[SimonPStevens]

Quite frankly in-game purchases has destroyed an entire industry for me.

Mobile games are so filled with this junk I don't even bother looking at them any more.

I avoid anything on PC that has a store, repeating season passes or virtual currency of any kind. It's even coloured my view of the types of add-on DLC that 20 years ago would have been a legitimate expansion pack, purely because it feels too similar to the dark patterns used in stores.

I refuse to give money to the companies that push these financial cons on people.

[bm3719]

I also think of the games market this way. It's bifurcated between single purchase and on-going, and I'm not interested in constantly paying for stuff or needlessly complicating transactions, so the latter doesn't exist to me.

I find the acceptance of in-game stores rather unfathomable, but apparently the market has spoken as it represents the majority of industry revenue. So, it's unfortunately not going anywhere. What's wrong with players willing to drop $1000+ on a single game and/or have their game mechanics and other activities tainted by constantly pulling out their wallet? I know people in RL that do this, some to great personal financial harm, and haven't really gotten a good answer yet.

[ridgered4]

I already live in a pay to win world so the idea of unwinding in one seems insane to me.

My biggest beef is when this is added in an update after I bought a game that didn't have it.

[hnick]

I can't remember the game (I think it was Marvel related) but I remember seeing a preview for one where the YouTuber called out suspicious gaps in the UI, which would easily allow in-game store stuff to be added after the fact. And it was shortly after release. They knew we didn't want it, so they hid it.

Either way I'm with all of the above comments, the mere intermingling of real world cash concerns with a game ruins the immersion for me. I have made a few exceptions to this rule where I think it's really warranted due to the quality of the game or people involved, but overall I hate this direction.

[hinkley]

There’s a bit of a sweet spot with replayability and DLCs.

I have a hard time finishing games. When they add new chapters to the game they’ve moved the goal posts as it were, and that doesn’t feel good. If they introduce some new side quests and a new race, I’ve still finished the game (or let’s be honest, got 90% of the way).

But if I want to play Skyrim again as a telekinetic khajiit then I might pay for DLC.

[nottorp]

> But if I want to play Skyrim again as a telekinetic khajiit then I might pay for DLC.

You must be new to Bethesda games. You buy the "game of the year edition" with all DLC included when it's on 70% discount. You don't buy at launch :)

[account42]

Unfortunately, that doesn't apply to just Bethesda but to most games these days. Even some indies are starting to do the whole micro-DLC nickle and diming.

[nottorp]

Well I ignore most AAAs. Except Soulsbornes. And those tend to have 1-2 large DLCs worth paying for. They didn't get the memo and still do expansions not DLCs :)

[SimonPStevens]

Yeah, expansion type DLCs are at the border here. But the overall experience with scammy stores has left me leaning away from trusting any game with any significant DLC.

For example. Dirt Rally 2 honestly feels like a complete scam. The base game comes with 6 rally locations (not counting some rally cross tracks). And there are 7 more available as DLC. The base game feels intentionally slimmed down to make you feel you need to buy the DLC. it pads in extra junk content to make it seem long without actually having much there (like for example the rally cross tournaments make you compete in about 6 rounds of heats on the same short track to make it seem like there are lots of events, but in any other game all the rally cross tracks would have been a single event with perhaps one qualifier and one final on each track). Lots of the daily challenge type activities use the DLCs so are unavailable if you don't by them. All the locations are listed in the menus along with the not-included ones with just a small "DLC" flag across a corner. In addition there are perhaps dozens of cars available as DLC. And several very unclear things like the "flat out pack" which incorporates some of the other DLCs It very much feels like they've taken one game, a split it up into small parts to make you pay more for what would have been one purchase in the 90s. And the multiple small packs with overlapping content seem designed to make you accidentally pay more or buy the same thing twice through confusion. I completely refuse to engage with this and despite being a bit fan of rally games I won't touch this DLC, and tbh if I'd known the game was like this I wouldn't have even touched the base game.

On the other hand, Mario Kart 8 on switch comes with 12 "cups" each with 4 unique tracks, so 48 tracks in total. They have a single DLC which adds a further 12 cups and 48 more tracks for £22. (About half the price of the base game). 48 tracks in the base game feels substantial, I was happy with the game and didn't feel short changed. And the DLC that doubles the number of tracks also feels worth it without being a scam. But I have to be honest, because of the scammy nature of the rest of the business my default stance is to avoid DLCs so it was a while before I purchased this one, despite it being on the better end of the spectrum.

So there's a good way and a. And way to do DLC. But the bad way is poisening the whole market and putting me off considering the DLCs that are done well.