Reasons why games are unfinished unless you get a DLC?

[Justin11]

This act of them wouldn't stop anytime, even if gamers do wide protest, video game studios will always do whatever pleases to them. It doesn't make sense to leave games half - done and keep ripping customers off through DLCs/patches. 

[Withywarlock]

1 hour ago, Justin11 said:

This act of them wouldn't stop anytime, even if gamers do wide protest

I think it would stop, it's just that protests usually run out of steam and ultimately people buy the products they're protesting against anyway. See this tired old chestnut. I won't lie, I've long given up on the idea of protesting and boycotting because I can neither get people to rally under the same banner nor find someone else's banner to rally under. Reviewbombing has become the only means of slacktivism that seems to affect change, or more recently taking to Twitter whenever someone in the industry brings up NFTs (so far, so good: Team17 and Troy Baker have had their projects laughed into oblivion).

There have been successful backlashes against DLC practice such as the infamous Horse Armour debacle, which led to The Shivering Isles and other astounding DLC being made for Oblivion and future games. It's just a shame that it wasn't enough in terms of industry-wide effect, and it singlehandedly brought down whatever optimism there was for DLC going forward.

1 hour ago, Justin11 said:

video game studios will always do whatever pleases to them.

As said earlier this probably isn't something game development studios want to do. Publishers such as Electronic Artsholes, SEGA, 2K et al get away with telling their studios to carve up the content because people decided they'd pay for it rather than take a stand. Just about the only DLC being carved up I stand against these days is Total War's added gore effects, but those are sold in the justification of bringing down the age rating of the base game (even then, that's still thin ice). See also House Party's adult content once being free, no longer as it's out of Early Access. At least House Party is self-published, so its developers will see all of the money once Steam takes its cut.

1 hour ago, Justin11 said:

It doesn't make sense to leave games half - done and keep ripping customers off through DLCs/patches. 

You've said yourself why it makes sense: because they can rip people off without any effectual backlash. The lines between carving up a game and 'supporting' it however are blurring, with Paradox and Slitherine being publishers who make great platforms which are built up with quality DLC.

The power to do something about this exists and I firmly believe it to be as plain as day, but when it's time to exercise it that's easier said than done. Furthermore, the window of time to act upon that power is swiftly closing as people get older, and newer gamers enter the industry not knowing (or caring) about a time when games were almost entirely feature complete sans updates, patches, and additional content.

Edited July 19, 2022 by Withywarlock

[Kane99]

As long as we get a full game at release, one that has a clear start and finish, I'll be fine. If they want to expand on the story, that's all well and fine. I don't care if they add more to it, what I don't like is when they make the end game via paid dlc. 

 

[Justin11]

2 hours ago, Withywarlock said:

I think it would stop, it's just that protests usually run out of steam and ultimately people buy the products they're protesting against anyway. See this tired old chestnut. I won't lie, I've long given up on the idea of protesting and boycotting because I can neither get people to rally under the same banner nor find someone else's banner to rally under. Reviewbombing has become the only means of slacktivism that seems to affect change, or more recently taking to Twitter whenever someone in the industry brings up NFTs (so far, so good: Team17 and Troy Baker have had their projects laughed into oblivion).

There have been successful backlashes against DLC practice such as the infamous Horse Armour debacle, which led to The Shivering Isles and other astounding DLC being made for Oblivion and future games. It's just a shame that it wasn't enough in terms of industry-wide effect, and it singlehandedly brought down whatever optimism there was for DLC going forward.

As said earlier this probably isn't something game development studios want to do. Publishers such as Electronic Artsholes, SEGA, 2K et al get away with telling their studios to carve up the content because people decided they'd pay for it rather than take a stand. Just about the only DLC being carved up I stand against these days is Total War's added gore effects, but those are sold in the justification of bringing down the age rating of the base game (even then, that's still thin ice). See also House Party's adult content once being free, no longer as it's out of Early Access. At least House Party is self-published, so its developers will see all of the money once Steam takes its cut.

You've said yourself why it makes sense: because they can rip people off without any effectual backlash. The lines between carving up a game and 'supporting' it however are blurring, with Paradox and Slitherine being publishers who make great platforms which are built up with quality DLC.

The power to do something about this exists and I firmly believe it to be as plain as day, but when it's time to exercise it that's easier said than done. Furthermore, the window of time to act upon that power is swiftly closing as people get older, and newer gamers enter the industry not knowing (or caring) about a time when games were almost entirely feature complete sans updates, patches, and additional content.

You've said something worthwhile buddy. I went through the link you shared, read through it, saw what other gamers said about 'call of duty warzone pirated copy' on steam. That's insane, because steam allowed it to run in their platform for gamers to play. I don't know how concrete the information is, but if it's true, then 'steam did not try on their own aspect to stay clear of hosting pirated game. 

Games nowadays are drifting away from what they're known for, the quality isn't like before, games are produced half done only to allow DLCs to come later to milk customers more. The question will be, who will start the protest? Those who are criticizing the game you shared link, will still go on to subscribe one year at steam network and keep playing that pirated call of duty warzone game.  I'm just fade up, I play games this days due to my passion not just for the entertainment it used to bring, because it is gradually diversifying to something that sucks money away unnecessarily. 

[Heatman]

On 7/19/2022 at 5:18 PM, Justin11 said:

This act of them wouldn't stop anytime, even if gamers do wide protest, video game studios will always do whatever pleases to them. It doesn't make sense to leave games half - done and keep ripping customers off through DLCs/patches. 

Gamers are never of one voice when it comes to game's these companies develops and release for us. It's why you would see a game that's been watered-down so bad but the so called fan boys will support it with their lives. A protest for such would be useless. 

Only if there's something like a body to regulate the activities of game's companies in whatever they do - with DLC's likewise, there might be a way to put them in check. 

[Justin11]

16 hours ago, Heatman said:

Gamers are never of one voice when it comes to game's these companies develops and release for us. It's why you would see a game that's been watered-down so bad but the so called fan boys will support it with their lives. A protest for such would be useless. 

Only if there's something like a body to regulate the activities of game's companies in whatever they do - with DLC's likewise, there might be a way to put them in check. 

That's true, gamers don't have one mind to come out in max and protest on something that doesn't look nice especially the money game going around with the video game companies. If we gonna have bodies that looks out for this things like 'union, it will make sense and they'll speak on behalf of every gamer and make things easier for average gamers. 

Social media is one of the best community to create awareness of this, it doesn't mean we have to meet physical and have a general meeting, we can connect online and have a forum where people bring ideas and how to regulate the decision making of gaming studios to make things fair for us and not spending outrageous amount of money. 

[Heatman]

2 hours ago, Justin11 said:

That's true, gamers don't have one mind to come out in max and protest on something that doesn't look nice especially the money game going around with the video game companies. If we gonna have bodies that looks out for this things like 'union, it will make sense and they'll speak on behalf of every gamer and make things easier for average gamers. 

Social media is one of the best community to create awareness of this, it doesn't mean we have to meet physical and have a general meeting, we can connect online and have a forum where people bring ideas and how to regulate the decision making of gaming studios to make things fair for us and not spending outrageous amount of money. 

The only social media platform that I see being capable of doing that would be on Discord. As for any other platform outside discord, they have got too much noise that's going to make it very difficult to have a gaming faction that's going to be targeting such goals. Even doing it on discord have its own challenges too. 

[Justin11]

3 hours ago, Heatman said:

The only social media platform that I see being capable of doing that would be on Discord. As for any other platform outside discord, they have got too much noise that's going to make it very difficult to have a gaming faction that's going to be targeting such goals. Even doing it on discord have its own challenges too. 

I don't use discord often, but it got what it takes to draw the attention of 'like minded' users out and get to the notice of the gaming studios. I am fade up of buying a video game and paying double of what I spent due to DLC downloads. 

[Yaramaki]

@Justin11 and @Heatman

My friends, i got a report on this thread so i have to act, imo it's way too hot today to argue and go offtopic so please stick to the matter at hand. 

We have a discord thread over here, so go nuts in that.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Yaramaki

[Scorpion]

Developers often rush to meet deadlines or financial goals. This can lead to incomplete games that require DLCs to finish the story.

[killamch89]

On 7/16/2022 at 1:48 PM, Justin11 said:

What @killamch89 stated are true, greed is one of the reasons. If they aren't greed, they shouldn't have leave the game unfinished. They knew with the DLC, they can easily earn additional funds after making money from the game sales. 

It's been that way for quite some time too. Unfortunately, it also won't change any time in the near future either.