Valve Hopes Downloadable Content Will Remain Free

The most recent addition to the map load out for Team Fortress 2 on the PC is Badlands and more maps are on the way. Recently, Doug Lombardi, who is vice-president of marketing at Valve, has said that the map packs for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 versions of the game are not far away. But when questioned on whether they'll be free or not, Lombardi said that while Valve would like to release them as free DLC it is really up to Vivendi, the publisher, to make that call.

Valve have long been supporters of the PC model for downloadable content. Normally, when you buy a PC game you get automatic access, with no extra charge, to all new content created for that game, apart from significant add-ons or expansion packs. On the other hand, the consoles and the console game distributors have created a model where the player pays for each piece of additional content he gets, as is the case with the Xbox Live Marketplace service. Recently, some developers for the PC, like Bethesda, creators of the Elder Scrolls franchise, have begun applying the same model, that of paid DLC, for their PC games.

Valve has always maintained that it is in the company's interest to not charge for new content. Lombardi stated: "Counter-Strike is number one and has been since '99 because we kept the game interesting, not because we tried to charge people more, and that's come back in sales of Counter-Strike." And he has a point, as users tend to skip priced content, especially on the PC, where tradition demands that it be released freely.

With the map packs for Xbox and the PS3, it only makes sense for Valve to push for a unified approach. As maps are free to download on the PC, they should also be free to download on the consoles. But, as Lombardi said, the call is not really Valve's to make and a publisher might decide differently than a developer on such a matter.

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