Wait a second... Who's buying all that DLC?

There's also the vocal minority that will complain and moan about DLC... but then completely justify it for what games they enjoy.

I buy DLC that I feel I want/need. I enjoy COD map packs, but the skins? Not interested enough in them to buy them.
 
I almost always buy Season Passes unless the content is MP only as I often don't have enough interest in a game's MP to pay for maps. Even then in some cases I might to get a better value. Case in point, the Season Pass for TLOU came with Left Behind, 2 MP map packs, and a bunch of cosmetic MP stuff. Considering Left Behind by itself was $15, it was worth it to me to buy the Season Pass since I was then getting all the MP content for only $5. If Left Behind had launched at $10, I may not have bought the pass and gotten Left Behind as a stand alone.

Generally speaking, if the Season Pass offers actual story exapansion and not just MP maps, challenge maps, or horse armor, I will very likely buy it unless I have absolutely no interest in the rest of the content
 
Bought all the Dishonored, Mass Effect 2 and Mario Kart 8 DLC. I know I'll get suckered into Battlefront and Batman (going to try and wait for a sale though)
 
Ninja Scooter said:
GAF is a tiny bubble. We don't represent anything remotely resembling the mainstream.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this.

Most big franchises are purchased en masse by the casual gaming audience and their the crowd that only purchase 3 or 4 games per year. They have the extra money then to spend on Season Passes for Call of Duty and stuff since they play it all year round.
 
My theory is that a lot of the most rabid complainers about DLC tend to come from folks who have a highly "completionist" approach to gaming, and basically are prone to gaming FOMO.

Like in Batman's case, even if the game itself is perfectly fine and a complete experience worth the $60, the mere knowledge of there being more out there causes some people to get frustrated, because they want to "own it all" and "100% it". In a way, it mirrors the completionist approach to a lot of game design in general ("complete 500 objectives to 100% the game!"), just applied to real life (which is why it feels worse, since money is involved). Since they psychologically feel like they "have" to buy it (only way to 100% it after all!), they lash out at the company for being unfair. This is for the more extreme complainers though...people who just think "meh, that looks like a shitty value, not interested" is one thing, but "this is abusive to consumers! I will never trust them again!" seems a bit over the top imo.

If WB still developed the exact same content on the same timeline, but publicly announced it a month after release, it would be considered more acceptable, even though from the perspective of the game or the development itself, nothing has changed. Everyone would probably praise them for "waiting until the game was finished before announcing DLC", haha.
 
I'm pretty sure that the GAF population buys a lot more of DLC per game than the regular gamer.

As for me, I'ts very rare that I buy DLC, but I do wait for discounted GOTY or definitive editions, that come with those. Never bought DLC after buying a game though...
 
"I understand that people spend a lot of money on video games, but I just cannot fathom people spending money on extra content for video games!!"

Honestly, even if you dont buy it, it shouldn't be surprising that people who love this form of entertainment will spend extra money on it.
 
I usually buy a CoD season pass once i get the game and decide if i like it or not.
and I've bought every piece of DLC Nintendo has ever done.

Aside from that unless there's like a sale on a season pass or something(like Titan Fall right before it became free lol) I tend to stay away
 
Only DLC I've ever bought was the Watch_Dogs season pass. BIG mistake.

I am considering buying the expansion pass for Wichter 3 and the Bloodborne DLC at the Moment. I love both.
 
Jindrax said:
I myself have never bought any. Nobody I know IRL buys DLC either? (EU)
So I though maybe it's a US thing? Like pre-order bonusses @ Gamestop etc?
Click to expand...

Are you serious here, mate. You have never ever bought any DLC at all? Even if it's top quality stuff like Souls games DLC or GTA IV DLC? You're missing out.
 
I keep wondering the same thing. Who goes out and buys all six versions of the same game to get the complete edition? Watchdogs had different items locked under different retailers and buying them would cost more than buying a new console.

Watchdogs caught me off guard and after that I swore to never buy another game that had the same model. MKX disgusted me to the point that it turned me off from fighting games.

The only acceptable model is the CDPR model where you get free content and expansions add significant value to the game.
 
I think you answer it even in the OP. Not only is GAF a tiny segment of the gaming community, gaming communities themselves are a tiny segment of the gaming community.

And I've bought all the DLC for games like Skyrim, Halo 3&4, as well as Sunset Overdrive. I think I'm an aberration from GAF that I tend to play the same games longer than going through a large backlog, however, which might partially explain my habit.

On the flip-side, people I talk to who are casual gamers in real life cannot fathom the idea that people here on GAF are spending hundreds of dollars on cosmetic items in Dota 2. So there you go.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
GAF is a tiny bubble. We don't represent anything remotely resembling the mainstream.
Click to expand...

This! I personally am very VERY picky with what games I buy nowadays, and dlc history from that dev usually is a big factor.

If I can get a game day 1 for $60, then another $60-$80 worth of dlc to have the "whole" game (some games are "whole" when you pop in the disk, Mario kart 8 for example) OR I can wait a year and get the complete edition for $40, or even less if I wait longer, I'll buy the $40 version if it still interests me next year and get an actually finished game now.

Some games have well-priced dlc that I'm happy to buy. Nintendo's "we only make the paid dlc when the base game is out in the wild" makes their asking price way more reasonable. But most games have whole dev teams making content during the development for the game that is saved to charge extra for later.

I personally don't like that practice, but I also don't like paying subscription fees to use online services. I know I'm in the minority.


Enough people are dealing with Destiny that I don't think this trend is going anywhere.
 
I bought the Injustice DLC, Mortal Kombat X DLC, Destiny DLC, and the Ready at Dawn DLC, which was a 5 hour expansion of a hallway shooter. All of them were okay priced though, around 30 bucks each.

I stopped buying DLC for Call of Duty because I lost trust in their abilities to make a good multiplayer shooter and thus good map packs. Plus it is 15 bucks per "expansion" pack and they make a new one each year...
 
I brought Destiny and Titanfall DLC as it added extra content to something I was still playing. Thinking about it, I tend to get the DLC for multiplayer games, but not for singleplayer (as it tends to get bundled up eventually anyway)
 
I mostly buy single player DLCs that expand the story for games I've really enjoyed; TLOU, DA:I, I:SS, and ME3 (ME2's extra content came free on the PS3). I'll definitely buy Bloodborne's DLC when it comes.

As for season passes, I've bought those for Driveclub, Resogun, Bioshock infinite, and TLOU. The latter, because there was no other way of getting the making of documentary. Its MP content was completely trivial for me.
 
I've always found it odd that DLC is so profitable when game completion rates are under 20%. Do consumers like throwing money away on extra content for games they are never going to complete anyway? Or is DLC just cheap enough to produce that publishers are OK with a tiny fraction of their customers actually purchasing it? If it's the latter it seems kind of strange that AAA publishers make so much DLC, while they are so reluctant of making lower budget games that won't appeal to the mass market.
 
I buy season passes and stuff when they come out for games I like. enough to keep playing. Doesn't mean I buy them often - last season pass I bought that wasn't Mario Kart 8 was BioShock Infinite on New Year's Day 2014.

I find myself buying pieces of DLC that aren't parts of season passes sometimes as well, although not much recently. Most of my more recent examples are Crusader Kings II DLC.
 
BouncyFrag said:
It is mindly amusing when people complain about how other people spend his/hers very own money.
Click to expand...

How dare you spend your money on things I don't like!

Honestly, it's less about that, and more the fact that people buying this stuff makes the people who will never buy it suffer even more. People keep buying it, they'll keep putting it out.
 
I buy whatever DLC suits my fancy. The good stuff gets bought right away, the rest gets bought on sale. If it seems like a rip then I stay away. Hasn't let me down yet, with the exception of that one $3 map pack for Homefront that didn't work because the devs didn't put a fucking DLC hopper into matchmaking and nobody bought/played it.

EDIT: Just remembered the first piece of DLC I ever bought: A $5 map pack for Halo 2 in 2007. Good times.
 
Nimajneb said:
I've always found it odd that DLC is so profitable when game completion rates are under 20%. Do consumers like throwing money away on extra content for games they are never going to complete anyway? Or is DLC just cheap enough to produce that publishers are OK with a tiny fraction of their customers actually purchasing it? If it's the latter it seems kind of strange that AAA publishers make so much DLC, while they are so reluctant of making lower budget games that won't appeal to the mass market.
Click to expand...


I think it's weird that it sells well because there is a large chunk of people who don't download the free ps plus games. If a huge number of people aren't even knowledgable enough to download the 'free' stuff, how are enough people buying dlc to justify that?
 
I dont think there are that many people buying DLC. It's just enough to make it worthwhile, which with how cheap most are to make a few thousand in some cases could be worth it.
 
I have a friend (whom I consider intelligent) who enjoys more than Call Of Duty and Madden, but isn't the kind of guy you'll ever find reading reviews or forums, and he buys Season Passes with literally every game he buys, hell, he'll even pay for a season pass before a game comes out. I'm guessing he just enjoys the feeling of knowing he's going to be playing the game for a long time and enjoying content down the road. I know he's regretted the decision in the past (dead rising 3 had a truly shitty season pass) but that doesn't stop him, he just keeps going.

I've literally never bought a season pass, but I will buy DLC if I've learned it's good (Left Behind, Undead Nightmare, etc) through reviews or GAF impressions, but never on a whim.
 
I buy DLC if they are worth it.

Mostly Nintendo stuff nowadays. I've bought all of:
Mario Kart 8
Mario Golf
Stretchmo

DLC's in addition to some of:
Smash 3DS (Plan to get all characters and stages)
NSMB2 (Have 6 out've 10. Will get the others on a boring day. Coin mode is very fun.)
Fire Emblem: Awakening (Feels overpriced for most of them but I just get one every once in awhile for new story content basically when I'm bored.)
Neptunia Re;Birth1 (Bought all character/level packs. Not bad for $3 imo)
Warhawk (Bought all level/mode packs back in the day. Was worth it.)
LittleBigPlanet 1/2/Vita level packs and costumes.

I plan to buy:
Shin Megami Tensei IV's end game packs after I beat it.
Any paid DLC for Splatoon if it happens.
Any paid level packs for any 2D/3D Mario, Yoshi, Nintendo platformers in general if it happens. (They are basically level packs anywayz with or without DLC lol)
Any SP content for NaughtyDogs games in the future.

I'm fine with character/level dlc for most games as long as its reasonably priced. I do not buy any sort of microtransactions type DLC since they are always shitty. Spent over 30 hours in Pokemon Shuffle without paying a cent.
 
I've mainly just purchase the DLC thats a good value to most people, if they like the game, examples:

Mariokart 8 (DLC is a steal at $12 and adds about 33% more content)
BF3/4
LA Noire
Red Dead Redeption
 
The only DLC I've bought are the 2 Mario Kart 8 packs and a handful of songs for Final Fantasy Theathrythm Curtain Call.
 
Can you even claim that a sizable percentage of GAF posters are against DLC? The people who post about something are the ones that care the most about it. Some DLC is good. Some DLC is bad. I don't have strong feelings on it as a concept. I buy a good amount of it.
 
I bought the Batman Beyond skin for Arkham City. That's it. I'll be buying whatever Bloodborne DLC exists and I'll pick up the MK8 and Smash DLC at some point soon.
 
Some of the posts in this thread are gold. Pure Gold.

On topic, people who enjoy a game and want more are buying the DLC. I buy all the DLC maps for Battlefield games. I will get all the Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 DLC as well. I don't tend to get or play DLC for singleplayer games outside of RPGs though.
 
I don't buy it in the traditional sense.
IF a game is likely to have a lot of DLC and a GOTY version is going to happen then I buy the game for ~£40 complete the game and re-sell for ~£30 then wait for the GOTY version to hit at around £20 - £30 and then buy that, it never costs me more than my original purchase price to have the game with all the DLC and in many cases it usually ends up cheaper than £40 in the long term.

If a game doesn't have a GOTY version then I simply don't have the DLC
 
So far I've only acquired DLC from purchasing GOTY editions or cheap Steam bundles. The only exception is the Dark Souls 1 and 2 DLC.
 
I buy DLC if the content seems interesting, don't if I don't. Are you counting story expansions like TLoU Left Behind or Burial At Sea? Those were fantastic, I hope many people didn't skip them just based on the fact that they are DLC. For the most part, skins, challenge maps, online multiplayer stuff, etc. don't interest me, so I don't buy that.
 
Jindrax said:
Also, if most of GAF has this feeling its safe to assume that a majority on other gaming boards have the same feeling, and therefor a lot of people have the same feeling about DLC[/B]
Click to expand...

These are some major logical leaps, and are probably the reason why you're confused. I think you're simply making too many assumptions - the market is telling you they are incorrect.
 
I buy DLC when I feel there is value in it or I want to support a certain company/developer.

Did I buy the Resogun DLC - Yes. Did I play it - barely, but since I got the game for "free" I wanted to support the company with a monetary donation for making such a spectacular game. And I got something out of it too. I'm sure I'll play it more someday in the future.

With a game like Mass Effect, my favorite series, I had the practice of buying every story-based piece of DLC from them—up until I viewed ME3's ending. Then I decided to buy the rest of their DLC only when it went on sale. I still wanted to play the missions, but I no longer wanted to reward BioWare for slapping an Instagram filter on the ending and kicking it out the door.

I realize that games have bigger budgets these days, but the cost to us has remained the same for decades. And that these companies make their money through DLC. So if I like a game, I have no problem helping to pay their salaries or to fund sequels.

Plus, I don't miss out on great content. I do not regret buying House of Wolves as that story is twice as good as the original campaign for a fraction of the cost.
 
Technically Mario Kart 8 is the only Season Pass I ever bought.

I buy random DLC for fighting games at times although I am mostly done with that.

Now it's just little things on Steam here or there.
 
I don't buy DLC because I realize I'll rarely finish a game, making any additional content purchased absurd.

Unless we're talking Ace Attorney, then I'll buy it up.
 
Jindrax said:
Srs question.
My question is, how many of you are actually buying it?
[/B]
Click to expand...

Steam tells me I have 250 DLC. Most of them are shit.

To be honest, a lot of this stuff comes from bundles, but I have bought the GOTY on the cheap for Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row IV just to grab all those shiny DLC's to keep playing.

Edit: I bought the GOTY after I had the regular versions first. Sucks that you lose the extra base game then but oh well...
 
I 'm puzzled about this. Do "casual" players follow the release/news cycle so close to know when and how to purchase all these addons to the main game? The only logical answer is that is full of whales...
 
OP, you don't understand the dynamics of it on GAF (or any other enthusiast site):

The people against DLC post about it all the time.

The people who buy what they want when they want don't bother posting about it at all.

So you only see one side of the equation.

Plenty of people on GAF buy DLC.
 
I've bought both the song club and costume club of Project Diva F 2nd (two sort of season passes to put it bluntly), spending much more than the game itself and I loved every kilobyte of them.
Usually I don't buy DLCs only because I don't have time to play them too much, but if a game clicks so bad that it takes from me most of my gaming time, then i feel almost natural to "complete" the game with everything available for purchase.

I think that GAF community is not that different from the mainstream audience, there are so much people here that is very difficult for me to define our "diversity", or just try to aggregate under a common denominator so much different people without any tangible common basis.
 
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