Why won't companies offer DLC/patches on disc?

Viper187

Viper187

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I notice some companies re-releasing the whole game with added content, and I was impressed with Rockstar putting the extra GTA4 Episodes on disc; however, others refuse to provide an alternate means of access. I'm one of many people that live in a rural area and still has no access to broadband internet (yes, I'm on 56k). Warner started doing a Burn-On-Demand service for movies. Why not do that for game content? Hell, patches/updates should be able to be just downloaded and burned to a CD-R/DVD-R as an alternative. That's how I update my PS3, etc. Takes a while for me to download, but it works.

The FCC should have been worrying about forcing broadband internet access to be made available everywhere instead of that stupid digital broadcasting change.
 
Its all about the $. If they can make some money doing something, they'll do it. If digital distribution is cheaper, then that's the way they'll go. GTA4 episodes retail version will sell a lot of copies, even if they earn less per copy than they would on Xbox live, it's still $ they otherwise would not of earned.
 
I would imagine it just wouldn't be cost effective for them. If there's enough interest in something (Fallout 3 DLC, GTA4 episodes, Rock Band Track Packs), they'll come out on disc eventually. Otherwise, it probably doesn't make a lot of sense for them to do something like that. Just curious, have you ever tried this method of connecting to Xbox live?

http://www.360-hq.com/xbox-tutorials-65.html

I imagine it'd take forever to download anything, but it sounds like your used to that getting patches on your PS3.
 
The other question is whether or not the Xbox will accept game patches or DLC via CD. I know you can do system updates that way, but not sure about patches. If you just want these for yourself, I would suggest asking at Best Buy. Not sure how much they'd charge you, but their Geek Squad service apparently does this for firmware updates and what not. (I've never used this, but saw it advertised.)
 
Might another possible reason be that if you can DL patches into a CD and then install them on your xbox, there must be some way to game/hack this system to install "patches" of your own, leading to things like cheats, hacks, homebrew, etc.? Just a thought. With basically all DLC and patches being available only via XBL, then MS has a much tighter/greater control on the content being installed on systems.

I as well think ultimately it comes down to money. The cost to produce and distribute DLC (and especially patches, which are almost always free) on physical media just doesn't make economic sense.

I don't know anything about how it works, but I can see where Fallout 3 DLC might be an exception wherein the size of the patches is large and maybe a lot of players can't download the additional content because of HD size constraints, and playing the extra content from the DVD allows them to enjoy the extra gaming without having to wipe off large portions of their disk. The GTA4 DLC also seems unique in that it can run standalone thus attracting players who might not own the original game, as well as the issue of the size of the DLC which may be again too large for many people to want to free up enough HD space for.

Ruahrc
 
You still have to install the Fallout 3 DLC onto your hard drive before playing it. The disc is just an alternate method of delivery.
 
Any downloadable content would have to be large enough to actually fill the physical media and be something that they expect to sell a lot of before it becomes cost effective to ship. Small patches aren't really worth burning to disc and it's risky to press a bunch of DVD's or BluRays and then have nobody buy them. Just think about all the E.T. cartridges Atari dumped in the landfill. Downloads greatly reduce the risk of failure because if they upload something to one of the online services and it doesn't sell they haven't dumped millions into creating an inventory that they now have to blow out cheap to get back some of the cash they wasted.
 
[quote name='CheepGamez']Any downloadable content would have to be large enough to actually fill the physical media and be something that they expect to sell a lot of before it becomes cost effective to ship. Small patches aren't really worth burning to disc and it's risky to press a bunch of DVD's or BluRays and then have nobody buy them. Just think about all the E.T. cartridges Atari dumped in the landfill. Downloads greatly reduce the risk of failure because if they upload something to one of the online services and it doesn't sell they haven't dumped millions into creating an inventory that they now have to blow out cheap to get back some of the cash they wasted.[/QUOTE]

So don't press copies up front. Burn on demand. That's what Warner is doing with movies they don't think are worth pressing. You order it, they burn and ship it within a week. Amazon does the same thing with some CDs; Vampires soundtrack, for example.
 
One of the reasons for DLC is that the publisher has more control over the product than the customer. If everything was available on disc, then the publisher would be losing that power (i.e. preventing that content from being re-sold).
 
[quote name='mogamer']One of the reasons for DLC is that the publisher has more control over the product than the customer. If everything was available on disc, then the publisher would be losing that power (i.e. preventing that content from being re-sold).[/QUOTE]

They shouldn't need that much goddamn control over extra content for a game. It's bad enough having to pay an arm and a leg for sealed copies of game once they go out of print. I could probably get sealed NES games cheaper in some cases despite that they're 20 years older than 360. Once those servers go down in a few years to be replaced by the next generation Xbox, the content will be gone for good. If you have it on disc, at least you have it for later. If you have it on an HDD and your console fries, you can replace the console, but the DRM ridden shit probably wouldn't work even if the drive was fine. It's bullshit.
 
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[quote name='Viper187']They shouldn't need that much goddamn control over extra content for a game. It's bad enough having to pay an arm and a leg for sealed copies of game since they go out of print. I could probably get sealed NES games cheaper in some cases despite that they're 20 years older than 360. Once those servers go down in a few years to be replaced by the next generation Xbox, the content will be gone for good. If you have it on disc, at least you have it for later. If you have it on an HDD and your console fries, you can replace the console, bu tthe DRM ridden shit probably wouldn't work even if the drive was fine. It's bullshit.[/QUOTE]
I totally agree with you. But DLC is something publishers are aiming for. Taking out the middleman to give them more profits and getting rid of used game sales to reduce the pressure to lower prices. And consoles, unlike pc's will only have the console makers store to purchase from. Although places like Amazon might have sales on points. :cry:
 
[quote name='Viper187']I could probably get sealed NES games cheaper in some cases despite that they're 20 years older than 360.[/QUOTE]

That's because no one wants the NES games, except for maybe collectors.
 
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