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Capcom revising on-disc DLC stance

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Publisher "re-evaluating" how add-on content is provided to customers in wake of uproar over Street Fighter X Tekken, but new policy won't take effect until after Dragon's Dogma.

Capcom has heard the customer complaints over the "downloadable" content for Street Fighter X Tekken being locked away on the retail disc, and the publisher is changing in response. Senior VP Christian Svensson posted a statement about the change in direction on Capcom's official forums yesterday.

"We would like to assure you that we have been listening to your comments and as such have begun the process of re-evaluating how such additional game content is delivered in the future," Svensson said. "As this process has only just commenced in the past month or so, there will be some titles, where development began some time ago and that are scheduled for release in the coming months, for which we are unable to make changes to the way some of their post-release content is delivered."

For example, Svensson said next week's release of Dragon's Dogma will arrive with some DLC already on the disc. While he didn't specify which content was on-disc, Svensson said the game would receive an array of new weapons, quests, and customization options after launch.

On the eve of Street Fighter X Tekken's March debut, Capcom admitted that the 12 "downloadable" characters announced as PlayStation Vita exclusives were actually on the discs of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game. These fighters will be sold for $20 (1,600 MS points) sometime after the PS Vita version launches this fall.

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

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acenitro 6 pts

So that's why Ono ran away.He knew that something would happen and wouldn't be blame

funkchild75 5 pts

I'm actually amazed that after the ME3 fiasco that companies are still trying to slip by with these kinds of shady business dealings. Oh wait, no I'm not. >.>

catsith 6 pts

You are pathetic saying that Capcom, it sounds like you are just saying this because you are releasing another game with DLC content on it and this is suppose be a 'pre-warning' of the same thing happening with StreetfightXtekken. 

You've really lost a heck lot of credibility and trust over the last few years. Everytime I browse the PSN store I see your street fighter costume DLC and it makes me disgusted why you are charging unreasonably high for that, not that I want it to begin with but it just goes to show how pathetic you are

Blue-N-Yellow 9 pts

So tired of this Day-1 DLC, retailer-exclusive content and premium service crap that has emerged over the last few years. Don't want to buy a game when I know that they're withholding content from me just to make a buck (and I WON'T buy them).

Skrewdriven 11 pts

derpa derp, da derpa derp.  In other words, FINE we will just keep it out of the game even though its all done, and then just make you download it instead of having it possibly hacked by hackers to give you what you already paid for....DERP.

69ingChimpmunks 15 pts

It's a stupid idea because the content should have already been part of the game, They are simply using it as "DLC" in order to make a quick buck. They are ripping off their fans, Plain and simple.

slayer1090 16 pts

On disc DLC is the same as day 1 DLC, one is locked on the disc, the other is locked on the internet, so whether they cancel on disc DLC and just keep having day 1 DLC isn't an improvement at all IMO.

sevendiamantes 12 pts

After all the bread chewing people are going to continue buying their games. No DLC early. They are going to re evaluate how to sell us pieces of content without making costumers angry. That is? all. The DLC will still be exclusive for the Vita release. It doesn't matter if people want the 12 characters. We are not going to get them early. Support Capcom at your own discretion.

sevendiamantes 12 pts

Let me bring out the cake for the Celebration of Street Fighter X Tekken12 Character on disc package. Thanks to our help they will get better at selling us pieces of content. Excellent news. Where is the 12 characters DLC? Are we suppose to keep waiting? 

ibm2431 9 pts

It'd be easy to determine they're actually making a good-faith gesture to players if they give free unlock codes for Dragon's Dogma's disc-locked content. I wouldn't count on it, though.

sevendiamantes 12 pts

The millions of dollars on their? pocket is not letting them listing to their fans. Cut their money supply down to 0%. Make them pay! We are the bosses of the gaming industry.

rey2 7 pts

Revising the DLC stance but it's never gonna go away.   Look at their track record in the past.  I don't see it happening.

 

Btw, what happened to Megaman/Rockman, Breath of Fire, and Onimusha? Scrapped project now?  And even if they did come back, most of us don't trust you enough that we expect to get incomplete stuff.

sfkm2 9 pts

Capcom revising? HA! Call me when WWE going back to the attitude era. Then I believe it.

soulless4now 37 pts

A step in the right direction to win back consumers. It'll still take them awhile before they are off a lot of people's "most hated game company" list. 

Aentikraist 13 pts

funny how for me anther super version of the game will do the trick ah anyway ill avoid Disc locked content as much as possible with the vita version :)

nintendoboy16 34 pts

They better be serious about this. That was what pissed me off about Street Fighter X Tekken.

danusty 7 pts

 nintendoboy16 I never bought it because of it, I'll wait till it sells for $20

otanikun 14 pts

Good, now get to work on bringing back my cancelled Mega Man Legends 3.

servb0ts 29 pts

Capcom revising on-disc DLC stance.

 

^^ I hope newer Gen gamers understand the main reason Capcom is doing this is because they Got Busted doing something greedy while screwing over honest paying customers, had the Hackers not put Capcom on Blast, they wouldn't give a Damn about revising. that's a Fact!!!!

servb0ts 29 pts

F**k Capcom 2 Little 2 Late.

 

Wii U=Day 1 buy. Other next Gen keep on Screwing of its paying consumers, I won't be purchasing their product.

aerox76 15 pts

Its funny how they still don't get it. I wasn't pissed because the DLC was on the disc- I was pissed because the DLC was done and packaged BEFORE the games release! That means that they charged us full price for part of a game they completed already. Its a blatant ripoff. As gamers we all laugh at Nintendo for producing what we call "cheap toys", but in all honesty they are the only true gaming company thats not trying to rip us off. When Microsoft and Sony joined the party we fell over ourselves to hand them fist fulls of money because they promised us BETTER games- all those corperations did was deliver shorter and shorter versions of the same franchises in a pretty package for MORE money. Now they want to take away used games or loaning them to our friends- WTF.  I plan on buying a wii u when it comes out just because I know Ill atleast get a full version of Mario. Zelda and Metroid- and Ill prolly get it for UNDER $300. All of the "gamers" will criticise it for inferior graphics- WHO CARES? I own all the current gen systems and all the previous ones just like everyone else- but I gotta tell ya- if its true about the blocked used games- Im gonna pass on the PS4 and Xbox 720. Enough is enough, you want gamers to buy ur games- price em at $40 like they used to be- the price we're all willing to pay used. Guess what? THAT will kill the used game market. idiot. Instead, theyre games will probably be $70 and download only- then theyll wonder why the gaming industry died?!?

ShangTsung17 31 pts

 aerox76   excellent point..  i think the reason gamers have all but abandoned nintendo is cause they're going after a much younger audience these days,    there PG rated games are just too childish for most to take seriously,  also they focus way too much on that move type control scheme,  not everyone wants to bounce around there living room just to play a game..  they were moving past this back in the snes days but it seems nintendo just can't get up to par with the older gamers.

nintendoboy16 34 pts

 ShangTsung17 So because something's more "PG rated", it can't be taken seriously? C'mon, even kid oriented movies and TV shows can be taken seriously by adults depending on the themes, not what freaking rating is on the packaging. That's for how something is appropriate for kids.

 

Besides, you REALLY expect Nintendo to publish an "M rated" game again after TWO of their M rated bombs on GameCube called Eternal Darkness and Geist?

ShangTsung17 31 pts

 nintendoboy16 i'm not saying there's anything wrong with games like that,  i happen to own and enjoy a few myself but not all gamers are like me..  some people just won't play a game unless its atleast targeted at adults..    basically untill nintendo returns to the way it was back in the snes days most gamers just aren't gonna give them the time a day..

slayer1090 16 pts

 aerox76 Umm games back in the SNES/N64 era (cartridges) were upwards $60-$80regularily, so $40 isn't what game prices "used to be" but today, IMO only the best should be priced that high.

darksiED70 16 pts

Where is a good lawyer when you need one. Can someone already sue these thieves. This kind of business practice cannot be legal.

darksiED70 16 pts

$$$$$$ - You see those pretty things Capcom? Now say goodbye to it you thieves!

icetone 24 pts

What have happen to DLCs nowadays

berzerk0912 26 pts

I still refuse to buy anymore of your games Cashcom. You left a bad taste in my mouth.

batmandarknite 8 pts

Woowww. What made them think having On-disc content would be ok for us consumers? What is the point for paying sixty dollars for the disc if we do not get all the content. Drop the price down at least. But...that won't happen. I shall call you thieves.

Legrieme 17 pts

It's all about boosting profits, it always has been.

 

http://truthofgaming.blogspot.com/

 

Stop being fooled.

eva02langley 20 pts

Game companies are more and more hypocrite and greedy.

 

I remember the SNES days... there was no DLC, online pass, cd keys or DRM...

 

You were opening the box, putting the cart into your SNES and that was it!

lindallison 25 pts

Rolling eyes at folks saying they own everything on the game discs they buy.  Yes, you own the copyrights to the IP?  You own the rights to the middleware? You own the rights to the music?  On disc DLC is irritating because it strips away the illusion that DLC is not completed, bug-tested and ready for release when a game ships. 

 

Companies are going to continue premeditating and completing their DLC offerings well before launch day.  Whether its on the Disc or not is just semantics, but whatever makes you feel better...

mellow09 22 pts

 lindallison I don't own the rights to the IP, the middleware, or the music. But I did, potentially, pay for development of all that stuff and want all of what I paid for. This is not a hard thing to understand.

ahnzz 8 pts

One reason why its still called DLC. Disc Locked Content.

Takeno456 30 pts

Quit with the greed and start making quality. I hate the modern capitalistic money grubbing attitude of the corporations. You get what you pay for and when we buy a disk its our property along with everything on it.

maxwell97 35 pts

@Takeno456 No, it's really not. You pay for a license to use software. The disc means nothing at all.

danusty 7 pts

 maxwell97  Takeno456 you must be part of the 1% hahaaaaaaaaa!

TeeniestChaos 12 pts

You can't sell me a watch and then charge me $15 to remove the battery myself.

 

I own my game disc, including all the content on it. And if I unlock said content myself rather than pay to "download" nothing, I haven't done anything illegal under fair use.

 

So Capcom, I'm fine with you working on DLC before launch, but if you intend to charge for DLC, don't include it on the disk. You can't charge me for what I've already purchased and already own.

CalamityKate 30 pts

 TeeniestChaos You obviously don't own an Apple product.  To change the battery on an iPod or iPad, you have to take it in or send it in to Apple and pay a fee.  Attempting to do so yourself voids the warranty.

TeeniestChaos 12 pts

 CalamityKate That's true - I'd be paying for a service charge to Apple for changing the battery and get to keep a warranty to boot. And I could pay a service charge to Capcom for them to unlock on-disk content for me. Or I could unlock it myself for free, and as I don't have a warranty with most games I wouldn't be voiding it.

galahad502 10 pts

What I'm getting from Capcom's statement isn't that they're looking at changing their questionable business practice of purposely holding back content from the retail release of games so they can charge extra for it as "DLC".  If you look at Svensson's comment, he says they're simply changing "the way some of their post-release content is delivered"  So, all they're really changing is the policy of putting this locked content on the game disc and making everyone acutally download it instead.  So, they're not really screwing consumers over any less; just trying to make it less obvious they're doing so.

Henninger 36 pts

Capcom u guys used to b my favorite publisher. I remember playing Resident Evil 2 & the very begining of the game when that licker droped down in front of u after hearing the claws hit the ceiling. A good moment for me. That pretty much made u guys my favorite publisher that day. I remember playing thru that game a bunch of times just so i could get the HUNK 4th Survivor mission. Didnt have to pay for a damn thing. Now u guys r so greedy that if that game were to come back out as a proper remake u would charge me 10 bucks for it. U guys used to have good games. I'll list a couple: Street Fighter is 1. Now u charge characters & costumes & prolly stages as well. Used to be able to just beat the game & get everything. Resident Evil. Same thing. Beat the game unlocke infinite guns & rocket launchers. RE5 comes out & i gotta pay 4 flashback missions & a multiplayer mode. WTF really??? I would love to c another Onimusha game. But i wouldnt buy it @ full price cuz i already know that ur gonna screw me over somehow. I would love 2 c another Dino Crisis game. But again u'll find a way to piss ur loyal customers off. Basically i'm done with u guys. Resident Evil is the only franchise i'll buy from u guys full price & thats only cuz its my favorite franchise. Other than that u guys wont c another penny from me. Thanx for crapping all over the ppl who made u where u r today.

GameSharpLad 5 pts

 Henninger Good comment!

Sad. but true ... I feel the same way.

Halloll 21 pts

this doesn't mean they will stop their BS dlc way.

EctoSpartan 21 pts

I don't expect things to change. People are still buying their games and DLC.

wolfgang12193 22 pts

 EctoSpartan

 Yeah I know I am. Day one and all.

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Street Fighter X Tekken

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GameSpot Fuse
    • Publisher(s): Capcom
    • Genre: Action
    • Release: Mar 9, 2012 (EU)
    • PEGI: 12+
    Platforms: