The Future of DLC in Sports Games

[RaychelSnr]

We’ve seen a bit of everything when it comes to post-release DLC for sports games in the last year or so. There have been games that have maintained the status quo — boosts, Ultimate Team, etc. There have also been games that have doubled down on unpopular free-to-play concepts, such as NBA 2K’s VC system. And further still, there have been games that have tried to innovate in the DLC space by building a dialogue with the community and by releasing free content updates, such as The Golf Club and EA Sports UFC.

What’s aggravating about some of the more blatant free-to-play (F2P) strategies that some companies are using, as well as some of the status quo stuff like Ultimate Team, is that it has a knock-on effect to other products. Games that don’t ordinarily feature DLC hooks and F2P-style microtransactions suddenly become very predatory places for those companies willing to exploit every available dollar that could fill their coffers.


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[Pandetta]

A fantastic all-around article that sums the concerns of a substantial majority.

[TheJokester117]

It's akin to the relatively new (within the past few years) influx of smart phone apps that offer in app purchases. Gaming across all levels has tipped toward the "freemium/pay-to-win" side of the scale, and it's incredibly disappointing as a consumer.

[Cardot]

I am curious about the long term of the DLC. I would assume that a part of the strategy would be to pull in consumers who initially intent to just spend a little bit of money, but then get carried away. That would work once, but I would also think that many of these consumers would think twice the following year.

[RandyBass]

Re: The Future of DLC in Sports Games

The fact that the industry is resorting to these tactics and spewing out unfinished and uninspiring products is not a good sign. They are basically saying, here, buy our crap... And oh yeah, buy this crap too.

[BizDevConglomerate]

DLC should be a means of not making games every year. Make the game to last 2-3 yrs, and at the end of each season offer an update through DLC. This way more time can be put into making a complete game. And instead of the "game" released each year as part of the series, it becomes a series and is judged by is overall package at the end of its term.

The door to customizable top teir quality games needs to be opened. And the initiative is what I'm primarily touching on. An indie development company can pull a NBA Live and start show, but finish strong, building their name and replacing the complacent developers who seem to have lost creative ambition. There is too much feedback from the gaming community to not see a mass overhaul in features, stability, and gamelay. Obviously people are willing to spend the money, but i believe they will spend even more if they see vast improvements through their contributions and participation.

[SmashMan]

Re: The Future of DLC in Sports Games

The worst DLC strategy (for consumers) for a sports game this year has to be WWE 2K15. If you want all of it, you'll have to shell out another $50 above the price of the game.

The Season Pass ($25) covers the single-player Showcase mode DLC (and its' associated new characters/arenas), and in what can only be purposely misleading, is rarely referred to by its' official name of "Showcase Season Pass."

There are then two extra character packs ($7 and $8 respectively) and a new moves pack ($4). Two of these three extra packs, not included in the Season Pass, will be released before any of the content pass-holders have already paid for.

It's really 2K seeing how far they can push. It doesn't get the press that the "real sports" games do, but it should.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: The Future of DLC in Sports Games

I hate DLC in general. DLC use to be an addition to a game, but now they are parts of the game that should have been in the game to begin with. I remember years ago you didn't even know a game would have DLC for it until 6 to 9 months after the game released. Now you know the names of ALL the DLCs that will be coming out months before the actual game even comes out. That has always been a bad sign to me when they got DLC planned out before the game is even finished.

And the price of season passes is absurd.......

[23]

Re: The Future of DLC in Sports Games

I hate DLC in general. DLC use to be an addition to a game, but now they are parts of the game that should have been in the game to begin with. I remember years ago you didn't even know a game would have DLC for it until 6 to 9 months after the game released. Now you know the names of ALL the DLCs that will be coming out months before the actual game even comes out. That has always been a bad sign to me when they got DLC planned out before the game is even finished.

And the price of season passes is absurd.......

DLC has to be planned ahead of time but the direction that it has taken is one reason I am not all pro online. Just far too many issues and they definitely don't favor the users.

I do like extra modes that extend the life of the game but all seem to be online based at this point and that blows.

[Chairman7w]

That's all fine and dandy for Golf Club (which I love, by the way - my current favorite game) - but I'm not sure how long this will last. They have to make money somehow.

[GameplayDevUFC]

Interesting summary of all the different DLC strategies. I'm really happy to see the UFC example being well received. From a developer standpoint, the post launch support and community interaction was one of the most enjoyable things I've done in my 14 years in the industry.

I think it worked out well for us and for the community. The community got more of what they wanted out of the game, and we got a much tighter feedback loop on development which I think made the game better in the end, and gave us a great opportunity to learn a lot of things about what people want and how best to balance our own game.

I hope we get to do it again for UFC 2.