Insomniac's Spider-Man for PS4 releases on September 7th

[WebSlingWonder]

They must have been planning the Black Cat DLC early on since there are apparently references to her in the base game.

Apparently so. And even if that was the case, I'm still excited for it.

[Derek Metaltron]

I think it’s always possible that the game will get additional fuller DLC down the road on top of these three expansions, depending on how well the base game does. Something like The Frozen Wastes in Horizon Zero Dawn.

[SuperiorIronman]

Pre-loads for us are up right now. This also includes (according to Reddit) the day 1 patch and pre-order content.

[Hypestyle]

They covered up Felicia. Booooooo

its' for the best to avoid any sexploitation accusations, etc.

how much do all these sidebar adventures cost? why can't they be part of the main game?

[SuperiorIronman]

its' for the best to avoid any sexploitation accusations, etc.

how much do all these sidebar adventures cost? why can't they be part of the main game?

25 dollars for all three
10 dollars for an individual episode
They are included in the Deluxe edition which was only 80 dollars

It's DLC. It's being promoted early but that's not unheard of. If you want a technical answer, it's largely due to memory space preservation. That's not a problem for downloads but for retail you've gotta make compromises. I'm not saying it's cut content, it's not. But it's not apart of the base game because it's not relevant to it.

[Tuck]

I'm not saying it's cut content, it's not.

You can argue for giving benefit of the doubt, but unless you have inside info, you don't know that.

But it's not apart of the base game because it's not relevant to it.

It's an open world game. Probably at least half of the base game isn't relevant.

[SuperiorIronman]

You can argue for giving benefit of the doubt, but unless you have inside info, you don't know that.



It's an open world game. Probably at least half of the base game isn't relevant.

And you'd be right, I don't know specifically for Marvel's:Spider-man.

But we've known about TCTNS since April at the very least. The game went gold towards the end of July. We've known for about 4 months and some change that these chapters are coming and they have to have content ready to sell when they make this announcement. Meaning that this had been planned and was being produced long before the game went gold. You can't sell content you don't have. It didn't have to be done, but it did have to be in a state where they could finish and sell the product. Development teams are also not one singular unit. Multiple teams work on various items which includes post-release teams and that content. Games are developed with post-release in mind so there was a team working on it separate from the main title. You have your vanilla game team and your post-release team, that is how all major studios do it. One works on post-release and the other works for launch day, it's normal to have the overlap. It's completely normal.

People have gotten the game early so if there was content locked on disk, we would've known by now. But cut content is different than having to cut out major components just to sell back to the player. Cut content being re-purposed into expansions isn't uncommon (in fact is sometimes how DLC is given life), but nobody yet has mentioned the game is missing content and people have completed the game already so I'm inclined to believe there isn't. Nobody has mentioned missing pieces of story and or gameplay features.

[Tuck]

I honestly could only follow about half of what you wrote there.

If a developer is given a budget, and part of that budget is set aside for post-release content to be developed alongside the main game . . . that's going to come off shady. These companies can explain the "business" until they're blue in the face, but if your customers feel like they're being ripped off you either have to change what you're doing or take the heat.

[Vic Vega]

I've got some things to say:

1) I LOVE Black Cat's design. And the trailer music was beautiful (I can't wait for the score to be released!)

2) For everyone saying that it's cut content and that it's frustrating to pay for DLC, I feel that that's not really fair to Insomniac. Yes, they could have waited, l give you that. But that's okay, because no matter what, they will still provide a great experience. I can trust in that.

I feel like nowadays, the insight into the creative and exec decisions that go into entertainment have helped and hurt the industry. Consumers now have way too much input into the final product and the process, which gives them too much room to criticize and scrutinize the end product. As for this game, we've known about the development for two years, and that's beautiful. But it also means that certain things, like DLC and the Deluxe content, are being judged far more harshly than I think is needed.

All in all, I'm trying to say that I'm excited for this game and I won't let others kill my joy.

When Bioware did this with Dragon Age AND Mass Effect nobody made a peep about it(not to mention Rocksteady with the Arkham Games), but now its nakedly anti consumer because Lord forbid, Gamers not be outraged 24/7 for reasons.

There's a vast difference between replacing content earlier from the game and charging and adding additional content later on and charging for it.

[Tuck]

When Bioware did this with Dragon Age AND Mass Effect nobody made a peep about it(not to mention Rocksteady with the Arkham Games), but now its nakedly anti consumer because Lord forbid, Gamers not be outraged 24/7 for reasons

People complained about all of those.

While geek culture can get way way way out of hand with their "customer complaints", there's an equally weird impulse to defend corporate interests that you don't see when it's Wal Mart or the ridiculous cost of razors.

[SuperiorIronman]

I honestly could only follow about half of what you wrote there.

If a developer is given a budget, and part of that budget is set aside for post-release content to be developed alongside the main game . . . that's going to come off shady. These companies can explain the "business" until they're blue in the face, but if your customers feel like they're being ripped off you either have to change what you're doing or take the heat.

That's something they do. They are setup in such a way that they have the base game and or post-game content teams working at the same time for awhile so they can have content ready. That's a part of the licensing. When they plan for DLC, developers do not negotiate new contracts after the vanilla release date. It can happen sure, but it's far more common for the DLC to be developed alongside the base game because of more resources to work with and the actors already being available. Videogames are long and laborious tasks and content is especially hard (even more so with more advanced hardware)to get out the door so it has to be in development before launch in order to make projected release dates. Which oftentimes is not decided by them but CEO's be it the licensee, the hardware company, or the higherups at the development studio itself.

You might feel ripped off, but that's how it works. That's just how studios like Insomniac, Beenox, Ubisoft, 343, Bungie or Frontier do things. Your first or second DLC you can always bank on having been in development during the creation of the base game. Likewise your 3rd or 4rth DLC was probably in development during the 1rst and 2nd.

[Tuck]

You might feel ripped off, but that's how it works.

And that's it in a nutshell.

Where outside of geek culture do businesses interact this way?

"See, you don't understand how the business works."

"No, I understand how business works. You've failed to convince me to buy your product."

"No, wait. The reason you have to . . . "

"Bye."

[Vic Vega]

People complained about all of those.

While geek culture can get way way way out of hand with their "customer complaints", there's an equally weird impulse to defend corporate interests that you don't see when it's Wal Mart or the ridiculous cost of razors.

There was way more complaining about the cast (God knows why) of Dragon Age Inquisition than about say, Trespasser's price.

Even CDProjekt Red charged for story DLC for Witcher 3. AS did Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive with Horizon Zero Dawn.

It's wildly unrealistic to expect story DLC to be free, as the writing, editing and voice work was done in addition to the stuff done for the main game.

[Tuck]

There was way more complaining about the cast (God knows why) of Dragon Age Inquisition than about say, Trespasser's price.

Trespasser came out like a year later.

Even CDProjekt Red charged for story DLC for Witcher 3. AS did Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive with Horizon Zero Dawn.

Which all came out months later. They weren't produced alongside the main game.

It's wildly unrealistic to expect story DLC to be free, as the writing, editing and voice work was done in addition to the stuff done for the main game.

But it's DLC because they decided it was DLC, not because it's an expansion they chose to make post-release. A dev can pull anything non-essential out of a game and set is aside for post release.

The real comparison here is From Ashes. It was DLC on release day for ME3. People were livid about that.

Mayyyyyybe the DLC is substantial enough to justify itself . . . but at $10 it may very well be a glorified side quest.

[Immortal Weapon]

When Bioware did this with Dragon Age AND Mass Effect nobody made a peep about it(not to mention Rocksteady with the Arkham Games), but now its nakedly anti consumer because Lord forbid, Gamers not be outraged 24/7 for reasons.

There's a vast difference between replacing content earlier from the game and charging and adding additional content later on and charging for it.

There were complaints when Bioware did it. Where were you when Mass Effect 3 made a Prothean day one DLC. A character who species is extremely important to the series lore and dramatically changed the games story locked behind a paid wall? The original Dragon Age had the Warden's Keep that was only available to people who brought the game new. Didn't help that it was gutted from the base game. People made a huge stink over it.