knowingthat often, the final touches to those added extras are simply not ready or appropriate for launch day.
If a developer/published holds off to wait for more content, theycan miss the boat on sales.
That sounds very commercial, but the truth is, just about every publisher, no matter which one itis, is facing loses at the moment. If we as gamers wantto keep getting new games, new IP’s, continually update and well presented franchises, the paid DLC willbe the way that the publishers can continue to work with the developers to keep a game alive, vital and active.
After a period of time, that DLC should be reduced, and eventually become free of charge. As bythen the publisher will have met their goals, and moved on to the next iteration or title. BUt allows the developer to tweak an existing title, and motivate current gamers with an existing title, as a new one approaches.
Forza 3 did it really well. As forza 2 still had paid DLC for some time, and only really fanned out about 9 months out of release for the current game.
Perhaps some of the higher prices ‘some’ publishers ask for initial DLC is a bit severe, and could be cheaper, and in some cases, depending on the actual content, it should be free, even if it is new, or old. But overall, anything that enhances the gameplay of the game, should have a price tag attached for a period of time.
Old Gamers ha! Listen… Old gamers didn’t START on a Xbox. We’re talking Commodore 64/Apple IIe gamers! lol. When I saw the headline ‘old gamers’ I thought it was talking about me, but I was wrong.
It actually says ‘Old Games’ not gamers….but as an old gamer I agree…my family had an Apple IIe and my best friend had a Commodore 64 (oh the loading times….).
Hey Richard, I think you need to read the article again, and the heading, it clearly states and discusses Older games by publishing companies being FREE rather than having to pay fro them as DLC . . No mention of any age group for gamers per-se.
And actually, some old gamers DO start playing games on the original 1st-Gen Xbox, then go back and grab some of the older consoles and remind themselves of the days they spent in arcades, but did not have the Atari’s, or Commodores etc. Not all “older gamers” started out with an Nintendo, Jaguar, SNES or Atari etc.
SOme spent years with their kids in the older style arcades with the likes of Space Invaders, Race games, flight combat etc . .all fun, all games, all back in the early 70′s and before. Everyone is different, and they all start their life in gaming in different ways.