Turtle Rock co-founder Phil Robb has responded to fans upset with the company's DLC plans for Evolve after it was revealed that players would be able to purchase multiple new skins, hunters and monsters shortly after launch.
"A lot of folks seem to be under the impression that we've got all this content done and we shave off a hunk to sell separately," Robb said, reacting to complaints on the game's official forums. "That just isn't the case.
"When Evolve hits the shelves, none of the DLC will be done. Behemoth won't be done. None of the planned DLC hunters or monsters will be done. The only exception to this might be some skins that were working on now while we wait for all the final stages of packaging, manufacturing etc. to finish."
The developer would have included the additional content in the initial release had it had time to "put them in box", Robb adds. But rather than "throw them all out, why not put together a budget to make them as DLC?"
"If we thought we could have finished all those monsters and hunters for ship we would have put them in the box," he continued. "(Keep in mind, we pretty much have to have the game done about 2-3 months before it's available to you guys...we can keep fixing bugs and such, but content is locked.) The bundles that include 4th and 5th monsters, hunters, etc., just mean that when they are done and we put 'em out, you get 'em.
"Hunters and monsters are a pretty big undertaking, they cost a lot of money and time to make. We're hoping that once people see how much new hunters and monsters bring to the game that they'll feel like they got their money's worth."As we got closer to finishing Evolve we ended up with designs for a bunch of monster and hunters that we just didn't have the time and money to make. Instead of throw them all out, why not put together a budget to make them as DLC? Means more content for the people who love the game and want more. It also means all those ideas get to see the light of day. Oh yeah, and it means more work for TRS and we can keep paying our bills and making cool stuff!"
Turtle Rock revealed some of its plans for DLC earlier this week, confirming that players would be able to purchase new hunters via a Season Pass, and that additional monsters were in development too.
A Monster Expansion Pack is also available for free to pre-order customers offering access to the Behemoth monster and Savage Goliath Skin.
All additional maps and game modes will be released for free.
"Our number one rule for DLC is never split the community. Never," Robb continued. "So we worked it out so that any DLC maps are free, any new game modes are free. Then, recognizing that not everyone wants to buy DLC, we made sure that even if you didn't purchase any of the paid content, you could still play with people who did! So if I buy a new monster or hunter, and you don't, we can still play together. You may not want to buy it, but your original purchase of the game will be enhanced by it anyway because you can still get into games with people who wanted to buy them. Hell, you can even set the DLC characters and monsters up as opponents in solo games.
"Boom! Your game experience is enhanced, no purchase necessary. Obviously, we hope you like the DLC enough to buy it, but no hard feelings if not. We're still happy that you bought Evolve!
"And NO, we won't be purposely making DLC hunters and monster overpowered to make people feel like they HAVE to buy them to stay competitive. We plan to keep things as balanced as possible for as long as people are playing the game."
Evolve launches on PS4, Xbox One and PC on February 10, with an open beta kicking off on Xbox One today.
