Mario needs to stay the course...NO DLC

Over the past few years gamers have seen a myriad of big box game companies switch over to a micro-transaction system buffed by DLC. These companies view felt the economic return on their millions spent developing the game created a profit margin that was simply too small to continue to produce games of increasing quality to keep up with gamers' expectations. The simple solution to them was to squeeze more money out of the gamer.

Now, for as long as I can remember, the purchase of a new video game would set me back around $60. For most of the games that I was buying as a kid, (Goldeneye, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, NFL Blitz, Super Smash, FF7-11 (the only real games I played on the PS systems)) I felt that I got more than $60 of fun and replayability out of them. The quality and storytelling was memorizing. I still remember the feeling of powering on the N64 for the first time to play Super Mario 64. Over the years, I've easily logged at least 100 hours on each of those games and would happily go back to any of them today.

I can easily justify spending $60 on those games and many of those games have retained much of their value today and it's hard to find original copies of them for less than $30-40. The problem is that those game companies only get a return on the original $60 purchase, all resale profits wind up with GameStop or individual resellers. The simple solution is to find a way to squeeze more money out of the gamer over the life of the game. There are a few ways that you can do this: micro-transactions, DLC, and subscriptions (though that one isn't a direct way for a game to make money, rather for a company to make money based on offering the ability to play multiple games).

I completely understand from the game company's view why they chose to more forward with any combination of the three options, and in EA's case...all three. EA drank the Kool Aid and jumped into the deep end with all three ways to increase profits. It worked wonders for them for awhile and other companies followed suit. Oblivion offered a $2.50 DLC for horse armor in 2006...not cool looking horse armor either...and it was a SINGLE PLAYER GAME. So the only way to show it off was to invite friends over to watch you play...awesome. Compare that major let down to Call of Duty: Ghosts, where they offered everything from paint jobs for guns to voice filters for $2 a pop. You'd easily spend over $100 if you wanted to get everything the game offered. No thanks.

Luckily, the gamer community is not to me trifled with and they usually make their voice heard very, very, loudly. I know we all know about the Battlefront II apocalypse, and the last thing I want is to fire everyone back up about that mess, so I'll stop there. The point I'm making is that furthering the profitability of a game needs to be done in the right way and offer enough value to the gamer so they don't feel screwed over by big business. BOTW did this nicely, though I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by Trials and have yet to play Champions Ballad, though the motorcycle thing appears to have been well received. I'll have to wait to play it myself and hear from enough of you who have played it to see if Nintendo has handled this one well. I have a bad taste in my mouth from the Wii estore where I couldn't just buy the retro game I wanted, I needed to buy credits in values that ALWAYS left me either just a bit short of the game I wanted or with useless currency left over.

In a world where even Nintendo is cautiously dipping their toes in the DLC pool, it seems like there will come a day when all games will come with extra fees if you want to truly play them to completion. Mario should be the bastion and remain the way it always has, completely free to play everything after you buy the game. Mario has in game transactions, but using the coins you collect in game...for free. Want to change outfits, buy one with in game currency. Want to slap a sticker on your ship, buy one with in game currency. Want to stock your shelves with souvenirs from your adventures, buy them with in game currency. The game has massive replay value and feels like all types of games could enjoy it for the $60 value.

Mario just as easily could have offered some outfits or hats as part of a micro-transaction system, but thankfully chose not to upset one of the most loyal fan-bases in gaming history. Very smart decision. They could of course, throw that all away with future games in the franchise, but here's to hoping that they stay the course!

Upvote if you agree and please comment to let me know if you think I'm missing the point here!