Back 4 Blood DLC Will Be Free To Play If The Party Leader Owns It

Back 4 Blood fans concerned with how post-launch DLC could fracture the community have swiftly had their worries allayed by Turtle Rock Studios.

In a blog post earlier this week titled “How We’ll Keep The Community Together,” the developer outlined its unique approach to accommodating every customer regardless of whether they intend to spend additional money on the game beyond the usual RRP. Unlike contemporary titles such as Call of Duty, for example, which require that all players in a lobby purchase and own a map pack in order to experience it, the studio’s spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead is trying something markedly different. If a party leader in any given lobby owns paid content drops while nobody else does, everyone will be eligible to play, essentially making it free.

This initiative encompasses not just maps but campaigns and general content, too, which, while not elaborated on further, presumably includes new weapons, cards and other trinkets. How this system will account for instances where the DLC owner disconnects from a match isn’t clear, though we expect that a more in-depth explanation will be provided closer to launch.

As for the competitive scene, Turtle Rock is keen to stress that the 4v4 Swarm mode revealed during E3 will remain completely unaffected by future plans, with an initial purchase of the game permanently granting access to “all additional PvP content” no matter the amount of spending (or lack thereof). Commendable efforts to ensure nobody gets left behind, then, though it remains to be seen if this generosity will have an impact on the company’s bottom line. It’s worth noting, after all, that Evolve eventually bit the bullet due to not maintaining an active enough player base, and it’d be a shame to see the past repeat itself here.

Back 4 Blood releases October 12th and we can’t wait to get our hands on it.