Are Games Getting Thin On Content?

Last week, looking to fill the silence while I fumbled my way through cooking dinner, I decided I was going to listen to a podcast review of Far Cry Primal. I had fond memories of Far Cry 3 and I hadn’t checked in on the series since, so I decided it was worth a punt.

From the start it was evident Mr Reviewer wasn’t entirely impressed with Primal, clearly enjoying himself as he provided a searing indictment of the game’s performance issues, content gating, propensity for pointless busy work and its perceived lack of content. The last point seemed to cause him much grievance in particular as he was about 8 hours into the campaign and felt as though he was nearing the third act. Often I find internet criticism, which I say with some self-consciousness, tends to devolve into self-aggrandising static but just as I was about to tune out, he said something that jerked me out of my culinary stupor.

The game costs $60, or your regional equivalent, whilst taking about 20 hours to complete.

This was a surprise to me for two reasons. The first being I genuinely thought Far Cry Primal was an instalment of DLC for Far Cry 4, serving the same function as Blood Dragon did for Far Cry 3. Mea Culpa. More importantly however, I was certain both Far Cry 3 and 4 were much more of a time sink to complete. After a bit of research I concluded that a combined run of the main story and side quests for Far Cry 4 takes, on average, about 29 hours. Primal, using the same source, takes 19 hours. Yet, at the time of release, both have been sold at the same price.

This may seem inconsequential; after all, a longer length is no guarantee of quality ( don’t be puerile) but it does raise questions about the value proposition of modern game developers. Because make no mistake, Primal isn’t the only one to have to tried this shit.

Star Wars Battlefront released in November of last year with a bang, though not quite the bang it had wanted. Within days, the forums and opinion pieces of popular gaming sites were flooded with complaints about the game’s glaring omissions when compared to its previous incarnations. The game is not only bereft of space battles or a conquest mode, it lacks a single player campaign of any kind. Compared to Battlefront 2, a game made nearly ten years prior, this new instalment offered 12 less playable maps upon release and a staggering 17 less playable ‘hero’ characters. EA attempted to alleviate the rancour by claiming the content issue would be resolved with upcoming DLC, which would of course have to be paid for unless you purchased the seemingly obligatory season pass valued at $50.

Unsurprisingly, folk were pissed.

Players were advised that content they would expect to be present at moment of sale would be delivered ‘at some point’ and that they would have to pay for the trouble. The fact EA hadn’t prepared a concrete schedule for when this content would see release but had nevertheless gone to the trouble of setting up a payment plan for it left an undeniably sour taste in the mouths of the franchise’s fanbase. The prevailing consensus is that EA DICE was encouraged to release the game before its completion in order to correspond with the release of The Force Awakens in attempt to ensure optimal sales. The bottom line, however, is that after the mania surrounding Star Wars’ release, consumers were left with a sub par product and a lighter wallet.

Similarly, Street Fighter V arrived in February and was met with positive reviews, however fans noticed certain omissions from the games features. Particular aspects of the game were unavailable upon release, with players being barred from certain features with caveats of ‘available in future update’.These missing features include, but are not limited to; an arcade mode, a story mode that lasts longer than five minutes and a fully fleshed out training mode, inclusive of concept tutorials and combo challenges. These are all fundamental features of any fighting game on the market – Street Fighter IV , itself, offered these features even in its vanilla version – and it is particularly significant for these to be absent from a game from one of the defining franchises in the fighting game genre. It goes without saying but, again, the game was sold at full price.

‘Games as a service’ is not a new concept; many developers and publishers alike have pushed to change the perception of what their product does or does not entitle the consumer to upon purchase. I’m not of the opinion that this notion is necessarily a de facto negative for the consumer, as many developers have been incentivised to continue working on a game after release. CD Projekt Red received deserved praise last year for their continuing support for The Witcher 3, offering free content updates and critically acclaimed DLC packages throughout the year to happy consumers. This idea of offering a consistent and on-going service to customers after release can excite the dialogue between developers and players, building a better industry as a result.

The problem arises when the concept is manipulated in order to sell an unfinished product at full price. In the past, developers took as long as was needed to create and perfect their product before release because they knew that once it hit the shelves, there was no going back. Consequently, the product was made as airtight as possible against industry critics and consumer ire, as a bad release had seriously dire consequences for developers and publishers alike. However, nowadays developers can wilfully confuse perceptions of what constitutes ‘additional content’ and what constitutes ‘key features’. Games on release can become slighter and anaemic under the assured promise that normally prerequisite features of a game will be released ‘some time in the future, whilst still charging full price. The games are getting smaller, but they are not getting cheaper.

So save your money. Don’t pre order. Research the market to see what you consider to be good value for money and check the reviews to see if these features are present. Be wary of movie tie-ins released serendipitously at the time of said movie’s premiere. And for fuck sake don’t buy a season pass. Even Tekken 2 had an arcade mode.