Is $15 for a Piece of DLC Too Expensive?

Is a piece of DLC that contains a mere four multi-player maps and an additional mode worth $15? This is a topic that we’ve debated quite a bit here at Techgage, and while I personally hated DLC at the get-go, I am not totally opposed to it today. It depends on a major factor, though. Is the DLC a great extension to an already full game? Or does it feel like something one developer put together in a single day?

A couple of weeks ago, Call of DLC Duty: Black Ops developer Treyarch released a piece of DLC for the game that includes four brand-new maps not based on exact levels in the game (but do share assets) and also contains a couple of new mechanics, such as a new Zombie mode. Is something like this worth $15?

Treyarch’s Josh Olin thinks so, as he says, “All four of our MP (multiplayer) maps are brand new from the ground up- they’re not rehashes from single player, they’re not old maps that people have seen before – they’re brand new maps“. This is true to some extent, but for anyone who’s played through the single-player campaign, the borrowing of level assets is obvious, so I don’t consider these maps to be “built from the ground up”, unless all that term entails is the building of the level’s frame.

In the end, though, none of that even matters. What does matter is whether or not gamers will pay the price that they’re being asked to pay, and in the case of this game, they are. Gamers might find $15 to be a bit high of a price to pay ($10 would be much better, in my opinion), but they still pay it because… how else are they going to play the new maps? I personally find it a little unfortunate that developers will charge as much as possible for DLC just because they can, when in fact they should cut their legal customers some slack.

But, I was one of the people who purchased this map pack for $15. Damn CoD addiction!

The $15 price tag for map packs started with 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Despite criticisms from players about the hefty cost, the first DLC for the game generated 2.5 million downloads in its first week. According to Official Xbox Magazine, “First Strike” DLC for Black Ops hit 1.4 million downloads in the first 24 hours.