While Arcsys is out tooting their horn about their upcoming BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, they’re also playing a very dirty game here. You see, while the game does feature 40 different characters, including some from series such as Persona 4, Under Night, and RWBY. Half of those characters are being locked behind DLC.
Yep, you read that correctly. When you get the game, you’ll have access to just 20 characters from the start – 10 BlazBlue Characters, 4 Persona characters, 2 RWBY characters and 4 Under Night In-Birth Characters. The rest, including the recently announced Blake Belladonna character from RWBY, will be DLC.
Come again, Arcsys?
In addition to the 20 characters recorded in the main part, we will announce additional 20 characters DLC character information including “break” in the official program “Akunanama Regular Service” from now on.
Additional 20 “Character All-in-One Pack” is also planned to be delivered.
Now, I don’t know about you but I find this very disturbing. Especially for a game that costs $40. Now, to be fair they haven’t announced how much these other characters are going to cost. But even at $2 per character, that’s still an extra $40 that you’ll have to shell if you want access to them all. This also hurts the fighting game community, since you’re going to want to know how the other characters play for learning match-ups. For that scene, this title just got a bit more expensive.
Now, if they did something where the game was à la carte, I wouldn’t have as much of an issue. Still, this is not the way to treat your fans, nor is it anyway to promote your title. Not when gamers have shown time and time again that they’re sick of being taken advantage of (see EA and Battlefront 2).
What is a bit confusing is the method of how these characters will be available. Will they be available for cost per character? Or is that “Character All-in-One Pack” they mentioned is the only way to get them? We’ve reached out to Arcsys for more info on this.
In fact, this reminds me of when Capcom tried that whole “DLC” thing with Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Street Fighter X Tekken. Obviously, no one can tell you what to do with your money. Still, I’d hate to see anyone taken advantage of, especially in a field that I’m passionate about. Let Arcsys know that this is wrong and if you’re so inclined, don’t support this cash grab.
C’mon Arcsys, you’re better than this.
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle releases on May 31, 2018, for the PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
Sources: Reddit, Arcsys website
