Bleszinski: On-disc DLC an unfortunate necessity

With the recent kerfuffle surrounding Street Fighter X Tekken's on-disc downloadable content, Epic's Cliff Bleszinski chimed in on the issue, calling it "an ugly truth of the gaming industry." Speaking to GameSpot, the well-known designer noted that prior to a game finally shipping, there are "often three or four months where the game is basically done," leaving developers with "an idle team that needs to be working on things."

For the sake of compatibility, some downloadable content may need to be located on the disc itself. "It's an ugly truth of the gaming industry," Bleszinski added, "I'm not the biggest fan of having to do it, but it is one of the unfortunate realities." Once the industry goes entirely digital, he said, the issue will be obsolete.

Capcom recently raised the ire of its fans when it was discovered that upcoming downloadable characters were already on the disc. The publisher stated that the content was included on the disc in order to ensure compatibility by offering a "single, unified version of the game." In a response to Better Business Bureau complaints, the company later stated its belief that there is "effectively no distinction" between bonus content included on a disc and downloaded content.