After it recently came to light that Mass Effect 3 will have day-1 DLC (downloadable content), the internet started flipping it’s shit – with people canceling preorders and even calling for a complete boycott of the game.  But what exactly is the problem?

Day-1 DLC is Evil

The argument against day-1 DLC in general goes something like this: If content is finished before release day, it should be included in the game.  The assumption is that publishers rip content out of the game in order to sell it and make more money.

This particular case is getting people extra-riled up because (without spoiling anything) the DLC content seems to be very important to the story of Mass Effect.

But If we take Casey Hudson, the producer of Mass Effect, at his word (which we should), we can disregard the latter argument because the DLC content was not originally part of the game and then taken out.

As for the former – why should there be any obvious reason that any content that is done before launch should be on the disk (included in the game)?

No it’s not

Actively taking out finished content from the game just to turn it into DLC is one thing (though I could argue for that as well), but what about content that is planned, and funded as DLC? If the DLC is being created by additional staff and additional money above the core team and budget, why should we get it for free? In that case, if it hadn’t been done as DLC, it wouldn’t have been made at all.

The reasonable fear when it comes to day-1 DLC is that what you get for your $60 is not complete, or not worth it.

But does anyone really doubt that Mass Effect 3 will not be worth their money out of the box? Does the lack of this one piece of content make you think the game will neither be fun nor full of content? If it does, then yes, I would say that you should “boycott” (aka: wait to the buy) game.  But I don’t know how anyone who is a fan of the first two games could think that they will get less value and enjoyment out of Mass Effect 3 sans DLC than they will out of a lot of the mediocre games that they’ll shell out full price for.

Though, I do think you could rationalize canceling your preorder.  By preordering a game, you are committing to buy it based on speculated value. Since this news might make you less certain about the final value, you might not be as sure that it will be worth it. But in that case, the reasonable thing to do is just wait to hear reviews and feedback on the final game before buying – not outright boycott it entirely.

Can I release it Now?

Furthermore, if day-1 DLC is evil, it begs the question – how soon is it okay to release DLC? A week? A month? But with some of these larger DLCs, they would still need to be working on it before the game launches. Should it not be okay to start work on DLC until after launch? What if all work on the game stops a month before launch, but since it’s immoral to start working on DLC, they just take a month vacation then. All that would mean is that you get your DLC later. But the game has the same amount of content.

Personally, I’d prefer my DLC to be available as soon as possible. I’d rather have the option of buying it when I’m playing the game, than going back to the game months later and playing some random segment out of context.

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You should decide whether or not to buy a game based on the value you are getting for your money.  If you don’t think that what is on the disk is worth your $60, then by all means, don’t get it, or wait for the price to drop.  But the fact that more content exists that you would have to pay extra for should have no (negative) impact on your decision.  Just because you could have more doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be pissed because you are not getting it.