Current Events > Apparently single player story DLC doesn't sell well

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1060550201256108033

BTW, something I've heard from a fair number of developers over the last few years is that single-player story DLC doesn't often sell very well. That's why we've seen DLC for the likes of Dishonored 2 and Uncharted 4 morph into stand-alone games.

Not too surprising sadly. I rarely ever see buzz for it even if the original game is a big hit.

Hell I didn't even see much buzz for the Dishonored: Death of the Outsider or Uncharted Lost Legacy either.

It's a shame. It's a great way to give more content without going for a full blown sequel.
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gamers are trash
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Not too surprising. There are so many factors needed to make a good story DLC campaign, and not many companies know how to do it.

This reminded me that I'm still waiting for the Prey DLC to drop in price
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I honestly don't care about SP DLC. It's almost always underwhelming for the price. I heard Witcher & Horizon did it right.
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nemu posted...

Not too surprising. There are so many factors needed to make a good story DLC campaign, and not many companies know how to do it.

It doesn't sound like good DLC sells well very often either but I suppose you could argue that poor DLC ruined their reputation so people assume it'll be not worth it.
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I feel like they should treat that type of DLC more like UC Lost Legacy and the like. Usually when people discuss great DLC, they mention RDR Undead Nightmare, DA:O Awakenings, The Witcher 3's expansions,... Things that in the old days would simply be expansion packs.
Most story DLC tends to be pretty lackluster and short, Spider-Man's Heist DLC being a recent example.
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Chad-Henne posted...

This reminded me that I'm still waiting for the Prey DLC to drop in price

That's another problem. It literally never drops in price and rarely goes on sale.
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Most people just wait for a GOTY edition
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DLC needs a lot of fine-tuning. Some of it is a fantastic value, like South Park's FbW stuff, but then you get online maps locked behind a paywall or endings sold separately and it's just a mess.
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Is xenoblade 2's doing well?
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DLC is a disease and needs to die.
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Nowadays I will generally trade in a game straight after I complete it (unless it's a digital copy). Horizon is one of my favourite games of this generation but I'd already got rid of it by the time the DLC came around.
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

DLC needs a lot of fine-tuning. Some of it is a fantastic value, like South Park's FbW stuff, but then you get online maps locked behind a paywall or endings sold separately and it's just a mess.

I really liked South Park Fractured But Whole but I didn't bother with the DLC. Didn't see anyone talk about it.

I don't really know what the answer is. If it takes too long a lot of the player base have moved on. That's assuming if they haven't outright sold the game.

GiftedACIII posted...

Is xenoblade 2's doing well?

No idea. Nintendo usually is pretty transparent with sales so we might know during their next financial briefing.
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Selling a single player dlc months after a games released and forgotten about is the issue. If you're not constantly enticing people to play the game up until the release of the DLC theres no chances they'll come back to it AND pay more money when there's great games coming out every month.
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With single-player DLC, the price can be hefty for something you may only "consume" once. Online dlc, typically it is something you expect to do something with multiple times whether that be a new map or whatever.

Plus, single-player games are easy to move on from.
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Dark Souls is an exception
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Another factor is that completion rates for games tend to be pretty low. Why would you buy single player DLC when you haven't even finished the game?
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Most people just wait for a "complete" edition instead
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Shadow of Mordor managed to make it work with the Celebrimbor dlc acting as a pseudo hard mode with its own narrative and orcish aesthetic
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The Frozen Throne is the best single player DLC
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AvantgardeAClue posted...

Most people just wait for a "complete" edition instead

I dunno I've played some complete editions on Xbox lately and it's obvious when you play DLC because suddenly you get a whole bunch of rare achievement notifications.
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Darmik posted...

AvantgardeAClue posted...

Most people just wait for a "complete" edition instead

I dunno I've played some complete editions on Xbox lately and it's obvious when you play DLC because suddenly you get a whole bunch of rare achievement notifications.

Im confused, what does that have to do with anything?
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I can understand this. Single player story DLC comes out weeks/months after the game has launched, and by that time, the vast majority of players are done. At that point, you're left with either gating off content that you had initially planned for release with the game to sell as DLC later, or you go with stand alone titles.
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Lost_All_Senses posted...

Darmik posted...

AvantgardeAClue posted...

Most people just wait for a "complete" edition instead

I dunno I've played some complete editions on Xbox lately and it's obvious when you play DLC because suddenly you get a whole bunch of rare achievement notifications.

Im confused, what does that have to do with anything?

It means barely anyone who played the game has played the DLC.
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