Fallout New Vegas DLC to be Xbox 360 Exclusive

Fallout New Vegas's DLC will be Xbox-only, at least temporarily.

Bethesda announced today that downloadable content is already in the works for its eagerly awaited RPG, Fallout New Vegas (which releases in North America tomorrow for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3). The DLC, which is planned for the holiday season, will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 version of the game.

Downloadable content, a staple of this generation, has sparked plenty of controversies, particularly in the RPG genre. In fact, Bethesda was one of the pioneers in this area, offering perhaps the most reviled DLC of all time – Oblivion’s infamous horse armor. BioWare antagonized Dragon Age fans earlier this year when it released the Wardens Keep DLC, which, in addition to a quest, provided a location in which players could store their loot. Many fans complained that this DLC, without which the game requires frustrating inventory management, should have been included with the game.

Today’s announcement by Bethesda raises a number of questions. How critical will the DLC be to a typical player’s enjoyment of the game? When, if ever, will the Xbox 360 exclusivity expire? (Some of Fallout 3’s DLC was released under similar Microsoft exclusivity terms, which eventually ended.) Are both PC and Playstation 3 denied the DLC, or just PS3? And why does the announcement imply that Bethesda is creating the DLC, when Obsidian is the game’s developer? Will the DLC be created with Obsidian’s input?

More information is promised in the coming weeks. In the meantime, what are your thoughts? Does this announcement impact your decision as to the platform for which you will buy Fallout New Vegas? Does it affect your decision to buy the game at release rather than later, when the inevitable Game of the Year edition is released with all of the DLC? Does it impact your decision to buy the game at all? Please share your thoughts in the Comments!

Fumarole

Posted October 19, 2010 at 10:10 AM

Long gone are the days of expansion packs. When done right, DLC can be a great thing (see TF2 and L4D). When done wrong, however, you have horse armor and content (maps, weapons, game modes) that divides the multiplayer community. Either way, I think announcing DLC before the game has even been released is an unwise move. Many people may simply wait for the Gold edition that will inevitably be released.

Lawrence Weinstein

Posted October 19, 2010 at 6:23 PM

I agree. DLC is a relatively new concept (even if it has its roots in expansion packs, as you mentioned), and the quality has been inconsistent. Hopefully with time there will be less “horse armor” type DLC and more “Shivering Isles” type DLC.

Regarding console-exclusive DLC, I understand the financial motivations, but in my opinion, it comes at the expense of gamers. In the long run, this is never a good thing for a developer/publisher. PC and PS3 players want to buy your DLC. Why marginalize and aggravate them, when you could be selling to them?

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