The Anger in DLC End-of-Life

His Xbox LIVE Gamer Tag lists his gaming "Zone" as "Pro" and he has five-stars in his "Rep" with a large white "7" appearing in the upper-right-corner of the tag, the number indicating that he has been a Gold-level subscriber of the Xbox LIVE service for more than seven years. The point to all that? Risner has been around as a gamer for a long time -- in gamer years seven-years as a Gold Member on the LIVE service is serious time.

"I have seen a lot of trends begin and end in console gaming, and the trends that have grown up around the whole concept of DLC and what it can and should mean for gamers is a very obvious and irritating example of hubris on the part of game studios, developers, and publishers," Risner declares.

"You might think that they would care about their reputation among serious gamers, or that they would not want gamers to believe that they are basically using the DLC system to pad their profits," Risner points out. "But that does not appear to be the case at all.

"You take a gamer's money and then a few years later you tell them they are shit-out-of-luck when they need to download a fresh copy of the DLC? That doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy towards them."

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Getting to the Good Stuff

"I am not an achievement whore, not by any stretch of the imagination," Kloph points out as she checks her messages on her Xbox. "But you have to understand that unlocking most of the base game Achievements is not enough anymore; you want to eventually unlock all of the Achievements for a game, and that includes the ones that are added with DLC -- so what happens when you have some you have not unlocked for DLC you paid for are out of your reach now because you bought a new console or your old one broke and you had to replace it, but now you can never get that DLC again?

"Think about this for a moment: almost every month dozens of new games come out -- and those are just the retail games that come in a box you buy in a store -- dozens of Arcade games come out too! And in any given month there might be dozens of DLC additions to the games you own too. There are only so many hours in a day, and you can only play so many games in those hours, so it is really easy to have three-dozen older games that you own and that you have DLC for that you maybe play every couple of months. You fully intend to unlock all the Achievements for them, it is just going to take you time.

"Then you discover that even if you have the time, you no longer have the option of playing the game and unlocking the Achievements because you cannot download the DLC?" she says, shaking her head ruefully. "You know, I asked the Microsoft Tech Support person if it would be OK if I had a friend copy the DLC from my old hard drive to my new one and then edit it so that it would work and do you know what she said? 'That would be a violation of the user agreement' -- and of course she is talking about the pages and pages of tiny text that you agree to when you first use your new Xbox and when you sign up for the LIVE service.

"If you actually take the time to read that you will probably be shocked and surprised by the things you are allowing Microsoft to do with your information and the restrictions you are agreeing to have placed upon you and your use of the LIVE service, but what will really annoy you," Kloph suggests, "Is the bits that relate to the problem of disappearing DLC and Arcade games, which you agree in advance they are completely not responsible for. You also agree that, even if there was originally a warranty, or promise of availability for the DLC or games you purchased there is no warranty or promise of availability."

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Aging DLC and Games

Sometimes there are good reasons for the removal of a piece of DLC from the LIVE service -- for example in 2010 the Dragon Age: Origins Return to Ostagar DLC was removed only a day after it was launched due to serious bugs that the DLC introduced to the game. Other times DLC is simply removed with no reason stated, and the situation that Kloph and Risner highlight above applies: you are simply out of luck! Examples of that situation include:

-- Ace Combat 6: F-16C/F-117A/F-22A DLC*

-- Marvel Ultimate Alliance: Heroes and Villains DLC

-- Need for Speed: Carbon 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon 2004 Lamborghini Murcielago DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon 2006 Dodge Viper SRT-10 DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Autosculpt Exotic Body Kit DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Autosculpt Roof, Spoiler, and Exhaust Kit DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Autosculpt Tuner Body Kit DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Autosculpt Wheels Kit DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Collector's Edition Upgrade DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Flags and 2-Tone Vinyls DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Flame Vinyls DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Paints Style Bundle DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Performance Drivetrain Bundle DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Performance Engine Boost Bundle DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Performance Handling Bundle DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Stripe Vinyls DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Supreme Car Bundle (FREE) DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Tribal Vinyls DLC*

-- Need for Speed: Carbon Ultimate Performance Bundle DLC*

-- Pinball FX DLC + Achievements removed following release of Pinball FX2*

For older games though, according to Risner there is another path you can take...

"With DLC there are no guarantees -- and that includes the online passes that some game companies (like EA) make you buy to play online if you are a gamer who prefers to rent or buy used games... While this will not apply to every game, there is a trend brewing in which the release of Game of the Year, Platinum, and compilation versions of games come with the DLC collected on a second disc!

"I recently bought a copy of Forza 2 Platinum Hits edition for just $20 new and it came with a disc that included all of the DLC -- I should point out that none of that DLC can be purchased on LIVE anymore -- it has all been removed from the Marketplace!" he says. "Another good deal is Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition, which also comes with all of the DLC packs, as does the Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition, which has all of the DLC on a second disc."

Obviously the solution that Risner has come up with doesn't really apply to new games, as gamers are still at the mercy of the publisher.

A similar issue impacting gamers is when the entire online side of games -- their online servers -- are shut down by the game company that runs them because they are no longer profitable -- including servers that required gamers to purchase online pass DLC to access! To read more about that follow this link to GU's related article: EA Planning to Shut Down More Online Game Servers in April.

* This DLC upon being removed from the LIVE Marketplace is also unavailable for re-download from Download History.