DLC already planned for upcoming Ubisoft games

360 News | Well, that was quick.

According to Kotaku, Ubisoft are already planning to release DLC for some of their upcoming titles.

The games in question will be Assassin's Creed II, Splinter Cell: Conviction and James Cameron's Avatar. All three games are expected to be released in the third quarter of Ubisoft's current financial year, which means we should be playing them before Christmas. Will Santa be releasing some downloadable goodies on the Xbox Live Marketplace and PSN as well? Guess that depends on when Ubisoft reveal exactly what the planned DLC is.

In other Ubisoft related news, the publisher plans to release Red Steel 2 and Shaun White: World Stage on the Wii at the end of the year. Meanwhile, Ghost Recon 4, I Am Alive and RUSE are scheduled to be released in the first three calendar months of 2010.

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15 Comments

Windburn

2 years ago

The 'already' in the title is a bit of a misnomer.

Of course they should be planning for it. I have no problems with companies PLANNING in advance and allocating time to create their DLC, so long as it's AFTER the game is actually released.

Therein lies the rub, as we are seeing many games have their original content dissected, a portion of which is turning up months down the track as DLC.

Downloadable Content is content which the team creates in support of their successful title, and that we are happy to pay for in recognition of the additional time spent pleasing fans after our initial purchase is made.

So many companies miss this mark completely.

G3ck0

2 years ago

I really want AC2 and Splinter Cell. As long as it is stuff they know they don't have time to put in, and not something that they CAN put in, but don't and then charge for it.

grim-one

2 years ago

They'll start producing the DLC before the original game is released - for a good reason!

Just prior to release there's a ramp down in activity from people like the artists, level designers and some of the programmers. In the last couple of months before release you'd hope that only minor bug fixes were being made, so the others have time to start work on the new exciting DLC. Otherwise they'd be twiddling their thumbs for 2 months before release.

Cyph

2 years ago

My irk with this is;
a) will the DLC already be available in the retail version of the game, requiring a simple 'unlock'?
b) do developers subtract from the core, retail game in order to make DLC more attractive and commercially viable?

I would say that some companies are guilty of both.

Mr Waffle

2 years ago

Cyph wrote

a) will the DLC already be available in the retail version of the game, requiring a simple 'unlock'?

It certainly was with HAWX. The three DLC plane packs were all on the disc already (and playable with a hack on the PC)...

bobboblaw

2 years ago

Am I the only one who gets annoyed when developers say things like this? They should at the very least keep it to themselves in my opinion. It just makes the full game sound as if it'll be incomplete without as much content as it could (or should) have.

Cyph

2 years ago

bobboblaw wrote

Likewise, but atleast they are being honest (and officially revealing what we already suspect).

DLC was the trophy of nex-gen gaming, but unfortunately, apart from the offerings of GTA4, it has yet to be realised. Instead, developers and publishers have been corrupted by the easy cash cow it can be.

Benza

2 years ago

Quote

DLC was the trophy of nex-gen gaming, but unfortunately, apart from the offerings of GTA4, it has yet to be realised. Instead, developers and publishers have been corrupted by the easy cash cow it can be.

GTA is a freak. Sorry but it is, what you're getting from GTA is what PC players got spoiled with with the expansion packs blizzard put out. They're basicly new games built on the same engine and just cause one company has the resources to be able to put that out doesn't mean every company does.

Cyph

2 years ago

Benza wrote

Quote

True, and we shouldn't expect that. However, we shouldn't expect to pay 800 - 1200 points on nothing more than extra skins.

Benza

2 years ago

Cyph wrote

True, and we shouldn't expect that. However, we shouldn't expect to pay 800 - 1200 points on nothing more than extra skins.

Honestly I don't have a problem with that since it's a completly optional extra. Is your Street Fighter 4 experience any less because Ken isn't wearing sneakers?

I have more of a problem with say RE5's download of a multiplayer mode released the day after the game came out and charging for it.

Cyph

2 years ago

Benza wrote

Cyph wrote

True, and we shouldn't expect that. However, we shouldn't expect to pay 800 - 1200 points on nothing more than extra skins.

On the first count, regarding SF4; No. Still, I feel they haven't reached a fair price yet.
On the second count, regarding the RE5 example; Yes, that is exactly the kind of BS we need to call out!

Benza

2 years ago

Cyph wrote

On the first count, regarding SF4; No. Still, I feel they haven't reached a fair price yet.

As long as people are willing to pay it it's fair. I'm a sucker for that **** so I bought all the packs, would it have been cool if they were cheaper? Yeah but if I coudln't afford ti I just wouldn't have bought em.

Fetidchimp

2 years ago

At least it means that people with and without the dlc can still play multiplayer with each other

Lord Haart

2 years ago

Windburn wrote

100% on the money. Or maybe 80% on the money now, and 20% in 3 months, given the subject at hand...

...actually, on further reflection, it's more like 125% now and another 75% later.