It has a lot of fundamental improvements though. Things you can’t just fix in a patch.
Believe it or not, but players often want a sequel in order for these fundamental changes to happen, with the old game starting to show its age/getting too bloated etc. And DLC is just the price for continued development.
It’s a model that works, and overall gives deeper and more developed games than the competition.
And I honestly love Paradox’s DLC model. For something like a city builder or grand strategy game, I’m looking for a game I can play for a long time. Paradox releases DLC that add significant content to their games in lieu of throwing everything away and releasing a new game. It’s not some kind of money grab like the big publishers do with stupid cosmetics, battle passes, etc, this is actual new mechanics being continually added to the game, and they’re 100% optional.
So instead of buying the refresh every year for $50-70 (looking at you EA), I buy a DLC or two every year for $10-20 and the game feels fresh.
But yeah, sometimes a game needs a bigger overhaul than a DLC can really provide, like performance improvements and traffic overhaul, both of which C:S2 provides and that can’t reasonably be done as a DLC. Some of the new content couldn’t been done as a DLC, but sometimes you really do need to break compatibility to deliver a superior product. They did that with CK3, and I hope they do it in a few years with EU4.
It has a lot of fundamental improvements though. Things you can’t just fix in a patch.
Believe it or not, but players often want a sequel in order for these fundamental changes to happen, with the old game starting to show its age/getting too bloated etc. And DLC is just the price for continued development.
It’s a model that works, and overall gives deeper and more developed games than the competition.
And I honestly love Paradox’s DLC model. For something like a city builder or grand strategy game, I’m looking for a game I can play for a long time. Paradox releases DLC that add significant content to their games in lieu of throwing everything away and releasing a new game. It’s not some kind of money grab like the big publishers do with stupid cosmetics, battle passes, etc, this is actual new mechanics being continually added to the game, and they’re 100% optional.
So instead of buying the refresh every year for $50-70 (looking at you EA), I buy a DLC or two every year for $10-20 and the game feels fresh.
But yeah, sometimes a game needs a bigger overhaul than a DLC can really provide, like performance improvements and traffic overhaul, both of which C:S2 provides and that can’t reasonably be done as a DLC. Some of the new content couldn’t been done as a DLC, but sometimes you really do need to break compatibility to deliver a superior product. They did that with CK3, and I hope they do it in a few years with EU4.