Epic Games has come under fire from Gears of War fans, who feel that they are being ripped off by purchasing the Horde Command Pack DLC. As it turns out, the Horde Command Pack is already on the disc, and purchasing the downloadable content merely unlocks it. Some fans feel that if they can fit it on the disk, it shouldn’t be billed as DLC.
Rod Fergusson, the Executive Producer behind Gears of War 3, recently spoke on the topic. "We're not saying that everything on the disc is the product," Fergusson stated. "The disc is another delivery mechanism."
Fergusson reasons that it was better to include the content on the disc, rather than release it as a download, for compatibility reasons. If the content had been downloaded through Xbox Live, only a select percentage of the Gears community would have had access to the DLC data. The remaining percentage of players wouldn’t have access to the data, which means they would not technically be able to play with those using the new weapon skins or characters. Rather than work on a compatibility patch between the two groups of players, Epic decided to release the content on the disc, so everybody would have access to reading the data, whether they had purchased the Horde Command Pack or not. Since Gears 3 was pushed back 5 months, they had time to work on the Horde Command Pack. They finished the add-on and decided to include it on the disc to avoid future hassles.
Fergusson revealed that the plan is to debut a new piece of DLC every month. He feels that Epic’s decision to include the Horde Command Pack on the disc makes no difference. Fergusson believes that this was the most convenient decision, both for the developers and for the players, who now don’t have to sit through a lengthy download.
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