In a few weeks, Warner Bros. will release a new costume pack for Batman: Arkham Knight that allows players to relive the era of Michael Keaton’s portrayal of the character. This is exciting news for many; however, Arkham Knight has been out since June. Players who have purchased the game on day one have most likely beaten the story mode, or are at least more than halfway finished. The thought of the retro Batman skin is nice, and season pass holders, particularly fans of Keaton, may be looking forward to it; however, by the time Warner Bros. releases the content, will it be too late?
Let’s assume for the moment most gamers play a single-player game and then move on to the next blockbuster. What’s their incentive to revisit the game? In the case of Arkham Knight , even players who aren’t quite finished need to wait a few weeks for the pack to be released before they can continue on as their preferred version of the Dark Knight. Players who have completed it already might replay it for the expansions such as the Batgirl: a Family Matter prequel and challenge maps – things that expand the game. But what are they supposed to do with a costume pack?
Many publishers continue supporting games with DLC including cool, if not useless abilities or skins. inFamous , for example, released (thankfully for free to those who didn’t pre-order the game) some DLC that allowed players to use the gigawatt blades for melee. Another example is the horse armor for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ; the content allowed for marginal improvement at a cost that was a bit pricey. Both examples remind me of receiving the 100 extra lives and the modification to the triple jump in Super Mario 64 . To get these, players have to find Yoshi at the top of the castle, and to get there they have to collect all of the stars (basically, this means you have to 100% the game, making the prizes worthless). They’re nice ideas, but perhaps these abilities and modifications should have been available for purchase since launch. We already know we don’t need these skills to complete the game, so they just come off as afterthoughts.
On the other hand, DLC that expands the content in a meaningful way gives players a better incentive to keep playing the same game. For example, Ninja Theory released an expansion to Enslaved: Odyssey to the West called Pigsy’s Perfect 10 , allowing players to play a side story starring the titular character. Another example is Protoman from Mega Man 9 . While Protoman could have been passed off as a new skin, he actually plays differently than Mega Man, thus giving players a new challenge and another reason to revisit the game.
Don’t get me wrong: skin packs are nice pieces of content, but they seem to arrive when it’s too late. Better late than never, as some might say, but a Keaton-themed costume pack will only be appreciated by the most hardcore of fans. Perhaps publishers should offer all of their skin packs as early as possible, long before players move onto newer, possibly better games. At least those who purchase the inevitable GOTY edition of Arkham Knight won’t have to wait to play as Tim Burton’s Batman.