Microsoft and 343 make good on broken Halo with free DLC

Of the three stand-out botched triple-A launches this fall, the second has fallen into line with a make-good for affected players. Today, Microsoft's Halo studio, 343 Industries, announced that it'll be distributing the single-player campaign for 2009's ODST to purchasers of The Master Chief Collection who were affected by server outages from launch through December 19. There are other goodies in the box, too: a month of Xbox Live Gold, and in-game nameplate and avatar. All players (whether or not they're eligible for this distribution) will also be getting a free multiplayer map, too. This comes after Ubisoft yanked the Assassin's Creed: Unity season pass and offered buyers a free game to make up for its poor state at release, which it has been working to remedy ever since. Sony has also offered free Driveclub DLC as a make-good for that game's network issues. It seems that digital content delivery makes for an effective form of apology to players, at least in the eyes of publishers. Why do games launch in this state? Gamasutra recently spoke to developers with triple-A experience to shed a light on the pressures of launches like the above-mentioned. UPDATE: The original version of this story said that Sony hadn't offered Driveclub DLC; it has been corrected.