Part of the game feels missing, and you can buy it back.
Pieces that feel like part of the game are cut out and sold back to you.
Maps, characters or chapters that feel like they were cut from the game you paid for. In the worst cases they are already on the disc and just locked.
Once publishers could charge again after the till receipt, games learned to hold pieces back: sell the base game, then sell the rest of it in slices, one pack at a time. The honest version, a clearly separate expansion, is sold as an extra. The bad version charges for content that felt carved out of the base game before launch. A counter-trend at the premium end promises the opposite: no drip-fed content, and nothing held back for a store screen.
When the extra is new, shown before you buy, and the base game is complete without it.
Modern Warfare 2's Stimulus Package (30 March 2010) charged $15 for five maps, two of them Call of Duty 4 remakes. Street Fighter X Tekken (2012) shipped extra characters already on the disc, unlockable only by paying for DLC; Capcom's 'hard drive space' defence was widely criticised by the press. The Sims 4's 79 add-on packs total $1,473.06. At the premium end, some big-budget games now pitch the opposite: nothing held back for a store screen.
Historical prices and revenues are in US dollars at the time unless marked A$.
Modern Warfare 2's Stimulus Package: five multiplayer maps, two of them Call of Duty 4 remakes, for 1,200 Microsoft Points ($15) on 30 March 2010.
Street Fighter X Tekken (2012) shipped with extra characters already on the disc, unlockable only by paying for DLC.
The Sims 4's base game has been free since 18 October 2022, yet its 79 add-on packs total $1,473.06.
Covered in Video Games & Money: Ep 25 · Dlc, Ep 12 · Disc era, Ep 32 · Premium prestige.