Prediction: DLC will be the next Great Video Game Crash

[aaron]

everytime i think about downloadable content, i can't help but feel completely disconnected from the games that i'm playing. most of them are very simple action games, puzzle games, arcade re-releases and other "casual" titles primarily designed to make a quick dollar off of a lazy public with money burning a hole in their virtual pockets. the lack of having any sort of tangible anything to go with your game purchase is an already-belabored point on this forum, but no one seems to think about the average casual gamer and what they are going to think when they all of the sudden can't play plants vs. zombies or puzzle chronicles because they're unavailable on the gaming network of their choice in a couple of years. we're retro by self-identification, of COURSE we're going to care about the longevity of our games, but i think that most people in general are ignorant to this facet of the new digital age.


this makes me think of everything i've read regarding the first great video game crash of the early 80's, where EVERYONE had an atari and then all of the sudden, as soon as the games became innumerable and quality decreased (think of the countless clones out there from that era), people stopped giving a shit, and then stopped buying. one could argue that the market is already completely oversaturated, but with the relative ease of releasing a DLC game, with regard to budget and technology, i fear that we're going to see it get even worse than it is now. i think that this, along with the general public's impending realization of the fact that these games are not something you get to keep forever, could potentially lead to some serious financial woes for the game industry.

what do you guys think?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I don't think we will ever see another crash. The market has inflated to such a size that it is now impossible for such an event to reoccur. The fact is that the majority of the people out there prefer DLC. There's also the aspect that DLC games are often the only avenue for releasing certain types of games or games without an extremely huge budget.

The fact of the matter is, as oldschool gamers, tangible products are important to us, but we are in a minority. I personally know many people who have re-bought games they own just so they don't take up any space, and then have proceeded to sell (mostly to me!) their own games.

[HellHammer]

The SNES satellaview and Sega Channel are the two biggest reasons I have fears over the future of DLC or any DD games.

The fact that you don't physically own these materials means that at some point, when it's no longer profitable to keep them available, they will be taken down and basically become non-existent. You want to play a 'All Stars' style, 16-bit remake of Zelda? Want to play extra side quest missions in Link to the Past? Or play games with narrated voice-acting gameplay? Do you like patches or expansions? Does the 'Chrono Trigger Music Library' sound interesting to you? ...me too.

A quick snip from wikipedia:
"in almost every case these games remain exclusive to the Satellaview as almost none of them have been re-released on more modern systems."

This, for me, is a huge and scary problem. If I find a game that I like, I don't want to worry that in a few years, based on money and buisness decisions, I won't be able to enjoy it any longer.

And Sega Channel isn't any different. It's only now, like 15 years later that we've got access to the games that were digitally distributed by Sega. If it weren't for Sega selling digital copies, games like Pulseman, Alien Soldier, Golden Axe III and Mega Man-Wily Wars would be readily available, and not just limited to Wii Virtual Console or homemade reproductions.

I think much of this isn't really considered an issue, mainly because of the relatively small amount of people who downloaded these games at the time and because retro-gamers are not exactly the majority. But now that the concept of DLC and DD games is widespread across all consoles, I think that at some point the complaints I have about DD games on SNES and Genesis will show to be no different on the current consoles.

Heck, there have already been games taken off of Wii's Virtual Console.

[J T]

Are we talking just DLC like extra content for games, or all we talking digital distribution as well?

If it's just basic DLC add ons, I'm not a big fan of it. The only DLC I've ever bought was for Beat Hazard so that I could play MP4 as well as MP3 format files. I didn't like that I had to pay extra for that either and only did so because it was a smaller developer and he was doing plenty of other free updates the game to make me feel like the money was deserved.

As for digital distribution though, I'm a big fan. I mostly like the GOG model: download as much as you want, make backups, no DRM to worry about, added bonuses like soundtracks etc., no region restrictions, low prices. GOG does this best and it alleviates my fears about it. I actually prefer gog titles to physical media because I know I'm getting a good product with a lot of extras and it's not going to eat up shelf space, just disk drive space.

I use Steam a lot as well, though Steam is a bit more of a risk. If they were to ever go under, they supposedly would release something that would unlock your games and allow you to play them without Steam. However, they also clearly state in their end user license agreements that you are paying for the use of the product and that you do not own it. I buy things so cheap on Steam though that even if it were just a rental, I have generally played a rental price on most of my games. Also, Steam is so big that it's hard to imagine them going down any time soon.


Direct2Drive, Gamersgate, Impulse and any others feel less stable. I have a few things on Impulse and I'm just waiting for them to bankrupt themselves to see what happens. I've stopped buying from Impulse and I've never bought from Gamersgate. I use D2D fairly infrequently.

[Dylan]

The SNES satellaview and Sega Channel are the two biggest reasons I have fears over the future of DLC or any DD games.

The fact that you don't physically own these materials means that at some point, when it's no longer profitable to keep them available, they will be taken down and basically become non-existent. (yadda yadda)

I've actually been a bit worried by this as well, but I think that this generation will manage to backup all of the XBL/PSN/WW games, considering that they have to be actually downloaded onto your console. At least, I hope that's what happens if these games don't get officially redistributed somehow.

[Pabstblueribbon]

i love dlc content, but i fear not being able to play some great games later on. I imagine someday there will be emulators of these games one way or another though.

[corn619]

I can't imagine games will be download only for a very long time if at all. Game data is getting larger and larger with every generation. Just think less than ten years ago games were around 700MBs, nowadays some games fill a BD disc. I can only imagine games only getting larger in the future. I have a pretty slow connection at my house currently and can't imagine waiting 3 days for a game to download.

Lots of people have data caps and then theres those who live in rural areas that would be totally cut off from playing games. Theres millions of people who don't have access or can't afford the latest and greatest internet connection. Thats a pretty large share of your customer base companies would be shutting out. Even if the video game industry goes all digital I won't care. I have 100s of great games sitting on my shelve that will last me a lifetime.

[enderfall]

I don't see a mirror of the early 1980's crash coming at all. Ever. I was just a little tyke at the time the Atari was huge so I was more interested in Tonka trucks and G.I. Joe, etc. to know anything about video games, but I can see why people got tired of the crap in that era. The games simply were not realistic enough to warrant a true sense of immersion in the games. These days with lifelike models and HD graphics, gamers feel much more connected to the games and will not want to give up on that experience simply because the industry is devolving into a series of DLC cash grabs or DD licensing non-sense. As much as we here can bitch and moan about how this would alienate retro gamers, we are such a small percentage of the gaming populace for the big console manufacturers to care about us. They know they can release a slightly modified Madden, or place Halo as a title on a new game every year and people will buy them in large quantities and make millions of dollars.

[Inazuma]

I've spoke my mind about this subject before but I will repeat myself because I am so passionate about it.

Download games and DLC are only bad because of their many restrictions. If I want a music mp3, once I download it, it's mine forever and I have complete control over it in every way. I can save it to a physical media format if I want, or play it on various mp3 players. It's great. I don't mind losing the music CD since mp3s are so great.

So what the fuck is wrong with our digital video games? We have no control. We don't really own the games at all. We have restrictions on copying/moving/backups. If the game is pulled from the server, it is gone forever. If we want to buy an old digital game, we can't buy it used and we can't buy it new because it won't be available anymore.

If a music mp3 isn't available to buy from Amazon, it is extremely easy to find a pirated version, so no problems there. It's a lot more difficult to do this for console video games, maybe even impossible unless you hack your system. As a retro gamer, I hate the idea that we will be unable to obtain retro games after a certain point. Just a few weeks ago I bought a used copy of Super Mario Brothers for the Famicom. Flash forward 20 years from now, and I seriously doubt I will be able to buy Rockman 9 for the Wii. Hell, Rockman 9 may get taken down from the server after only 5 years.

Needless to say, I never buy these download only games. I spend so much money on video games but its almost 100% on used copies from places like ebay. I'm not actually supporting the game industry that I love so much. I don't want to support a business model that I strongly disagree with. Too bad most players are the other way. They don't care about any of this shit and continue to buy digital games all the time.

Outside of the physical games released for the Wii and DS, I can't buy any modern games. They are either 100% digital or they have DLC which basically prevents me from buying a physical copy of a game.

I really hope gamers wake up and realize what's going on. It happened with music so maybe video games have a chance. However, judging from how it's been going so far, it doesn't look good. Thank god the Nintendo 3DS uses physical media. I can buy one!

If we reach a point where 100% of the new games are released as temporary rental DRM bullshit only, I will become a true retro gamer and just play my old games until the day I die. I have plenty of old games to keep me busy. It wouldn't be so bad, I guess.

[alienjesus]

Heck, there have already been games taken off of Wii's Virtual Console.

I hadn't heard about this, which ones? The only one I can think of is The Last Ninja 3, which was removed because a fatal game error made it impossible to progress beyond the first level.