Mortal Kombat experiments with prepaid and downloadable extra content

Mortal Kombat is not only one of the first –and most popular- fighting games of all times, they are also pioneers of online business. The newest version of the game, for Playstation 3 and Xbox360, comes with additional (prerelease) content, a paid online strategy tool and extra downloadable content that is released on a regular basis.

Some of the downloadable content is actually already on the disc: you're simply downloading the permission to unlock it. This is content that was finished before release and then held back for the exclusives and the for-pay downloads. Another interesting feature of the new game is the addition of downloadable characters. So far three have been announced, and the pricing is set at $5 per character.

Other games, like ‘Rockstar’ (the guitar playing game) offer a similar deal with the L.A. Noire Rockstar Pass, where you can get access to all the retailer exclusives and upcoming content for $10 in the case of ‘Rockstar’.

Interestingly, these videogame producers are not limiting themselves to offering paid content after the game's release; Publishers are creating incentives to prepay for future content, some of which hasn't even been announced yet. Users are also gradually being charged for online gameplay. The one-time use code for online play is becoming the rule rather than the exception for big-budget releases—it's another tool that can be used to squeeze money out of the game.

"What Mortal Kombat is doing, while possibly frustrating to the most core gamer, is the current optimal business strategy for generating revenue in both the physical and digital space. There are more hands than ever in the cookie jar and each play a major role in driving game publisher's revenue." said Jesse Divnich, the vice-president of Capital Research and Communications at EEDAR, to ArsTechnica.

According to Divnich, the digital world may always be home to multiple monetization strategies. "The digital space is still a giant experimentation and I don't believe we have yet found the perfect formula to capitalize in these emerging markets," he said. "And quite honestly, with the digital environment constantly evolving, I don't think a 'one size fits all' formula will ever be developed."

Sources: ArsTechnica, vRRitti.com