What are your thoughts on Online Passes & On-Disc DLC?

[Gikoku]

From a business standpoint I understand the benefits and how companies are making nothing from pre-owned purchases, but as a consumer it still irks me from time to time.. especially on-disc DLC which I feel is just plain cheap. THQ are more known for the method of on-disc DLC with their latest for example "WWE '12". The content is already on the disc in all its glory, but you pay extra on release day to "unlock it", why pay again to play something that's already on the disc that you JUST paid for?

Online passes aren't a big deal if you always buy your games new (and in some cases beneficial e.g. Bioware games), but for used buyers it's obviously an issue. It's enough that Xbox 360 owners have to regularly pay Microsoft to enjoy online-multiplayer, but to have to put up with an activation fee is a bit much if you ask me.

What are your thoughts on these issues?

 

[Tsuyu]

If it was half finished content, i.e they just needed more time to finish it and release the extra content to make it whole later, I'd understand. But having full, finished and ready-to-go content like that is just......ffffffffffffffff!

 

[Quistrix]

Well, honestly, I don't really care. Of course I'm not made of money and I do sort of feel like as a customer I'm being taken advantage of, but other than that it's just another thing we have to put up with.

 

[Tsuyu]

I don't really buy my games second hand anyway so I could care less about the second issue. But the first one is rightly ****ing me off.

 

[Tyloric]

If the DLC in question is on the disc already (IE, it's ready to be played), that is unacceptable. I can understand if it remains in development after initial release that you would want to charge for it, after all that is increased man-power and money spent. But if it is completed and the only thing keeping people from playing it is a few more dollars... yeah, no. That's just greedy.

As for online passes, they do bug me (EA requires Origins for ME3... porque?!) but I can understand why they are becoming more necessary. With piracy and used game sales really hurting the industry, companies have to have ways of protecting their products.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Im with Ty and Tsuyu on the on disc DLC aspect, if its on the disc and fully playable and all your paying for is to download the couple of hundred kb unlock file then its out of order. Your essentially purchasing a game at full price then paying even more for content that should already be included in the game. If the content isnt finished or is being included in a patch like update along with fixes to the DLC itself then I dont mind as much but still irritates me slightly.

Im not that bothered about the online pass issue as some games I might not want to play online so can purchase them cheaper 2nd hand or sell on for more with the online pass code intact. I can understand companies wanting to recoup some of the costs of 2nd hand sales and its a given that someone will re-sell their games at some point. Companies should be trying to prevent people re-selling games by including more free content updates however and making campaigns longer to prevent quick re-sales.

 

[Aions]

on disk DLC is ****ing bulls ****, we bought the disk and all of its content that comes with it. to pay more just to unlock whats already there is ****ing robbery...

 

[Angel]

I don't understand anything about this sort of thing but I also dislike paying for anything. Ever.

Which is why I have a husband.

 

[Gikoku]

If the DLC in question is on the disc already (IE, it's ready to be played), that is unacceptable. I can understand if it remains in development after initial release that you would want to charge for it, after all that is increased man-power and money spent. But if it is completed and the only thing keeping people from playing it is a few more dollars... yeah, no. That's just greedy.

As for online passes, they do bug me (EA requires Origins for ME3... porque?!) but I can understand why they are becoming more necessary. With piracy and used game sales really hurting the industry, companies have to have ways of protecting their products.

Im with Ty and Tsuyu on the on disc DLC aspect, if its on the disc and fully playable and all your paying for is to download the couple of hundred kb unlock file then its out of order. Your essentially purchasing a game at full price then paying even more for content that should already be included in the game. If the content isnt finished or is being included in a patch like update along with fixes to the DLC itself then I dont mind as much but still irritates me slightly.

Im not that bothered about the online pass issue as some games I might not want to play online so can purchase them cheaper 2nd hand or sell on for more with the online pass code intact. I can understand companies wanting to recoup some of the costs of 2nd hand sales and its a given that someone will re-sell their games at some point. Companies should be trying to prevent people re-selling games by including more free content updates however and making campaigns longer to prevent quick re-sales.

Fully agreed with both points, and it saddens me that more and more companies are following these business trends all for the sake of profit (i.e. not offering extra to balance out the added on prices). But of course, ethics holds very little in the world of business which is evident from companies like THQ resorting to pure greedy tactics. I remember in an old article a couple years ago where THQ addressed used buyers (was on Joystiq I believe), and they specifically described them as cheaters, people who are cheating the developers out of their hard earned work and at the end of the day "those who buy used do not deserve special treatment, whatsoever." So just because somebody wants to save some money, be it because they can or due to low income, this qualifies them as wrongdoers and is a justified reason?

I just can't agree with something like that whatsoever. They really do believe their consumers are that stupid, which is why they label the day 1 DLC as DLC, time and time again they said the content was not on the disc on Twitter. Yet modders on release day found the DLC data sitting on the disc for the Xbox in its entirety. Just utter bullshit that what they believe their doing is actually okay, but it of course isn't helping that more people fall for it every year and continue putting up with it.