You won't believe this: an online co-op game recently caught some backlash over cosmetic DLC. Unheard of nowadays, I know. Thank god we don't have to deal with the likes of horse armor anymore. Even more unbelievably, the issue was resolved in two weeks and ended with extra cosmetics for players, who praised the devs for a quick turnaround.
As our friends at PC Gamer noted, this started a few weeks ago when Deep Rock Galactic, a co-op game about mining space rocks with your dwarven friends, announced the Decontaminator DLC pack which comes with a bunch of weapon and gear skins. Dwarves weren't rioting in the streets, but to put it mildly, a lot of players didn't like how it looked. To put it less mildly, a lot of them said they wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pickaxe, and I don't even think they make pickaxes that big.
Søren Lundgaard, CEO of Deep Rock Galactic developer Ghost Ship Games, acknowledged the DLC's shortcomings in a tweet: "Two weeks ago we revealed a new cosmetic pack for [Deep Rock Galactic] but had a feeling it wasn't up to our standard. And our community clearly had the same feeling."
Importantly, Lundgaard added: "So we fixed it. Love these moments, scary as they are."
An accompanying Steam blog post confirmed that Ghost Ship had seen and acted on player feedback. "You’re putting down good money for these items, and you want them to stand out - we hear you!" it reads. "So, in order to make this a DLC worth adding to your collection, we decided to tweak the Weapon Framework, and update the Paintjob. We’ve focused on making the guns stand out a lot more with some brand new attachments, adding vials and digital displays to lean more into the 'Decontaminator' theme."
The result is a revamped DLC pack which has gone down much better with DRG's many space dwarves. The original designs aren't getting thrown away, either; they'll be chucked into the game's next Performance Pass, which features collectibles unlocked through gameplay.
"Fantastic approach to your DLC; yet another reason I'm happy to keep playing your game. W," says Sylviaire.
"You guys didn't have to, but I really appreciate that you did! Glad we get a choice of both too, everyone wins!" writes Ethosaur.
"HOLY BASED as if I couldn't give enough money to you guys already. Cheers!" says Marble.
"Absolutely GOATed response, as always. Based Devs. Rock and stone," adds A Hungry Tapeworm, echoing comments and battle cries of countless space dwarves.
This wouldn't be the first time the Deep Rock Galactic community's rare and seemingly unshakable positivity has shined through, but it is impressive to see a game like this overcome the classic live service hangup of cosmetic backlash so cleanly. Every game is different, and this kind of dev response certainly isn't unheard of, but it's encouraging to see in any case.
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