Publisher Gameloft has decided to lock one of its expansions to consoles (PlayStation and Xbox). This ***discount is for parents who can’t easily purchase DLC for their kids, and people who accidentally purchased DLC for the wrong account (and can’t get a refund). Not to mention those who have to buy the same expansion multiple times so that all their family members can play on the same console. One of the top trending threads on the DreamlightValley subreddit currently is a thread with hundreds of comments complaining about the situation.
The digital future is here, and it stinks, and is driven by the greed of companies like Gameloft.
What is the Rift in Time expansion for Dreamlight Valley, and why has its account been locked?
You may have He caught me a few days ago on Twitter, sings the praises of Gameloft’s Dreamlight Valley, a life simulator similar to Animal Crossing, set in Disney World. What I had to say then was the following:
I’m amazed at how fun Dreamlight Valley is. My girls love it and want to constantly show me the progress they are making. Gameloft’s recent decision to not make it a disabled f2p game due to microtransactions is what convinced me to buy it. We play offline (on PS5), without any problem.
That was about two weeks ago, but things have changed significantly.
Yesterday, Gameloft released a long-awaited expansion for its game, Rift in time. The expansion introduces new characters to unlock as well as new areas to explore. I, like many other parents, was looking forward to purchasing it for my kids. But because I know it’s never easy when it comes to digital purchases, I double-checked on reddit and other sites that the DLC actually shares across accounts on the same console (as the game does). Answer: No.
What I found instead were dozens of angry parents who couldn’t share the DLC with their kids after purchasing it, and people who bought the DLC for their partner, only to realize that the DLC wasn’t working on other accounts on the same console, and soon. There is a large list of people who have mistakenly purchased content, expecting the DLC to work “normally” and share it across accounts. Many of these people are now waiting for refunds.
After complaints, Gameloft Retroactively An entry has been created in the game’s FAQ, which confirms that the behavior is intentional:
If there are multiple user profiles on a console, only the user profile that purchased the expansion pass will be able to access the expansion’s in-game content.
The different types of downloadable content (DLC) and the policies surrounding them on Xbox/PlayStation
Generally speaking, there are two types of DLC that can be purchased on digital platforms like Xbox and PlayStation (it’s more varied than that but we’ll simplify it a bit here). Microsoft describes these products as “consumable” and “rugged.” Consumables are things like in-game currency, custom items, etc…. Solid DLC, in Microsoft’s example, is “map packs and game expansions.”
Microsoft’s development guidelines go so far as to clearly state that “consumer” DLC is not suitable for expansions (emphasis mine):
The most common use of consumable products is to implement premium in-game currency. The user purchases these products with real money in exchange for an allotment of in-game currency. This in-game currency is then exchanged for temporary boosts, cosmetic items, loot boxes, or other items tied to a single user account. Consumables are not suitable for implementing access to expansions and map packsOr other elements that are expected to be shared within a home console or PC scenario.
PlayStation likely has similar policies.
However, Gameloft appears to have implemented its expansion as a “consumable product”, which means 1) it’s tied to a specific account rather than shared within a family, and 2) this means it can be purchased multiple times in the same way. User (accidentally, obviously). This has been at least somewhat confirmed by a reddit user who bought it twice on an Xbox One account:
In other words, while it’s technically possible to mark an expansion pack as “expendable,” this seems to be frowned upon by Microsoft and Sony in their stores, and can also lead to very real errors like the one above (although this has been implemented The above example was intentionally created by a reddit user to test the “consumables” theory). Keep in mind that “disapproved” does not necessarily mean it is against store policies. Just that it’s frustrating.
Is it okay to lock an account for expansions in the game?
PlayStation and Xbox users are affected by this restriction, but Switch users have reported that they can share DLC to multiple accounts on Switch. It’s unknown if this is due to restrictions in the Switch DLC entitlement system, or if Nintendo’s policy regarding this type of questionable practice is a little stricter than PlayStation and Xbox.
But just because Gameloft can do this on some platforms, doesn’t mean it should. Some people in discussion threads on reddit seem to agree with Gameloft’s decision, which states that every user must pay for their game. Don’t get me wrong, there is some merit to this argument. In particular, I’m not against having to buy the same game multiple times when you want it on multiple platforms. Developing a game for different platforms represents a huge cost for game studios, and they need to know which platforms are worth investing more in. Paying them for the game on the platforms you want to play on reflects that, and that’s to be expected in my opinion. It also makes sense Not connected People have to pay for their own copy of the game. Otherwise we are talking about piracy.
I don’t agree with that when it comes to making All members of one family pay for one game to be played on the same console. I personally find this move anti-consumer, when it comes to the same family. In my case, Gameloft expected to sell me the DLC twice (once for each child). That’s why they lost the entire sale. This is not a night at the movies, where we all pay for some important resource (theatre seats). My position is that When I rent or buy a movie to watch at home, the price is not multiplied by the number of people sitting on the couch, and the games I play at home should be the same. You are allowed to disagree. You’ll be wrong of course, but you’re entitled to your opinion 😛
It’s more than just greed
Whether or not you agree with the fact that multiple members of a single family have to repurchase the game, the problem goes beyond the “greed” aspect.
First of all, there is the problem that this is not common practice, and Leads to purchasing errors. In a Reddit thread discussing the issue, countless users discuss how they wait for a refund after purchasing DLC on the “wrong” account, because it’s usually It just works And never a problem. Some people in the thread mentioned that most DLC is tied to a single account, but this seems inaccurate. It may be necessary to dive deeper, but in my experience, PlayStation DLC is usually shared across all primary console accounts, and other users have confirmed this.
In the specific case of Dreamlight Valley, the wording of the PlayStation DLC page is, to say the least, confusing on the subject. In fact, the wording is exactly the same in the base game (which can be shared with other accounts on the same console) and DLC (which can’t):
You can download and play this content on the main PS5 console linked to your account (through the ‘Share console and offline play’ setting) and on any other PS5 consoles when signed in with the same account.
There’s nothing that distinguishes the base game from the expansion on the PlayStation Store, when it comes to the permissions you’ll grant to guest accounts. In effect, “You can download and play this content on the main PS5 console associated with your account” means that the content must be available to all accounts on the main console. The second part of the sentence “and on any other PS5 consoles when logged in with the same account” is also a highlight. In particular, the “When signed in with the same account” part only applies to using another PS5. This is definitely how PS5 games work in general. Not distinguishing between the two store pages here at least leads to confusion.
Instead, most games allow multiple save slots, allowing multiple users to play the same game on the same account.
On PC with Steam, Dreamlight Valley appears to allow the user to create multiple saves, via the “Cloud Save” option (image below). As far as I know, this isn’t an option on PS5: the game has one save per account, at the end of the story. If the game supported multiple saves, it would obviously be possible to create multiple characters on the same account, so there wouldn’t be any problem. Minecraft is an example of a game with account locked DLC, but since you can create as many worlds as you want, multiple people in the same house playing on the same account is very possible (which is what we do in my family for Minecraft ).
Furthermore, many parents don’t want their kids to have a PlayStation Network (or Microsoft equivalent) account, for a number of legitimate reasons. This means that even if a person wants to pay multiple times for DLC, it is not always practical to do so. In my case, purchasing the DLC for my daughters meant creating a PSN account for them, which meant they’d need an email account to start with… Look, eventually I know they’ll need email accounts, but they’re not there yet. I realize that a lot of adults play Disney games, but Dreamlight Valley was also designed for an audience of kids who don’t have email or PSN accounts.
Conclusion
With the decision to “save one per user” and “expand locked account”, Gameloft has returned to its greed with the new Rift in Time expansion for Dreamlight Valley. This is bad because there is a great game hiding underneath this shady business practice. Although nothing illegal is going on here, I personally think this is an anti-consumer move. The issue affects Dreamlight Valley “Rift in Time” on Xbox and PlayStation. The Nintendo Switch appears to be unaffected, and Steam users appear to have ways around the issue by creating multiple cloud saves on a single account.
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Get ready to step into a whole new dimension as Dreamlight Valley’s highly-anticipated expansion, “Rift in Time,” is now available and locked on PlayStation and Xbox. This thrilling new chapter is set to completely revolutionize the gaming experience with its stunning graphics, immersive storylines, and mind-bending gameplay. Players are in for a treat as they navigate through the intricacies of time and space, encountering new challenges and unraveling the mysteries of Dreamlight Valley. With its release on PlayStation and Xbox, the much-awaited expansion promises to take gaming to a whole new level, captivating audiences and leaving them eager for more.