The fact of downloadable content (DLC) is here to stay and the fighting game community is figuring out exactly how this relatively new part of the puzzle will map onto its corner of the gaming globe. Content that was unlockable in previous franchise entries is now being sold, and creating exchanges that fans feel are fair is proving quite difficult.
Mortal Kombat 1 and Street Fighter 6 launched this year and thus the fighting game community got two updated DLC models from AAA developers. Both NetherRealm Studios and Capcom have already made moves that’ve turned big portions of their respective audiences off, and these errors continue fans could quite possibly slow or stop their business dealings out of a feeling of utter disrespect.
Perhaps it’s best if we hone a bit in on what we mean by “failing” as it very well may be the case that fighting game developers are making plenty of money with recent approaches to their DLC exchanges, but the potential success here could be short term if they garner reputations as gougers.
Yes, players have to accept that the landscape of gaming has changed in many ways and that the days of business being done at the time of the initial transaction are long gone, but they can still push for fair prices and practices.
We’ve already seen this happen in the case of NRS’ Mortal Kombat 1 as the company thought they could sell players a special Halloween-themed Fatality for a whopping $10. Said Fatality was cool enough and worthy addition to a Mortal Kombat DLC store, but fans quickly started talking more about the price than the content.
NetherRealm quickly updated their approach and bundled the aforementioned kill move with two other seasonal Fatalities that were already planned, giving players who already forked over the 10 bucks for the first all three. It’s instances like this that are crucial right now as major developers are still drawing the lines of what their audiences will and won’t accept.
Things are arguably worse with Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 right now as multiple instances of what really feels like gouging have already taken place. Fans experienced the first of these with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle custom avatar costumes that were priced at $15 a pop.
Capcom didn’t make any changes on this front, and fans were primed to be cautious when the next big DLC release, new main character costumes, hit.
Indeed, while these costumes were widely received as worth buying, the price tag of $6 each already felt steep. When the fact that purchasing all 18 new costumes would cost more than $100 while the game itself was only $60 to start with, it quickly became too big a pill to swallow.
Adding to all of this is Street Fighter 6’s awkwardly designed premium currency bundles. You must use Fighter Coins (FC) to buy content like the DLC costumes, but can only buy FC in bundles as there’s no option to pay the difference if you’re a tad short. If players find themselves in the common situation where they need a dollar’s worth of FC to make a purchase, they’re forced to spend a minimum of $5 to get the smallest bundle of FC.
Especially when it comes to non-essential content like costumes, players are prone to stop any and all transactions out of a feeling of disrespect. There’s a lot more to be said in the full video below, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter in the comments after you’ve watched.