As someone that mostly plays relatively niche games, I love DLC. I went from getting a game, then an expansion if I am lucky to getting a game with constant development for 10 years. Ill happily pay $10-20 for my favorite niche sandbox games to give me another 100 hours of play time.
Gamers words are not worth shit, and the industry has known this forever.
DLC was the worst thing to happen to gaming, gamers hated DLC, they still hate DLC, but...
They spend a few billion a year on it, and each year spend more and more. Companies follow money more than they follow social media rants.
When it comes to revealed preferences vs. stated preferences, "Gamers" probably have the wildest difference between them.
Games shouldn't cost $70!! [consistently pays $70 for games]
Game sequels suck, they're just rehashes of previous games!! [buys the sequels anyway]
Games shouldn't have AI content! [buys games with AI content]
Microtransactions are terrible! [pays for microtransactions]
Loot boxes are ruining games! [plays games with loot boxes]
Anti-cheats are rootkits. They are unacceptable! [plays games with anti-cheat]
That's it, they crossed the line. I'll never buy that game! [buys the game]
As someone that mostly plays relatively niche games, I love DLC. I went from getting a game, then an expansion if I am lucky to getting a game with constant development for 10 years. Ill happily pay $10-20 for my favorite niche sandbox games to give me another 100 hours of play time.
A DLC and AI slop is not the same thing. Tho Steam reviews will burry both AI slop and bad DLC accordingly. And players do care about reviews.
Vocal gamers care, majority market gamers dont.
They will continue to buy three reskinned Ubisoft sandboxes a year and two seasonal sports releases.
The industry is already forfeit.
Also children probably don't care.
Most gamers don't care about AI use provided it's not too egregious (like the latest call of duty). Only a vocal minority on Bluesky and Reddit.
Arc Raiders uses AI in various ways yet it's one of the biggest success of 2025.