First Mortal Kombat DLC revealed

Exactly what A l e x said..

If there is spare time for the development team to come up with more content for a game when it is waiting to be certified, approved by Sony / Microsoft, etc.. the DLC should be free as opposed to being treated as an add on sale.

Especially if the update is so minor as to only include two additional characters.. which; for a fighting game, is really a piss weak approach.

I've said it before, gaming used to be a niche pastime. That was until the popularity, technology (and thus) appeal of gaming has increased so much, that it was only a matter of time until the money men jumped onboard and treated it purely as a business venture with profits their number one aim.

Soon we will see the end of the day when you bought a game and had everything contained within a cartridge / disc / chip. Microtransactions will be a part of life for gamers who will be expected to fork out a premium price for a title only to have to pay more to complete the game by purchasing either added content or the rest of the story.

What really adds insult to injury is these 'Complete Editions' that are released once most of the DLC consumers are parted with their money. It honestly makes me want to sit it out and wait until I get everything in the game in the one box.

For the amount of money we pay for a mere 'game', one would expect that we deserve having the complete package from the get go.

The quality of games may be going up, but the way we are getting treated is quite the opposite.

Oh so when exactly was the game finished? I seem to recall that once a game is done, all the people involved are through with the project, get paid and move on to do other things or work on updates, expansions.

Do you honestly mean to tell me that NetherReal Studios finished the game, shipped it and decided to create two more characters as an after thought? It's still a month away from release FFS.

Maybe after the game came out and people played it, loved it and there was talk all over fan forums raving about requests for 'Scarlet' and 'Kenshi', sure, give people what they want for a price.. but guess what, the damn game isn't out yet.

As other people have said with games that talk about upcoming DLC for a title that isn't even released yet.. developers: have a little tact. You honestly don't feel insulted that a game isn't out yet and you're expected to pay more after point of sale for two petty characters? This just screams exploitation to me.

It's a different story if a game has been out for a while. It's not like they're even offering a new mode or anything that would take a substantial amount of time to come up with. The content is minimal and does not justify extra pay to the one or two people who spent a few extra days submitting already created code to MS and Sony for approval to make an extra buck from us.


Um, sure it does! This sort of crap should be out of the question for fighting games as it kills the balance of a game. How the hell can you play online against people that have forked out for the DLC characters? Ridiculous.

Says who exactly? Are you one of the devs, cos you sure as hell sound like one! My answer to that is that the content definately would have been in the game as it's not out yet. You're telling me that two extra characters would have blown out the release date during development? Come on! If they were really that important, I'm sure it wouldn't have been an issue to push back the release of a title a week or so to add them. Isn't that what causes delays in the first place? Polishing a game and tinkering with content?

Why does it amaze you? I have no idea how old you are, but it's nothing to do with distribution changing. I can handle change. I have nothing against DLC either. I do however have an issue with microtransactions. In my opinion DLC is content that is large scale and expands the title in a big way. It adds significantly alot more game time to a game. Take a look at Rockstar's efforts with Grand Theft Auto for example. The content is so big, they can sell it on it's own disc apart from the main game. This sort of work requires serious time and thus monetary compensation to the people that made it happen is understandable.

Microtransactions however are simple add-on sales. In almost all cases, microtransations either involve things that are already in the game, are designed along with the main game whilst in development, or take almost no effort to implement. It's easy money for devs and a slap in the face for their loyal customer base.

Take a look at Capcom's idea of microtransactions.. the content already exists in the game and you are simply paying them extra money to 'unlock' it. It's like Bobby Kotick was watching his kids use cheats to unlock stuff on their Playstation and thought, "Why don't we CHARGE people to unlock this stuff instead of having it for free which was a way of saying thanks to our loyal customers?"

Genius!

No. That's because if I buy a season of a TV show, I pay the amount of money that covers that whole season.

In your rationale, it would be like buying Seasons 1 & 2 of a TV series only to be asked to pay $2.00 to unlock or download the last three episodes for each season.

Marvel Vs Capcom 3 and now Mortal Kombat have adopted a stupid and completely irresponsible tactic that threatens to ruin the balance of their games. Fighting game characters should not be made DLC as the characters are what make up the backbone of the title. Make people part with their money to buy some stupid costumes, wallpapers or whatever else, but don't mess with the core of a title.

It's plain greedy. If you want to add more characters, then take the time to do so on the finished product before you release it. It's worked so far, why mess it up now..?

If in the other hand you just can't wait to include all the characters and have some up your sleeve before your game is released, why not charge less for your title knowing you've already created them and plan to charge later.

It would be nice for people to know what they're getting into..

Wow.. two whole characters? They've really been working hard. You're perfectly certain the game has gone gold then? I'd like to see the announcement before I am inclined to believe you because I just don't buy it.

This isnt about any preconceived notions. You read the box and make the call. Simple. It is about an expectation though. A gamer has plenty. One of those is that you should buy a title realistically knowing that the core of the game is intact and you aren't going to get screwed in two months after paying full price to fork out for more crucial elements to the game. Yes.. characters in a fighting game are sort of important, you can't say that people that don't own them don't have their core gameplay affected.. especially online where we all mainly end up. You're yet to convince me why I should pay full price for a game only to have to pay more to be on the same level as everyone else. Im not talking about pissy unlocks either.. I'm talking about fighting game characters which shouldn't really be an entitlement unless you could only use them offline.

As I said before, I agree that it's no mere task. You can't tell me that these two characters haven't been created during the main development of the game though. This is what irks me. It's not like the announcement from NetherRealm said, "Expect DLC characters". They have been quite specific on what we will see, which would indicate that they are pretty much done. Again, how can this be external or extra work for a project where the game isn't even out yet?

When it comes to DLC and microtransactions, I am saying there is a fine line between what you should charge for and what you shouldn't without looking like a money grubbing a*hole.

I agree that it isn't exactly a walk in the park to create characters in a fighting game outside of a game's development when staff have moved on to something else. What I don't agree with is a studio charging money for 2 characters that are being announced as DLC for a game that hasn't seen the light of day yet.

You're absolutely right Benza when it comes to judging a game based on it's merits as to what they are actually selling someone. As opposed to judging the game by what they're selling me, I am judging it by what they plan to sell. It's arrogant to say to people that the game isnt out yet, but you will be expected to pay more for it right away to get the most out of the game.

I wouldnt be so sour about the whole thing had they said in 6 months or so that there will be a massive content pack for sale. I just find it fishy that they're talking tacking on 2 specific characters before the game is actually out yet.