Sega has released the details on their DLC release schedule for Valkyria Chronicles 4, allowing us to finally get a complete view of how much all the content for the game will cost. It was reasonable to assume that Sega wouldn’t offer a considerably better deal than what fans in Japan have been offered, but it’s not just the pricing that stands out here. The release dates for the DLC are surprisingly far apart given that this is the localized version of the game and all of the game’s DLC has long been available in Japan. In particular, the DLC included in the game’s premium edition will be playable at launch, but will be only be made available separately in December for those who bought the regular or digital version of the game. One has to question if most won’t have lost interest in the game by the time the DLC is actually released.
But perhaps the biggest issue with Sega’s DLC release is that people looking to get all of the DLC aren’t getting a good deal regardless of which edition they buy. If you buy the “Memoirs from Battle” Premium Edition, you’ll need to spend an additional $21.96 to get the remaining DLC. Given that people who buy the premium edition probably want the complete VC4 experience, they’ll be looking at spending a total of $120.96. As nice as the extra’s in the premium edition are, including all of the DLC in that edition would have seemed like a reasonable thing to do. If anything, I imagine this move will actually discourage some people from buying the premium edition.
For the game’s digital release, getting all the DLC means spending $86.94. Here as well, it’s unfortunate that Sega doesn’t offer a digital premium edition that includes all of the DLC. We know they’re capable of doing better than that. Lastly, those who get the regular physical release will be spending $91.93.
What this also means is that, if you want to play all the DLC as soon as it’s available, you’ll actually need to buy both the digital AND premium edition. I’m not sure what motivated Sega to use this strategy for their DLC releases, but I’d argue that everyone would have benefited from a simpler, more consumer-friendly approach. For example by having Sega release physical and digital editions of the game that included all of the DLC at launch at a reasonable price. It might just end up being more profitable for Sega that way as well. You can view the details and screenshots of the DLC below.
Add-On Item | Price | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
Japanese Voice Pack (Switch only, included by default on all other platforms) | Free | 9/25/18 |
Tank Decals | Free | 9/25/18 |
Squad E, to the Beach! | $6.99 | 10/09/18 |
A Captainless Squad | $4.99 Included with digital pre-order | 10/23/18 9/25/18 for digital pre-orders |
Expert Level Skirmishes | $4.99 | 11/04/18 |
The Two Valkyria | $4.99 | 11/20/18 |
Edy’s Advance Ops | $3.99 Code included with ‘Memoirs from Battle’ Premium Edition | 12/04/18 9/25/18 with code from ‘Memoirs from Battle’ Premium Edition |
A United Front with Squad 7 | $5.99 Code included with ‘Memoirs from Battle’ Premium Edition | 12/18/18 9/25/18 with code from ‘Memoirs from Battle’ Premium Edition |
Price is not bad, similar to the first game, but.. the first game only had 2-3 dlc with story, while this one has a bunch of them, and one of them had its equivalent in the first game included in the main game… it’s so obvious they striped out the content to sell it as dlc…
Also, 3 of 5 story dlc are tie ins with VC1? what if we like some of the new characters and they deserve a similar treatment?…
I personally will not get a single one of them… yet, then some year I’ll provably get the full package on steam at the cheapest price.
So… did sega ever say anything about december DLC being purchasable separately? Specially since the Steam version didn’t have any way to get them.
These were confirmed for all platforms so it should have been released. I can try to reach out to them, but has anyone been in contact with SEGA’s support?