Gears of War 3 executive producer Rod Fergusson previously stated that Epic Games sees nothing shameful about including on-disc additional content that will be offered to players for money after release.
The latest issue of Game Informer features a new interview in which Fergusson continued to defend his company’s stance, emphasizing that DLC is one way to combat the secondary market.
“We try to get players not to sell the disc. DLC is one of the ways to fight the secondary market,” he stated. “Players should understand that additional content is something developers plan in advance.”
He then went on to reveal the “secrets” of the modern gaming industry: “Some people think that DLC development only begins after the game hits the market. No, in fact, that’s not how it works.”
His colleague Cliff Bleszinski adds: “It’s not that simple, you can’t just lift up a rock and find new levels under it. Most of the work needs to be planned in advance, prepared, and resources allocated so that we can support the game with additional content after launch.”
In contrast, one might point to the stance of Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who opposes paid DLC, believing that buyers should receive a complete package and a finished gaming experience right from the start.
In an interview with AOL’s Games Blog, Reggie stated that his company is open to releasing post-launch add-ons, but the company doesn’t really like having to charge players extra money for it.
“We encourage content expansion that players will find interesting,” he stated. “I’ve spoken about this with many of our key developers. Their core approach is: ‘Reggie, when we sell a game, we want players to feel like they got a full, complete gaming experience.’”
“After release, if they want to add new content to the game, that’s fine, we’re ready to consider their proposals. But we don’t want to initially sell players part of a game and then force them to pay for whatever comes out post-launch.”
“Our developers hold this position, and I completely agree with it. Users want to get the entire game for their money, and only after that do we have the opportunity to give them something on top of that.”
However, Reggie added that on 3DS and Wii U, developers will have more options for distributing content than on previous Nintendo consoles, and they will decide for themselves what DLC distribution scheme to use.