Downloadable content

Downloadable Content (DLC) is a method for developers and/or publishers to extend the monetization of their products for a longer period. This practice is not inherently anticonsumer, such as Factorio's Space Age DLC being regarded as paying for a new game according to fans, however, companies such as Electronic Arts and Ubisoft have been known to abuse DLC to break up their complete products into multiple purchases with no regard to the consumers.^{[citation needed]}

Dark patterns involving DLC

Pre-order bonuses

A very popular method used by companies to incite the customer to purchase their game is to offer them additional content for pre-ordering.

This can range from:

• Extra characters
• Cosmetics
• In-game currency
• Entire gamemodes
• Closed Beta access

These pieces of pre-order pieces of content rarely will see a re-release, only in some scenarios where special edition re-releases will allow consumers who miss out on pre-ordering to have access to this content. These bonuses are reliant on a phenomenon known as FOMO.

Day-one DLC

Often seen mostly from larger companies, day-one DLC if offered as a way to further monetize a product on launch. This has however caused concern from consumers since these games that are hasty to offer DLC on launch appear to essentially break up the base game content, thus harming consumers. These games can also have the DLC content already available on-disc, and it has historically caused outrage from consumers.

DLC overload

A more recent trend among major publishers has been live-service games. What this has brought however, is the need for monetization to keep development persistent. Unfortunately, these same companies have also been excessive with offering large amounts of DLC. For example, Electronic Arts' The Sims 4 has currently over $1000 in DLC, ranging from what could be considered as micro-DLC with kits and stuff packs, to larger DLC such as expansion packs. Consumers have even been mentioning how lackluster these games are without purchasing DLC, with theories surrounding that it may be intentional. These theories are more solidified when comparing how DLC is handled between each game in the series.

Micro-DLC

Micro-DLC functions as the middle child between standard DLC and microtransactions. This is directly defined by the content it offers, where you are buying a significant amount of items, like a stuff pack, or a small thing that has a noticeable impact on the gameplay, such as a new character. Often micro-DLC is offered among a large pool of other pieces of small dlc. In Microsoft Flight Simulator X, there's over $4k in dlc for planes or airstrips. This is only surpassed by Train Simulator's $8k+ in DLC.

An honorable mention for an excessive amount of micro-DLC is Rocksmith, where the original has had nearly $1k in individually purchasable songs.

Season Passes

[stub section!] This section is a stub and the person who included this section appears to have left it blank

DLC bias

Often, the DLC featured in games can leave bias from either the developer or publisher, and thus imbalance the game to encourage consumers to purchase this DLC. This imbalance problem is mostly seen in competitive games, such as Mortal Kombat or Super Smash Brothers. Super Smash Brothers in particular has brought the largest amount of concern from consumers, as DLC fighters end up being cited as more powerful for casual players.

Historical examples

Products to potentially mention later on: The Sims 4, super smash Brothers ultimate, Minecraft bedrock edition, certain Ubisoft or EA games, Fortnite, Halo infinite, assassin's Creed, Destiny