Each week, Blacknut Magazine will explain one or more terms from the video game vocabulary. And God knows this vocabulary can be confusing for newcomers. According to psychologists, having your own language is a way for teenagers and people who have trouble growing up to free themselves from the language of non-players. Belonging to a distinct group, a group of insiders.<br>The problem is that sometimes you need to have a few keys, if not to communicate with other players.
'Dad, can you buy me the latest DLC for Assassin’s Creed?'
DLC stands for DownLoadable Content: downloadable content.
That is, an extension of the base game.
Extensions that you pay for online, either individually or via a 'Season Pass', a subscription that grants a fixed number of extensions. These DLCs allow you to extend the adventure or unlock in-game bonuses.
They can be a weapon, a vehicle, decorative accessories (for example, Christmas-themed), a character, or even the entire level of a game.
Some titles can include hundreds of paid add-ons!
Some DLCs resemble microtransactions (buying a costume or a weapon) while others are true extensions offering extra hours of gameplay.
The DLCs in question can even cost more than the base game itself (FIFA 19 is a case in point)!
Many players denounce the perverse effects of this method. Especially when content is removed from the base game to be sold as a DLC.
If a publisher estimates that it won't make enough margin on its game, it may deliberately trim part of its content at launch and offer it separately as a download, for an additional purchase.
Sometimes the system of additional downloadable content becomes perverse. When it's impossible to finish the game without buying a DLC, or when the purchased content is single-use. In that case, the expansion is accessible only to the first buyer. But for everyone who will obtain the game by other means (loan or used purchase), this content becomes paid add-on content.
The publisher thus sells the base game once but three times more DLC.
DLCs thus allow development teams to continue working on additional storylines or extra portions of the level, albeit paid, but aimed simply at extending the initial experience. These “extensions” for already released games have thus generated almost $6 billion in 2017. Probably even more in 2018, but we don't yet have the figures!
At Blacknut there are no DLCs, so no surprise expenses; additional content is added for free month after month.