Major Nelson: "Paid DLC can hurt multiplayer games"

Microsoft's community man (unsurprisingly) praises Halo 5.
Text: Morten Bækkelund
Published 2016-02-27

Major Nelson works for Microsoft, who also publishes Halo 5: Guardians. The Halo 5 team has opted for microtransations in favour of paid DLC for their game, making all of the packs free and available for everybody.

In light of this it's not surprising to learn that Mr. Nelson, or Lawrence Hryb as his driver's licence (hopefully) reads, no longer approves of traditional paid DLC.

Even so, Nelson might have a point in claiming that DLC can be "dangerous" for the enjoyment and longevity of multiplayer games:

"DLC passes can be really dangerous when it comes to multiplayer, because what happens is it fractures the community. You have the maps, I don't have the maps, I didn't buy that map but you bought that map, so when we all get together, 'Oh, you couldn't play the map" Hryb told Gamespot.

He then, as you would expect, takes the time to praise Halo 5 developer 343 Industries for moving in a different direction:

"So what 343 has done, which I think is rather brilliant, is that everybody gets the maps. But they're going to make things up with the [microtransaction] Req packs. That's how they're having some additional revenue, I assume, on the side. It's such a great way to execute it and keep the fans together."

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