How DJ Hero's Downloadable Content Limits True Consumer Choice

7 Comments Posted November 3, 2009 - By Patrick Klepek

How DJ Hero's Downloadable Content Eliminates Consumer Choice

Activision is rolling out DJ Hero downloadable content right out of the gate. This is standard, if not expected and explicitly desired, for music games. Activision and developer FreeStyleGames is charging $3-per-mix for the DJ Hero downloadable content, citing "additional creative work" required to get music licensed, mixed, tracked and distributed. Guitar Hero 5's individuals songs cost $2 per song. You're getting more music for your buck with DJ Hero, so there's an argument to be made.

What caught my eye about Activision's handling of DJ Hero's downloadable comment, however, was a line from the developer's commercial director Chris Lee, in response to a question from IGN about the availability of buying DJ Hero content individually, rather than bundles. As it stands, the math tells us additional DJ Hero content costs $3-per-mix, but you can only purchase individual mixes on the Wii. On Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, however, Activision has only made bundles available.

Here's the problem.

By design, bundles are typically cheaper than buying every track individually. DJ Hero's current track bundle -- the "DJ Hero Extended Mix Pack" for $6 -- isn't cheaper and consumers aren't allowed to pick and choose which tracks they download on two out of three platforms. You only have the opportunity to purchase the entire track bundle, unless you're playing DJ Hero on the Wii.

Purchasing individual mixes only exists on the Wii. On the Wii, the DJ Hero downloadable content is $3-per-mix. The reason? A technicality; the Wii can't do bundled content. Consequently, Activision was forced to offer individual tracks. Based on the Wii model, there is no price reduction for purchasing a bundle, nor does there appear to be a technical hurdle stopping them from offering the option. Here's what Chris Lee told IGN about downloadable bundles vs. individual mixes:

"While on Xbox Live and in the PlayStation Store the mixes will be available in Mix Packs," he said, "technical restrictions on the Wii restrict our options so that we can't offer the mixes bundled together."

DJ Hero

By that logic, if it had been possible to bundle the mixes together, they would have. Given the approach on the other platforms, that also would have meant purposely removing consumer choice and implementing a bundle-only purchasing system that provides no clear savings.

Cost saving bundles have has been historically true for both Guitar Hero and Rock Band . Take the recent "Classic Rock 2 Track Pack" for Guitar Hero 5. Individually, each songs costs $2. If you were to buy all three songs separately, it'd set you back $6. Purchase the bundle, however, and it's $5.50. Sure, you can argue 50 cents isn't much, but it's cheaper -- again, philosophy of the bundle. Because the bundle is cheaper, you might pick up a song you're on the fence about. You get a song for a reduced price and Activision ensures you pay more -- curiosity baited by financial security.

I've asked Activision to clarify whether future DJ Hero downloadable content will offer the consumer the opportunity to choose which mixes to download. The company has not responded to my requests and there's no evidence Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners are getting that option. There is some good news, however. The next downloadable pack, the "David Guetta Mix Pack," features three mixes and has been priced at $8. At the $3-per-mix rate, it should be $9. It's not. In this case, Activision is following the bundle model and providing a $1 savings to the consumer. That's a start.

Additionally, the bundles on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network both come with this warning: "Some mixes may be available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading." Maybe Activision's policy will change in the future.

As it stands, however, that option doesn't exist. You're still asked to spend $8 when you might only be interested in purchasing one mix, which would only cost $3.

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Tags: Music, PlayStation 3, Videogames, Wii, Xbox 360

Comments

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LarcenousLaugh

It's definitely going to cut down on the "this sounds interesting" purchase. I'm not going to purchase a bundle just because one of the mixes sound great.

Another thing I have noticed about the DJ Hero mixes is that there is not a lot of variety. There are a few songs that show up mixed a few times within the game. DLC should contain new material not found within the game, and I can tell you that if they try to sell me another mix with a ssong already in the game, it won't get bought. They already sold my roommate a really expensive peripherial, but then Activision doesn't really take that into consideration.

Posted: November 3, 2009 10:34 AM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

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UltraViolence74

i'm done with all music games.

i've been completely put off by developers releasing content that could have easily been on the $120+ game i bought.

this goes for ea & tiger woods too. i'm done with you guys.

Posted: November 3, 2009 10:51 AM | Reply | Report

+2 thumbs up thumbs down

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darkuest

YEAH IT IS KINDA RUDE THAT THEY DONT LET U BUY INDIVIDUAL TRACKS BUT THAT WAS JUST THE FIRST RELEASE MAYBE OR HOPEFULLY THEY SEPERATE THEM NEXT TIME WE DONT KNOW YET AND IF U DONT LIKE BOTH TRACKS THEN DONT GET IT BUT U WOULDNT HAVE THAT PROBLEM IF U WOULD HAVE PREORDER IT CUZ U GET THOSE TRACKS FOR FREE AND IF U DID AND U DIDNT KNOW AND U STILL BOUGHT THEM SORRY FOR YA NOW U KNOW LOL

Posted: November 3, 2009 10:52 AM | Reply | Report

-8 thumbs up thumbs down

6 Replies
squarewannabe

I downloaded the first DJ Hero track pack and both of the songs are longer than the average songs. Theyre over 5 minutes so thats a little helpful with buying mixes.

Posted: November 3, 2009 11:34 AM | Reply | Report

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lookatthisguy

Haven't tried the game yet--not really all too interested in it, to be honest--but to me, this sounds as if it's in the same vein as Microsoft selling only set amounts of Microsoft Points on XBox Live, instead of offering dollar values and the ability to make per-item purchases.

Can't be sure about Activision since I'm not so familiar with the situation, but at least in Microsoft's case, there's no spin you can put on it to convince me that there is any reason other than sheer greed for that business model to exist.

Posted: November 3, 2009 11:46 AM | Reply | Report

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Cha0sRe1gns

And this game had so much promise. I actually lost interest in it when I tried the demo at Best Buy.

I think it's a cool game, but my fingers kept slipping off of the buttons whenever I started scratching. So then I had to take my eyes off of the screen to spin the record back into position and match my fingers back up with the red/blue/green buttons. Not the best of designs.

Posted: November 4, 2009 1:43 AM | Reply | Report

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Spybreak

See this is seriously surprising since our music industry has gone from the evolution of the album to single tracks purchasable for 99 cents. Activision here is just basically reverting back to what almost killed the music industry, not a good step. I was on the fence with the high price to begin with but man this really just made the fence even higher.

Posted: November 5, 2009 1:10 AM | Reply | Report

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