Capcom is at it again. Remember how between Street Fighter 4 to Super Street Fighter 4 and Marvel vs Capcom 3 to Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 was impossible to update by DLC because of technical limitations? Add Dragon’s Dogma to that list as Capcom’s VP Christian Svensson explained via Capcom-Unity that Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen will be released as a standalone title as opposed to DLC for the price of $39.99.

A user on Capcom-Unity complained about the decision and Svensson responded with:

We went round and round with the team on this topic as [releasing the Dark Arisen content as DLC] would have been a preferred option from our standpoint too. As it turns out, I’m sorry but unfortunately there were major technical limitations that would couldn’t allow for a digital upgrade path. The original game was just not designed to be expanded (no hooks in the original code) and so a full-game delivery mechanism was the only option.

The team didn’t give up and tried other methods such as a digital discount but would have run into problems with first party policies which he states would have been on their part and not on them (them being Microsoft and Sony). He also stated for previous owners of the original title that they will be rewarding players:

We’re packing more than $20 worth of value in digital rewards for existing users:  100K rift crystals (which in DDDA have a LOT more uses than they did in DD vanilla) the Gransys armor pack and the unlimited Ferrystone. We hope this will be a sufficent “thank you” for being part of the first wave of Dragon’s Dogma fans given the development limitations we had.

Your character and save data will transfer between titles which is good but considering they are planning on making more sequels to the game, if they want more buyers down the road they need to do things right the first time. Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen will be available to purchase on disc for $39.99 on April 23rd in North America and April 26th in Europe.