Epic Justifies On-Disc Gears Of War 3 DLC

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Even though it’s been around for years now, DLC is still a sore point with a lot of gamers. This is especially true when gamers discover that the DLC they’re paying extra money for is already held on the disc, only locked until the developer gets their money.

Such is the case with Gears of War 3. The Horde Command Pack DLC was “released” earlier this week, and after doling out the $10 required for the pack, some players were upset to discover that the download was less than 2MB in size. This, of course, means that most of the DLC was already stored on the disc, which you can imagine didn’t sit too well with some Gears fans out there.

But even though people think they’re being taken for a ride, there’s actually a pretty logical explanation for including the DLC on the Gears of War 3 game disc. Speaking to Kotaku, Gears of War 3 executive producer Rod Fergusson explained that the decision was made because, with Gears of War 3‘s delay from spring to fall, Epic found themselves with a finished product that still had months before release.

Fergusson said that the team had already begun working on DLC for the title when the game was delayed. Since the Horde Command Pack includes cosmetic changes to the game, everyone would have needed to download a compatibility back so the weapons and items show up in their game, whether or not they chose to buy the DLC. By including the DLC on the disc, Epic doesn’t have to force everyone to download a compatibility pack, thus saving those who want to take a pass on the Horde Command Pack time.

If finding out that the Horde Command Pack DLC was on the Gears 3 disc when you bought it pissed you off, don’t worry. Fergusson also told Kotaku that the next Gears of War 3 DLC will be entirely downloadable – you won’t be paying $10 to unlock content stored on the disc next time around.

What do you think? Were you pissed off discover that the Horde Command Pack was already stored on the Gears of War 3 disc, or didn’t it bother you all that much? Head down to the comments section to share your thoughts!