I think DLC, usually in the form of a season pass, is a great thing for Fighting games. It avoids one of the biggest problems a fighting game can have: splitting the player base. DLC keeps fans from having to buy updated versions just to keep playing the game they love. I don’t have a problem paying for new characters in fighting games, I understand they take time and money to develop and balance. But developers, especially fighting game developers, need to be careful when it comes to revealing DLC and their messaging surrounding it.

Soul Calibur VI recently revealed its first DLC character, Tira. The problem lies in the fact the base game roster hasn’t even been fully revealed yet! As you would expect, Soul Calibur fans are not taking the news well. If Tira is DLC, why announce her now? To sell season pass pre-orders, apparently.

You would think Bandai-Namco would have learned their lesson the last time they tried this approach. If not from their own mistakes, they could have learned from the time Arc System Works did it with BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. But apparently not.

So what is the right way to announce fighting game DLC? I’m not an expert by any means, but I think more games should follow the way Capcom announced Street Fighter V’s Season 3 DLC.

1. The game is already out. DLC has virtually become a fact of life, especially in the fighting game community. Waiting to announce your DLC lineup will cut down on accusations of “holding characters back”.
2. Reveal all the characters at once. You know what’s coming, there’s no point in hiding it. If you don’t reveal your DLC lineup, data miners will. Your DLC reveal should be your moment in the spotlight, not some random redditor. (Capcom did have to learn this one the hard way after 2 seasons of silhouettes.)

That’s it! Those two little rules could do so much to curb some of the vitriol surrounding fighting game DLC announcements. Unfortunately, I don’t expect anything to change any time soon. Developers still seem to feel a need to trick their audiences into buying DLC by keeping the vast majority of it a secret. Combined with a focus on pre-orders, you’ve got a recipe for more situations like Tira in the future.

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