Brian Farrell, CEO of publisher THQ, doesn't see DLC that way -- he sees DLC as the future. Back in early November, he announced to the BMO Capital Markets conference in New York that the company plans to experiment with an alternative pricing model. Beginning with the new MX vs. ATV title, he said, THQ will try releasing games at a lower initial price point and then providing DLC after launch at steady intervals.
"It's clear that how people want to consume and pay for media, especially games, is changing," Farrell tells . "And in some cases, the $59.99 price point may be a barrier to entry."
It's a fair point. Who hasn't balked at the idea of paying $60 for a brand new game and promised themselves that they'll buy it when the price drops? But there are additional considerations these days, too; like, if a game includes multiplayer, will there still be an active online community by the time the price drops? For games without "Halo" or "Call of Duty" in the title, that's a valid concern.
To Farrell, it's not just about getting that initial install base in place, though. He believes it's about offering players some degree of choice and empowering them to choose the content they want to engage with.
"We know that how people are playing games and the way games are delivered are changing," he says. "So this is a way to deliver a customizable experience for the player in a brand new pricing model. It's all about what the gamer wants and how THQ can deliver a great gaming experience that suits each individual player through a highly modular content set."
Games like MX vs. ATV are an ideal fit for this kind of pricing model. The game structure is based around different modes and classes of vehicle, and so it is simple enough to add additional content to particular sections or modes, or even to create new parts of the game. Both player and publisher win in this instance: the publisher can develop a larger install base with the lower initial price point, while the player can "build" the game they want over time by picking which DLC suits their play style.
Buying DLC piecemeal, however, makes it hard to keep track of how much your game really "costs," particularly if there's a lot of it available. How much will it actually cost to get the "full" experience? Farrell's answer doesn't quite satisfy us.
"To be clear," he says, "the $39.99 price point does not mean that the boxed product will be a less than robust game. MX vs. ATV Alive will be an engaging, satisfying experience for any gamer and the best title in the franchise to date. Additionally, the total content to be offered well surpasses what would have been included in a $59.99 game."
Note that "total content offered" is not "content you have a right to being that you bought the boxed product." Sure, the total amount of DLC available for the new game may well be considerably more than what a developer can squeeze onto a disc, but how much will each piece cost? How much of the game will be included on the disc at launch? The questions build to the point where we ask ourselves if we even DLC if it's just going to mean we're not getting a complete game with a $39.99 purchase.
Some developers have a solution for getting a "complete" experience without shelling out for DLC in the form of "Ultimate Edition" releases. These games are typically bundles of the base game and all its DLC, plus patches. The only problem with these editions is how long you have to wait for them to come out -- sometimes you have to wait as long as a year (e.g. ).
"Some of [Alive's] DLC will be offered free, some will be charged for," continues Farrell. "We believe this model serves gamers in two critical ways: it allows us to deliver the boxed product to fans of the franchise earlier than in previous cycles, and it allows for tailored gaming experiences through 'a la carte' additional content. This means a lower initial cost and better value for gamers thanks to a more responsive business model."
Farrell promises that the retail version of the game will offer a "robust" experience for fans of the series. But he doesn't say what constitutes a "robust" product. We're not sure if his promised DLC falls into map pack territory (which actually adds new gameplay to the game) versus purely cosmetic content (which is largely useless from a gameplay perspective, however nice it looks) -- and how much each type of content will cost.
This article originally appeared on GamePro.com as