I remember when games started coming out with downloadable content (DLC) fans everywhere were outraged because the new content had to be paid for and did not come with the original game; however, now that it’s become a stable for the video game industry I’ve found there are moments where I enjoy and even look forward to DLC but there are other moments where I find myself frustrated by the very topic.

I’ve found I really enjoy the DLC that is released several months after the game because usually by then I’ve long since put the game down and haven’t played it and the dlc usually adds some stuff to the story that motivates me to take a game that I’ve enjoyed and played to death and enjoy new experiences with it so I really don’t mind playing a couple of dollars to have a reason to play a game later.  For example games like Fire Emblem: Awakening and Fire Emblem: Echos released dlc weeks after the games came out that added to the overall story and it was really enjoyable to play those chapters and get more insight to the lore created by the main story featured in the main content in the games.  Hyrule Warriors is another good example because a $20 season pass wound up giving you a lot of extra content that was released sparingly after the main game came out.

However, some DLC is made to clearly be a cash cow.  I hate to say it but Super Smash Brothers for Wii U and 3DS is a prime example of this, and yes I did buy each new character when they came out.  The characters were expensive since each character was about $3 to $4 so all of the downloadable characters combined was almost as expensive as buying one whole game.  That kind of DLC that doesn’t add a whole lot to the game and costs a lot, makes me rather frustrated.  Most of the time I wouldn’t even bother with this DLC but Super Smash Brothers is one of those games that I really enjoy playing for hours on end so I wound up shelling out dollar after dollar to play the new characters.

Then there’s the DLC that I hate the most and that’s day one DLC that you have to pay for.  I know there’s examples of this but honestly none came to mind at the time I was writing this.  The reason I can’t stand this is simple, the content was ready to go right when the game came out but you have to shell out money immediately after buying a game just to add some additional content that could’ve been included for free but the developers decided to go ahead and separate that out and charge money for it.

So there’s my brief though on DLC.  I like the content released in the distant future but I rarely ever spend money on expensive content that doesn’t add much to the game and I avoid day one DLC just on sheer principle.  I hope we see better usage of DLC in the future and if the content is worth while I will be more than happy to buy it.