Just Cause 2 developer criticizes DLC and forced multiplayer in games

Christofer Sundberg, Avalanche Studio head, is not a fan of DLC. He is certainly not a fan of 'forced' multiplayer either, and he believes that these schemes are getting in the way of developing true games. To Sundberg, publishers and developers are simply approaching the problem of making a profit in the wrong way, and that DLC is definitely not the way to go in the future.

"DLC is not needed to keep players engaged if the game is well executed," said Sundberg to Eurogamer. "We create a game allowing players to properly explore and have fun and not focusing so much on the actual end goal of the game. As most publishers and developers have run around as headless chickens the last three years looking for a way to make money, DLC was definitively a tool to try to keep players engaged, but how many games have been truly successful with DLC? Not that many."

Commenting on DLC, one cannot forget that Just Cause 2 was also a title to feature additional content. To this, Sundberg replies that said DLC was not added on to make gamers pay for content already within the game; he says that it was the merit of Just Cause 2 that got gamers to pick up the title, not the DLC. While DLC is certainly a problem, Sundberg also lashes out against the necessity of multiplayer for some games that is meant to slow down used game sales.

"The big thing now is to force multiplayer into games that are really single-player games just to combat second hand sales and that makes absolutely no sense as it just consumes budget and does not add any value except on the back of the box," he said.

"Proper DLC that adds value is great but so far very few games have motivated me to actually pay for the DLC. I've just paid for the crap that developers decided to cut because they didn't have the time to get into the game."

Perhaps some games fit this description, as many fans were rather critical of hearing Mass Effect 3 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood adding multiplayer into franchises that were perceived not to need them. While critical reception of many titles' multiplayer aspects has been positive, many others have not. Sundberg adds that Just Cause 2 stands up as a positive game where DLC and multiplayer were not a contributing factor in the games' success. Even two years after launch, the game still sees over 100,000 unique players a week with over 200 hours of gameplay time recorded.