One of the favorite ways to make money these days by developers and publishers is to sell gamers DLCs. Basically these DLCs contain extra content for the game, like maps, storylines, quests, costumes, characters, and so on. What usually happens is that in the end, players end up spending more than they thought they would.However it seems that the landscape could be changing because Ubisoft has announced that they will be dialing back on paid DLCs for their future games. Speaking in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Ubisoft’s VP of live operations Anne Blondel-Jouin said that the company’s new strategy is to support their games for 5-10 years, which means that they need to be careful when it comes to monetisation.
Blondel-Jouin said, “The key is if it’s not adding something on-top of the actual experience of the game, then it is no good. Because you’ll be asking for more money for the wrong reasons. Also, if the content is compulsory for the gamers, it’s no good as well.” She adds, “No more DLC that you have to buy if you want to have the full experience. You have the game, and if you want to expand it—depending on how you want to experience the game—you’re free to buy it, or not.”
Of course exactly what Ubisoft will deem as “compulsory” DLC remains to be seen, but for gamers who are sick of paid DLCs and microtransactions, this is good news. Ubisoft isn’t the first developer to scale back on their DLC plans. Square Enix did the same for Hitman, and EA recently made a similar implementation with Titanfall 2 where all future modes and maps will be free of charge.
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