With the Xbox 360, Microsoft integrated downloadable content more fully into their console, devoting an entire section of the console's user interface to the Xbox Live Marketplace. They also partially removed the need for credit cards by implementing their own Microsoft Points currency, which could be bought either with a credit card online or as redeemable codes in game stores. This is a strategy that would be adopted by Nintendo with Nintendo Points and Sony with the PlayStation Network Card. One of the first and probably one of the most infamous examples of DLC on consoles was the Armor For Your Horse DLC pack released on the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Bethesda Softworks game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Sony adopted much of the Xbox Live Marketplace's features into their downloadable hub, the PlayStation Store. With Gran Turismo HD, Sony planned an entirely barebones title, with the idea of requiring the bulk of the content to be purchased separately via many separate online microtransactions. The project was later canceled. Nintendo has featured a sparser amount of downloadable content on their Wii Shop Channel, the bulk of which is accounted for by digital distribution of emulated Nintendo titles from previous generations.

Music video games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band have taken significant advantage of downloadable content. Harmonix claimed that Guitar Hero II would feature "more online content than anyone has ever seen in a game to this date." Rock Band features the largest number of downloadable items of any console video game, with a steady number of new songs being added weekly. Acquiring all the downloadable content for Rock Band would cost at least $2000.