Bioshock DLC on the disk?
There is a report circulating which has originated from the BioShock 2 forums, that the “DLC” that was released yesterday for Bioshock 2, is not in fact DLC but is a key code to unlock content already on the disk.
In all honesty it doesn’t look good for 2K Games. The actual download for the Xbox 360 is around 100KB and for the PC it’s just 24KB.
Reading through the forum, it appears there is a lot of understandable anger towards this. The moderators are trying to defend the actions by 2K, but in all honesty how can you charge for content that is already on the disk.
This sort of tactic by publishers and developers came under fire a while ago and since then there hasn’t been any reports of major games doing this.
2K are coming under heavy fire for what is a dirty money making tactic. The content was already made, was already on the disk and should have been made available from the games launch. The point of DLC is to offer alternative content in the future to prolong a games life, as well as making money. But until DLC is moderated, this sort of thing will continue to (wrongly) happen.
The official comment on the forum from the community manager is the following;
Hey guys,
I noticed there was a bit of confusion about our Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack file size, and I wanted to clear things up for you. The way our engine and game structure works is that people need to have the exact same content for people to play together. One of the challenges with post launch content for MP is that it can split the player base, and we want to avoid that whenever possible. For this content, creating the DLC package the way we did allowed for us to not split the player base – so whether you purchase the new content or not, you can still play with your friends.
I know some of you have strong beliefs about DLC, and I’m not here to sway your opinion or convince you to buy our stuff – if you like what we’re offering, I hope you get it and enjoy it. If it’s not your speed, enjoy BioShock 2 as we released it.
I want to let you know that DLC is not interfering with our patching capabilities, which are a top priority and are still being actively worked on. We’re committed to supporting you and making BioShock 2 the best experience possible.
I hope this clears up a lot of the questions and confusion in this thread!
Sounds like a well thought of response to growing anger to me, but one that won’t lie with the gaming community. If they don’t want to split the base but still had the content on the disk, why charge for the content in the first place? Why not offer it for free?
But what do you guys think? Is this just business sense from 2K, or should it be free? And how should 2K react to the anger being felt amongst gamers?
