Resident Evil 5’s multiplayer DLC was already off to a bad start when it was indirectly leaked by the game’s PSN Trophies. At the time, we suggested it might be free, but Capcom instead opted to slap a 400 points / £3.99 price tag on it. Now the DLC has gone live, it turns out that the Resident Evil 5 multiplayer add-on pack is just 1.86MB in size, leading many to suspect the bulk of the content was on the disc already. And yet Capcom is happy to charge players yet more money for it.
Many players are upset by this seemingly callous business practise. Arguably, you’ve paid for the contents of the Resident Evil 5 disc. If Capcom already had multiplayer on board, we shouldn’t then be expected to pay for a mere unlock code. What’s more, a full priced game isn’t exactly cheap, so shallow attempts to con players out of more dosh is a step too far.
The counter argument is that players have already got exactly what Resident Evil 5 said on the tin. A decent single player romp, a sublime coop multiplayer mode and all the usual Mercenaries modes and additional content you’d expect. Versus mode DLC is an ‘extra’ through and through, so if Capcom wants to charge for it, that’s well within its rights.
It does, however, go against statements made previously by Capcom spokespeople. They stated that the decision to charge for multiplayer DLC was due to it being “above and beyond the initial scope of Resident Evil 5”. A far less convincing statement if it was all there waiting on the disc already.
The third argument is that perhaps it wasn’t there on the disc at all. There has been at least one relatively large update since the game launched. Furthermore, the Resident Evil 5 Versus Mode DLC may not necessarily require too much additional data – all the assets are shared with main game (with addition of a couple of walls to make multiplayer levels) anyway. So we can’t know for certain that Capcom had this planned all along.
This throws up more interesting questions about how game makers can charge for DLC and what they can get away with. This is an area of gaming that’s only just out of its infancy and lessons are still being learned. Is Capcom being cheeky? Or is it fair game? In the end, we all get to decide – with our wallets.
Out Now | £3.99 | Resident Evil 5
