BulletPoints - Waiting for DLC to Evolve

Have you heard of Evolve? It’s an asymmetrical 5-player co-op/versus game in which four friends face off against a big monster on one of several different maps. The concept itself is cool, basically turning the Tank battles from Left 4 Dead into a full game. On top of that, the game looks visually impressive and trailers make it seem fun to play. But why can’t I get more excited for this game? I’m losing my shit over Xenoblade Chronicles X, Splatoon, GTAV for PC, and Might No 9. But, while everything about Evolve would normally flip my triggers, I’m just not entirely bursting my pants with joy. 

Well, there are a few reasons for this. The simplest being it’s a game with a primary focus on the online co-op mechanics more than anything else, preventing someone like me from fully enjoying the game. That being said, this is by the same team that made Left 4 Dead, the one game I thought did online co-op right enough to get the pass on that kind of rule. So that’s not my main gripe here because I’m confident they’ll deliver another game worth my time for online play and still offer solid offline options for when I’m tired of dealing with idiots.

No, what has me generally uninterested is the web of DLC and pre-order offerings tied to this game, making it another sickening mess of the AAA industry not being able to properly market a game. There’s an entire Jimquisition episode on the topic and I won’t waste all my time rehashing his arguments verbatim because I’m certainly on the same side of this debate as Mr. Sterling. I have nothing against DLC and I think there’s a place for it. But when you market the game as a project built for more DLC and to do DLC better than other games, it sends the wrong message.

In light of all these comments and the harsh criticism towards said comments, the creative director of the game from Turtle Rock Studios has spoken up saying the original language from the 2K Games (publisher) representative were misleading and not what the developer had really intended. The original intent of the game was to be modular and allow better ease for expansion down the road. In short, they designed the game in such a way where if they could come up with more ideas down the road, it would be simple and easy to put them together and add them to the experience. And while I’m more than willing to believe the developer really did have good intentions with this project, you can’t overlooked the fact that 2K Games has solely focused on the DLC marketability with this game and little else.

What we have here is another classic case of the developer and the publisher being on different wavelengths in terms of PR. Fact is the very NOTION of DLC should have been kept quiet until at least the first trailer, but preferably closer to the game’s actual launch. When I get a new game, I want to buy a game that I can believe is a complete project. I’d never buy a Pokémon game if the Elite Four was DLC. That’s part of the core experience. And the last thing I want is to feel cheated from the core experience. And when you announce DLC prior to the game’s release, sorry, but it’s always going to feel like you cheated us out of getting the most content for our hard earned dollars.

To expound things even FURTHER, after my initial draft of this article, another news blurb was released that discussed a new Evolve-related app called Evolve: Hunters Quest in which you can play a game on your phone very similar to those candy-crush style games to level up your Evolve human character. While this companion app would be fine on its own, it features pay-to-win levels of microtransactions, allowing players to pay to speed up the rate their characters can level up. This is all for a game that will already cost $60 at launch. That's $60 up front for a game I'm already borderline interested on and now you're asking not only for an additional $15 for pre-order monster bullshit, but an additional amount of money on the side so I can have high level characters from the get go? I get this last bit is optional, but these kinds of microtransaction payment models are gross in full retail games. I get that Turtle Rock are legit developers with good ideas for games. But their decrying of criticism against the DLC for their game falls flat when this kind of shit crops it's ugly head up. 

This is why I can at least appreciate Valve and Nintendo for how they handle DLC. For Valve, they just give the DLC away for free. They just want you to keep enjoying the game and keep using Steam. They don’t need to earn any extra money from their DLC (at least if you’re on PC). And the quality of their DLC is generally solid. With Valve, I never really feel cheated because I’m not losing anything. I’m merely gaining more content.

Nintendo, a newcomer to the DLC game, has been rather smart with how they use DLC in their products too. First off, they keep prices reasonable. Second, the DLC isn’t announced prior to the game’s release. The only exception to this was Mewtwo for Smash Bros, and that’ll be free if you bought both copies of the game. Third, the amount of content you get for the paid DLC is fairly reasonable. For only a few bucks, I can get a collection of Fire Emblem Awakening maps that I can use reliably for extra money or experience, which can be helpful in the more difficult stages of the game. For a handful of cash, I can get multiple new race tracks, new racers, and new cars in Mario Kart 8.

Valve’s system works because it’s free. Nintendo’s system works because it’s affordable and ties in to familiar characters. People are happy to pay for Zelda (Link) to be in their Mario Kart. Shit, I’d pay for Kirby and his warpstar to be there. But why the hell do you think I’d be willing to pay an extra $15 for a monster I know nothing about in a property I haven’t had a chance to experience myself to see if I even enjoy the game? And that’s just for one fucking character. Imagine if the game that introduced Akuma to Street Fighter locked him away as a secret character that you had to pay $15 for. Capcom would be lampooned for that kind of robbery.

This is very similar to the situation that was built up around Watch_Dogs. Lots of new pre-order deals and bonus exclusive DLC for an IP that was new and untested. A lot of hype being built up for an unproven element because marketing departments think that a new IP will fall flat the instant it hits the shelves. Had the hype machine not been in my face about the DLC and had it just focused on the core gameplay and what it offered, throwing away all notion of pre-order bonuses, I would have happily bought the game day one and enjoyed it like I planned.

But all of the market hype behind this game and pushing consumer to spend more money on content that doesn’t exist yet is sickening. I’m not going to pay for a movie that isn’t finished. I’m not going to pay for a comic that doesn’t have all the pages. Why the hell do you expect me to pay for a game’s content that is only theoretical at best?

This isn’t to say I’m against DLC or new IPs. Please to not mistake my tirade for that. I think new IPs are great as it promotes new ideas and allows new franchises to bloom. I think DLC, when done properly, can be a great way to get a little more out of a game that’s starting to feel stale (XCOM Enemy Within). But Evolve is coming out into the world showing just how devolved the game’s industry has become where new IPs are constantly tainted by the horrible business habits of the game’s industry.

All that being said, I’m not saying to not buy Evolve. I still think it looks like an interesting game and I certainly hope that it does well. All I ask is that you don’t give into the hype machine and don’t throw money away on nonexistent goods because you can’t judge if they’re truly worth your hard earned money. Don’t let 2K trick you into buying more than you need or want. Remember the days when extra characters were unlockables in a game and not something you paid an additional $15 fucking dollars to have.

That’s all for this week’s BulletPoints. More content should be around the corner assuming my schedule doesn’t decide to fall apart and take away all my free time. Don’t expect reviews for a while just because I haven’t seen a new movie, TV show, or played a new game to review. But I can at least get a top 12 and more BulletPoints in the near future. But if you want, you can pre-order our Reloading Reviews for $15 dollars and we’ll get those to you at some point in the future whenever they would be scheduled to exist.

As always, if you enjoyed this content, please be sure to like, share, comment, and subscribe. See ya next time with more rants in regards to the game or film industry.