History Main / RevenueEnhancingDevices

The term comes from the Reagan Administration, where RonaldReagan had more-or-less promised smaller government, and found they had to raise taxes. Well, rather than say they were raising taxes, they mentioned a new way to obtain money: ''[[NoExceptYes Revenue Enhancement]]'', which people immediately saw that 'Revenue' in this case meant 'tax' and enhancement meant 'increase'.

* At its most cynical DLC in general can be a form of this, especially if the content was originally intended to be included in the original product but cut to generate more money later. This also enables companies to charge more for season passes and complete "Game of the Year" editions.

** They're continuing the trend with ''VideoGame/TheatrhythmFinalFantasy'', the first 3DS game to have paid DLC, with downloadable music tracks for $0.99 each. They have announced that there will be at least 50 purchasable songs in this format; buy them all and you'll have spent more on that than on the game itself! The [=iOS=] version takes this into AllegedlyFreeGame territory: just as much DLC, but comes with only ''two'' songs.

* ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'':

** GamesWorkshop is getting most of the flak nowadays, partly because their franchises are among the most popular but mostly because they've severely tightened their grip on independent vendors to control pricing. Another aspect has been their aggressive marketing of pre-made terrain kits. Contrast this with their earlier sales of instructional books like ''How To Make Wargames Terrain'' which detailed methods for creating do-it-yourself terrain. It is probably no coincidence that those instruction books [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes ceased printing]] when GW started upping its production of pre-made terrain.

* Ubisoft have started doing this with multiplayer passports. While a code for the passport for a particular game comes free with the game, it can only be used once, forcing anybody who bought it second hand to buy a passport if they want to use multiplayer.

* Free MMO distributor Nexon is notorious for their use of this trope with their free-to-play games; with many offering potentially [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] gear in their shop, and a few offering cosmetic items that really ratchet up the {{Fanservice}} levels. All shop items are purchased with "NX", an intermediary electronic currency, which itself can only be purchased with real money -- either via game cards (available from many real-life shops), mobile phone charges, credit card, or PayPal. NX currency is not available through any in-game mechanism. Examples below:

* Aside from the payment for Xbox Live, one has to wonder why users need a Gold Membership to access content that is normally free to access (but not necessarily ''use'') on other platforms such as Netflix, Hulu/Hulu Plus, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

** Wizards of the Coast have addressed some of this problem in recent years by reducing the size of their sets. In an article around about the time of Shards of Alara, it was admitted that not only do larger sets make it harder to get certain cards, but the economy problems of the last few years certainly hasn't helped either, and they were bowing to the reality of said problems making it particularly bad for players to attempt to get much of a collection at all.

* Publishers of college textbooks make minor changes every few years and call it a new edition, in order to discourage used book sales.

* When it comes to DLC, few games can beat the sheer amount of downloadable content available for ''RockBand'', with well over 3,000 songs already available for download at roughly $2 each, and new ones released just about weekly. Of course, this attracts a fair share of criticism from certain nay-sayers, who would prefer Harmonix to sell them the music on-disc (at a more effective value) instead of selling it as overpriced DLC; however, several track packs and albums are offered at a discount compared to buying each song individually. This is particularly prevalent for ''Music/TheBeatles: RockBand'', whose tracklist included a minimal 45 songs for a full-priced game, with a selection of other songs from the band's catalogue (specifically the missing songs from ''Rubber Soul'', ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' and ''Abbey Road'') sold separately. And that's not even getting to the instrument peripherals...
** ''VideoGame/GuitarHero: World Tour'' averts this with the guitar duels versus Ted Nugent and Zakk Wylde, which appear at first glance to be shameless money grabs. They must be "purchased" through the online music store to be played in quickplay, even though they are clearly on the disk as they appear in the career mode, however they are actually free and simply must be downloaded free of charge from the music store. Otherwise, the GuitarHero series plays this straight.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has a ton of these, from the aforementioned CollectibleCardGame to standard [=WoW=]-themed [[TheMerch merchandise]] to a Pet Store where you can spend cash for in-game vanity pets and mounts. The upshot is that this is all purely cosmetic stuff and is in no way necessary to access or complete content...[[TemptingFate so]] [[{{Activision}} far]]. The most {{egregious}} example thus far in VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: the Celestial Steed, a mount which provides no concrete in-game benefit, aside from looking cool. The sheer number of orders resulted in a queue on the online store for ''days''. Players realized too late that a mount like that is no longer cool if EVERYBODY gets it. [[TheCynicalBrit TotalBiscuit]] parodied that by calling the item "That Retarded Horse," or TRH for short.

*** However, weapons obtained from later crates have been given the "strange" quality prefix, making it less of a loss if you open a crate and find something you have already.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Steam_Shop_9736.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[GogglesDoNothing They]], [[Memes/TheSimpsons of course, do nothing]].]]

* '''Railworks''' turns this trope up to eleven with its DLC on {{Steam}}. The price for all of the DLC combined is FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN DOLLARS, with single train addons sometimes costing twenty dollars each. Add to that the fact that new DLC becomes available about every week, [[CrackIsCheaper crack may indeed, be cheaper]]. The cost for all the DLC jumped from over $700 to over $2000 in six months, and it shows no signs of slowing down. There is some free DLC... at least one of which requires another, not-free DLC train to play.
** The game, now '''Train Simulator 2013''', is included with 4 newer routes, but minus the older default routes! Users who are new to this version will have to pay $18 for each of the older routes if wished. It doesn't help that the older routes cost a bit less that most of the trainpacks also available. The smallest trainpacks probably cost $5.

* The "TropeCodifier" probably would be the "Horse Armor" DLC from ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. This was an armor that you could equip on your horse. It was also completely unnecessary and pretty much just for looks. If anyone refers to excessive dlc, especially if it's just skins that don't have any effects, as horse armor, they are referring to this.

** It's also come under accusation of this following the introduction of the "Squeal of Fortune" which among other things, allows players to every day spin a roulette wheel for expensive items or experience. More specifically, spins can also be bought using real money. Among other things, [[BribingYourWayToVictory it's theoretically possible to gain the highest level of possible in many skills, or make hundreds of millions of coins,]] with a few hundred dollars worth of spins. This has been [[{{Understatement}} less than]] [[BaseBreaker popular]].

* The number of Revenue Enhancing Devices available for MassEffect3 is ''insane'' (and totals ''[[http://huntall.com/mass-effect-3-870-dollars-buy-extras-game nearly One Thousand Dollars]]''. Many are basically {{Feelies}} you have to buy separately, many are DLC content, and one combines the two - a figure of Liara that also happens to be a USB drive with pre-loaded DLC content.
** Though it has to be said that this number includes a lot of stuff which actually has a worth outside of Mass Effect, maybe not at this price, since it is things like a Mass Effect 3 themed keyboard, a Mass Effect 3 themed headset and so on. Using the numbers from the quoted article, to get the whole gaming content you "only" have to spend a "mere" 170 Dollars.

* ''AgeOfConan'', an AllegedlyFreeGame, includes a lot of optional game-enhancing and cosmetic gear. Some of the former can be considered [[GameBreaker game breaking]], at least at lower levels; while the latter includes an item that does nothing but increases an [[WorldOfBuxom already well-endowed female character's]] bustline to GagBoobs size.

** They're continuing the trend with ''VideoGame/TheatrhythmFinalFantasy'', the first 3DS game to have paid DLC, with downloadable music tracks for $0.99 each. They have announced that there will be at least 50 purchasable songs in this format; buy them all and you'll have spent more on that than on the game itself!

[[quoteright:244:[[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SparklePony_7376.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:244:It costs $25 USD. Its sole in-game function is fulfilled by hundreds of other things that ''don't'' cost $25 USD. Hundreds of thousands were sold in a few days. ''[[RuleOfCool And you know you want one.]]'']]-]

This is particularly common in "Free" [=MMOs=], which can be either truly free, with all content available to all players; or only partially free, with limited free content available, making them {{Allegedly Free Game}}s. For the former, there are usually [[BribingYourWayToVictory game-enhancing]] (possibly even [[GameBreaker game-breaking]]) equips and boosts, as well as a variety of cosmetic-only (usually [[{{Fanservice}} fanservice-enhancing]]) items, available for real money in some form of in-game cash shop. Several studies have discovered that the presence of RevenueEnhancingDevices in "free" online games, even those that are strictly cosmetic, typically increase the amount revenue generated per player by up to double that of subscription-only games.

* In {{Collectible Card Game}}s, the cards you get in a pack will be randomized, with certain cards more common than others -- for instance, ''MagicTheGathering'' packs have eleven commons, three uncommons, and a rare (with the possibility that the rare could be mythic, and one of the commons could be replaced by a foil card). Therefore, to get a specific card, you either have to keep buying packs until you chance upon it, trade with someone for it, or go buy it from the secondary market, while hoping the Standard tournament rules haven't rotated the cards out of play in the meantime. \\

* Some {{Collectible Card Game}}s ''are'' RevenueEnhancingDevices. The fourth ''StarWars'' game didn't even ''try'' to hide the fact that you were going to lose if you weren't willing to shell out enough money to get cards like Anakin, Count Dooku and other ''Episode II'' stars.
* ''[[DungeonsAndDragons D&D Miniatures]]'' has a similar deal with booster packs. Additionally, miniatures are divided into four "alignments", and all your creatures have to be from one alignment. This significantly increases the number of booster packs you have to buy to make a playable army. Note also that this randomization is considered annoying by those who buy the miniatures so that they can be used to represent combat in ''D&D''.

* Alert gamers have noticed that some purchasable Xbox Live DLC is nothing more than a code which unlocks content ''that is already on the disc you paid for''; Namco and EA are particularly known for this, as is the PSN DLC (any DLC with a stated size of 100kb is just an unlock key), and Square-Enix's WiiWare releases have begun to follow suit

* The XBox360 avatar system is a surprisingly effective cash cow. For various amounts of Microsoft Points (with a real cost equivalent of 50 cents to 5 dollars) you can purchase clothing items or props for your avatar. These items have no gameplay purpose at all, and only make your avatar look slightly different in the few games that use your avatar, or when you appear in other people's friend lists.

* ''Earth Eternal'' does something similar, except that it also has a Credit Swap wherein players can buy the "credits" from each other with in-game gold. EE shop items include temporary and permanent versions of items which [[SprintShoes increase movement speed]], increase [[ExperiencePoints experience gain]], expand [[GridInventory inventory capacity]] and supply bottomless [[EyeOfNewt spell reagents]].

* ''[[EverQuest Everquest 2]]'' also has "station store" where you can spend real money to buy purely cosmetic outfits, mounts, and home furniture. You can also buy extra character slots for your account. (Back in the really old days, you could have up to 8 characters ''per server'' - now it's 7 per account).

* The 4E books for ''DungeonsAndDragons'' repeatedly encourage the reader to sign up for the online D&D Insider service. In fairness, there's general agreement that it's at least worth it for a DM for all the tools to simplify running a game.

* ''{{Furcadia}}'' has RevenueEnhancingDevices called Digos, which let players walk around with winged characters or even play as dragons and whatnot. They make ALL their money this way.
* ''SoulCalibur 4'' and ''AceCombat 6'' are clearly making money via [=DLC=]s. The former lets you buy additional tracks, characters and character equipment (including weapons ''which can be unlocked in-game without the DLC'', but it's specified in its description before you buy it, both on XBox Live or PlayStation Network) while the latter offers special planes and custom paintjobs for them (including several [[VideoGame/TheIdolMaster Idolmaster]]-themed and {{Call Back}}s to earlier games).

** It's even lampshaded with the hat called Ze Goggles, where the "description" is simply "Nothing". It's supposed to be a ShoutOut to ''TheSimpsons'', but it's HilariousInHindsight as well.