10 Video Game DLCs That Burned Their Fanbase
Parted with hard-earned money for a game? According to publishers, that's simply not enough.
DLC used to stand for Downloadable Content. It now stands for Dastardly Laundering Conspiracy. Granted, gamers are still afforded such wonders as The Witcher 3's epic Blood And Wine expansion and Far Cry 3's hilarious '80s action parody Blood Dragon, but over the years, DLC has begun to evolve into something roundly more sinister.
No longer content with adding exciting new scenarios to their games, publishers love nothing more than to wrest finished titles from their developers, slamming them onto a chopping board and messily hacking away, shipping unfinished products and offering players the rest of the game for an extra tenner out of the goodness of their hearts.
Beyond this, gamers can now pay for the privilege of timesavers, allowing them to bypass levelling systems without putting the time and effort in, or immediately execute finishers without pesky things such as skill getting in the way. An insult to fans who have invested time and money into their favourite franchises, there is no depth these companies won't sink to in order to exploit their player bases even more.
It's enough to make one pine for the days of pre-internet gaming, where a finished game was standard operating procedure rather than a valuable commodity. Let's have ourselves a look at ten of the worst DLC offences that have been inflicted upon loyal fanbases. Upgrade to a WhatCulture Premium account to see the rest of the list! (We're kidding.)
10. Horse Armour - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
An early example of DLC burning its fans, Oblivion's infamous Horse Armour debuted in 2006, when DLC and online content was still very much a new thing - and it may well have opened the floodgates for what was to come. For just $2.50, players could drape their mount in some gaudy golden armour as they rode across the verdant land of Cyrodiil.
In the current gaming climate, $2.50 for a cosmetic item doesn't seem like much at all - in fact, players are known to spend hundreds on such things - but back in 2006 this felt like a massive insult. What didn't help was that Oblivion was a single player experience, so the only people to show your purchase off to were stiff-faced NPCs who couldn't care less rather than obnoxious other players, who also probably couldn't care less.
Acknowledging their error, Bethesda acknowledged their misstep on April Fools' Day 3 years later, where they did a sale on Oblivion content - everything was half price except the Horse Armour, which they doubled. The company had the worst up their sleeve, however, and may well be making another appearance on this list.