Downloadable Content is ‘Pretty Much Accepted’, Says Ubisoft VP

“Downloadable content” used to be a dirty word among gamers, but the times are changing and gamers appear to be more receptive to DLC, which has since become a staple of triple-A titles in the game industry. 

Speaking in an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Ubisoft VP of digital publishing Chris Early says that the majority of consumers have come to accept the increased role DLC now plays when it comes to purchasing games, and that the publisher has been seeing minimal resistance to the content it has been releasing as DLC.

Early told the publication that gamers are ‘embracing’ DLC in a way that wasn’t the case at the start of the previous console generation.

"There was no resistance," he said of Assassin’s Creed 4’s downloadable content availability. "Maybe there were 12 guys somewhere who said something, but whatever. As a whole, there wasn't a problem."

"DLC is pretty much accepted. Season pass is pretty much accepted. Now it's interesting when you start to think of season pass as a service pass. For our season pass holders, I know we hold events for them specifically, so it's little bit more than just DLC content. So there's an evolution going on there.

"Where it hurts is when you feel like you're forced, or you're at a disadvantage or can't do it unless you [pay money]. That's kind of a remorseful feeling, and nobody likes that."

Early points out that gamers have spent a lot of money on Clash of Clans, and nobody ever complains about that. "But nobody's really angry about that. That's how that guy chooses to play, and he's playing against other people of the same calibre, whether they got there through spending hundreds of hours playing the game or tens of thousands of dollars. Good design, that's what it comes down to."