Electronic Arts’ Peter Moore thinks gamers who criticize on-disc DLC have an “erroneous belief” on how such content is usually developed.
Of all forms of DLC out there, on-disc DLC might be the most controversial. After all, why should customers have to pay for something already included on the very disc they purchased? Few companies are criticized more than Electronic Arts for the practice, but according to Chief Operating Officer Peter Moore, the fear is completely unfounded and misinterprets how DLC is created.
“A lot of that resistance comes from the erroneous belief that somehow companies will ship a game incomplete, and then try to sell you stuff they have already made and held back,” Moore said in a recent interview with Gamespot. “Nonsense. You come and stand where I am, next to Visceral’s studio, and you see the work that is being done right now. And it’s not just DLC, this is free updates and ongoing balance changes.”
Moore elaborated further by explaining that on-disc DLC isn’t technically “content” – it’s more of the support code which helps the actual DLC launch run smoothly. “Think of them as APIs,” Moore said. “Knowing down the road that something needs to sit on what you’ve already made, means you have to put some foundations down. What people are confused about is they think DLC is secretly on the disc, and that it’s somehow unlocked when we say.”
We’ve seen lots of examples which Moore is talking about, such as when Destiny included map listings for expansions in the core game. And it’s certainly true that on-disc and launch-day DLC don’t always have much to do with a core game’s development cycle. Not that the internet isn’t frustrated with the content on principle after other developers arguably mishandled on-disc DLC in the past.
Regardless, Moore seems to view DLC and season passes as a way to keep fans engaged (and spending money) on a smaller number of games. “Eight years ago when I joined EA, we were publishing 70 games a year. 70. And this year we might do twelve,” he said. “The big games drive so much engagement nowadays, because they are not games you play for a while and then walk away from. Triple-A games today have live elements to them, and things like season passes are a way of keeping people engaged. Today we’ve got what used to be the size of a whole game development team, of about 40 or 50 people, working solely on the extra content.”
What do you think of Moore’s explanation for on-disc DLC? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
Source: Gamespot, via Ars Technica
