Last week, I took Overkill Software to task for how they’ve been handling the hype train marketing event for Payday 2 but since I am a fan of the game I wanted to throw them a bone and talk about what has been a common criticism of their development — DLC.
Payday 2’s post release support has grown over the last two years and has led to some confusion and a lot of fans complaining about how much content is released behind pay walls. DLC is a tricky subject and one that Overkill has been trying to take full advantage of.
Heisting:
As I said a second ago, Payday 2’s post release support has changed dramatically over the last two years. When the game was originally released, the developers promised about 6 months of new content but after the success and sales of the game, that number was expanded to 12 months. Last year during the crimefest event, that deadline was then expanded again to I think another 24 months (not completely sure on that one) and another studio has now been brought in to continue supporting the game on top of Overkill.
New content for Payday 2 comes in both free and paid DLC that is usually grouped as this: Free content includes upgrades to systems and new mechanics like perk decks while paid content is new things to do like heists, weapons and mods. The developers have made it so that anyone can play new heists without owning the DLC as long as they join someone’s game who has already bought it and this has become a handy way of “demoing” new content. However everything else must be bought in order to access it.
Since crimefest last year, Overkill has gone into overdrive (pun intended) with releasing new DLC. There has been six pieces of paid DLC compared to two free not including the hype train unlocks and overkill pack and this is where the complaints over the DLC structure come into play. Consumers have developed a catch 22 case about their thoughts on DLC and Payday 2’s format is right in the middle.
Post Release Support:
The use of DLC to extend a game’s shelf life has become instrumental over the last five years especially for games built around multiplayer. In order to keep a game relevant, developers need to release constant updates to make sure that no one gets tired of the game which fans like. However fans don’t like it when said content comes out frequently and needs to be purchased, especially if the studio is doing well at the moment.
Games built around DLC support have become popular as a way to continue development on a popular title after its release.
Let’s face facts about DLC and funding, when a game is being worked on prior to release, all funding for the studio and employees goes towards whatever the team is working on.
This is why on the disc or day one DLC is frowned upon as consumers feel that if this is content that was being worked on prior to release, then it should be included on launch day.
But when we’re talking about post release content, that is the developer spending additional time and money beyond the original work of the game to put out new content and it only makes sense from a financial point of view to get some form of compensation for that. A company that spends money with no intent to recoup any of that back is going to be a bankrupt company regardless of how well they’re doing.
Now it’s important to point out that many developers do work on post release content with no intent to sell it as they prefer the notoriety and increase interest in their game as opposed to any money earned via selling it. However in order for a game to be constantly expanded and upgraded, there needs to be compensation.
A great case in point would be League of Legends which as a free to play game, continues to grow with new champions, upgrades, skins, etc. Again, this is all work that is being done by their team that is costing Riot money as it would in any company. Their dedicated fan base is fine with this as the base experience has so much value to begin with that they are okay with spending money on optional skins or for high level play buying new champions.
The point is that complaining about a studio working on post release support and selling it is silly as in most cases that content would not exist without it being paid. Payday 2 , much like other titles that are continued to be supported via DLC is already a good game from the get go and the fact that everyone can play all the levels in the game with or without the DLC was a smart move by Overkill.
As to whether or not the DLC focused business model is good or bad, I can be of two minds as someone who is both a consumer and studies the industry. On one hand I would love for everything to be free, but on the other hand I know that if all the content was free from Overkill, there would be far less and more importantly they would not be supporting the game for this long as financially it wouldn’t make sense.
With all that said, one other point about Overkill and their DLC is people arguing that the game is pay to win which may sound odd as it isn’t competitively focused and yet despite my defense in this post, I would have to agree with them.
Gun Market:
As we’ve talked about, Payday 2 has had numerous DLC packs released over the last two years and have expanded the number of options for weapons and strategies dramatically. What this means is someone who is playing the game without the DLC is at a disadvantage for their team compared to someone fully loaded with all the new content.
Paradox Interactive has embraced DLC for their titles and focus on delivering a core experience and then lots of DLC to enhance all aspects of the game
Specifically the new weapon mods have done a lot for enhancing weapons and giving them new utility on the game’s hardest difficulty Deathwish.
But more importantly was the fact that several DLC pieces have released content that cannot be acquired anywhere else: Grenades, Sniper Rifles, LMGs and soon a Gatling gun and rocket launcher.
Now I’m sure that some hardcore fans are getting ready to debate about their actual utility in the game but that’s not the point. When I wrote about pay to win mechanics, I came up with this working definition:
If there are any unique purchases that positively impacts the game experience and are only available with premium currency (aka real money), then the game is considered Pay to Win.
Having these specific weapon types locked to DLC by my definition put Payday 2 in the pay to win column. This is the reason why people in the past have suggested that Overkill release free variants of the as mentioned weapon types while saving the more expensive or better versions for the DLC. That way everyone has access to the same base functionality while people who spend money are a little further ahead.
The DLC Future of Payday:
With the hype train event ending in less than 2 week, we once again will return to wondering how Overkill will continue supporting Payday 2. One thing is for sure, there will most definitely be more DLC coming and I’m personally fine with that as anything that I’m not dying to get I can wait for sales and I know that this means that the game that I enjoy will keep getting bigger.
The big question is how all of this will translates into a possible Payday 3 at some point as most games built around a lot of DLC don’t have sequels to make sure that the DLC and fan base remain in the specific game.
DLC focused titles are still relatively new to the Game Industry and it can be tricky to make a profit while retaining the goodwill of your consumer base. It’s important to educate the customer on what’s in the base release, what’s DLC and how the game will be developed both with free and paid content down the line. Any misrepresentation can come back to bite you and its important not to lose customers over false or confusing information.
