A recently updated image of the Assassin’s Creed 3 box art was uploaded onto Amazon today, revealing that anyone who buys the PS3 version of the game will get an hour’s worth of exclusive content.
This is alongside the already confirmed PS3 only DLC that was officially announced by Ubisoft at E3 2012, which will be released at launch. There is also a special PS3 bundle of the game, which will include a limited edition console and a copy of the game.
I do wonder what is going on here, but it seems very likely to me that Sony have paid quite a bit of money for this privilege, similar to what Microsoft did with the recent Dawnguard DLC for Skyrim. Regardless of the direct cause, I definitely don’t approve of this, for fairly obvious reasons. An hour’s worth of content is a hell of a lot, and this isn’t like Dawnguard where certain users get the content early, they will be the only ones to get it at all. And couple with the launch DLC (anyone who pays attention to the site, or the channel, knows my distaste for launch day DLC) that is also PS3 exclusive, this just does not sit right with me at all.
I’m not a big fan of Assassin’s Creed, but I do have a few issues here (ones that I feel are rife with the gaming industry as a whole).
1) I don’t believe it is fair that certain platforms should be able to get exclusive rights to the DLC of certain games. Fair enough if the game itself has been made for a certain platform only, but to have it where there are multiple platforms with only one getting the full game? That means those of us who don’t have a PS3 can’t play the full game because of corporate warfare!
2) Release date DLC!? It’s bad enough that many developers are releasing really short, poor DLC for the extortionate prices on the platform’s marketplaces, but to release at the same time is basically saying “Hey, we could’ve put into the game itself but we felt greedy and wanted to make you cough up more for the privilege.”
These console wars are (and have been for a while) choking the gaming industry. Add to that the fact that Microsoft are going to try and pull a similar trick with PC gamers on Windows 8, and the future isn’t looking good.