Monday, May 21, 2012

TTT2 Producer: Criticism of DLC is unavoidable

Kunimitsu will be a DLC character in TTT2 along with Michelle, Ogre and Angel

DLC can be a gift and a curse.

On one hand, the more the content the better. On the other hand, paid DLC means a cover up for an incomplete game. The methods of DLC delivery can also cause problems with fans. Just ask Capcom.

You've heard both sides of the story, but what does Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (TTT2) producer, Katsuhiro Harada have to say about it? Find out (via Gamespot) below:

"No matter what method you employ for paid DLC, there are always going to be people in the community who see the game as an incomplete product, so I think this is unavoidable.
There may be some people who say, "I have no complaints with the DLC for this game." 

There are always people who will disagree. I think whatever you do, there will always be debate about this, and there will always be some who are dissatisfied.

On the other hand, are there really no complaints if you don't do DLC? For example, we didn't have any paid DLC for Tekken 6, and several months after release, I did receive a lot of feedback. People were telling me they wanted more content, even if it were paid content: "I would gladly pay an extra $10 if you added something to mode X or mode Z" and etc. It is difficult to add content because it does incur development cost, and often we already have to start work on the next project, so any profit that we made on the previous title would disappear quickly. The company and the shareholders it represents expect a profit, and it's hard to justify as a separate entity. I still think that maybe we can avoid a lot of negative feedback and please more of the fan base if the content was clearly developed after the original game. I'm sure there would still be complaints though, if the content is paid.

I personally think there has to be a line drawn when thinking about paid DLC for fighting games. The line the Tekken team has chosen regarding this is that stages, characters, and moves shouldn't be added as paid DLC. If they are to be added, they should be free. If you look at interviews I have done years ago, you can see I have mentioned this quite a long time ago. It's because these are necessary elements to a fighting game. Much like chess pieces to a game of chess, they shouldn't be charged for separately.

If I were to do paid DLC, I guess it would be something similar to iTunes; you could maybe buy more music to use in-game. That's something I would want personally, as well. Also, maybe some idea that was popular within the community on Twitter or Facebook, and to take that and actually put it in the game as DLC. People were joking that they wanted to see swimsuits for Ganryu and Kuma, so I'm thinking of doing that for real!"