Skyrim DLC to be Xbox 360-exclusive for 30 days

The idea is two fold.

One, M$ spends a fraction of the money that could go towards making an actual retail game/new IP, and instead pockets the extra money, and pays Bethesda a tiny fee for a 30 day DLC timed exclusive.

Two, the hope is that it will sell more copies of Skyrim for 360, without actually adding anything to the game itself (like real content). The DLC for Skyrim was coming anyways, basically they were paid to stop the release on other platforms for 30 days. It won't actually sell more copies of Skyrim itself (across systems), this paying for timed DLC will just hopefully point users into buying the 360 version of the multiplat over PC or PS3. The downside is...retail we get one of the following from that 1st party : GeoWHaloFable. Good 1st party games, but it's slim pickings until the end of every year, where we get to choose one-two of those offerings. How about that timed DLC in lieu of new retail games? Eh? :P

There is always fun multiplats, but my point is that this TIMED DLC has a cost to the gamer, whether you buy DLC or not.

DLC... What ever happened to expansion packs? Who misses expansion packs?

I don't understand timed DLC... Unless it's something to do with licensing agreements that vary between Sony and Microsoft. I have a 360 and I will be happy to receive it a month early. PS3 users should just think of us as the QA for them. Lets hope it doesn't break our saves.

Having Skyrim for the 360 I don't feel any better receiving this DLC a month earlier, and I wouldn't care about it if I preferred to game on a PS3 or PC either. There is so much quality game content out right now/coming out in the near future that it's no big deal. I am interested in what the content is though, I've read there's a possibility that Bethesda is going to release DLC that will enable 360 and PS3 player's to modify their games, which would be sweet. Looking at the mod's that the PC offers some of them looked pretty damn good and some of them seemed like they didn't fit or were just silly. Still having those extra options must be amazing, even though I prefer the 360 I'd consider getting Skyrim for PC just for the mods, knowing they make USB 360 Controllers. No matter what, as great as Skyrim is I'm sure the DLC will be worth it's while adding plenty of goodies to the experience, as far as the early release for 360, maybe it's kudos to the 360's developer tools? I don't know much about them but have read they were more friendly than the PS3's, not sure how they compare to the PC. Most likely just Microsoft marketing/politics which would be really stupid.

Eh... at least it's ONE month.

*WARNING* XBOX fanboy comments below.

Nooooo! Oh well, at least we PC players get mods ;)

What is the reason of buying a DLC for Skyrim? The game itself has monts of quests. Not mentioning the pc gamers which will only download mods.

Plus I haven't even come CLOSE to doing everything in the main game anyway. I never buy DLCs ha ha...

Mods will hold PC owners over. No worries.

Just Remember The Horse Armor for Oblivion for its first DLC so hopefully Bethesda makes a better choice for its First DLC for Skyrim.

@shadowhunter0 Yeah man, ace time to be a gamer right now :D

@warhawk-geeby I agree plus all the other great games that is coming to the ps3 and the ones that are already out and I'll probably have a vita before the first dlc comes out and I'll be play the awesome games on that has well so I will have way more than enough to keep me occiped until the dlc comes out on the ps3

so there will be so much to do in this game that I can wait 30 days it is just M$ wasting money to try to get more people to buy/use their console instead of using that money actually make games for the 360 and I'll be getting the ps3 version since I prefer to play games on it then on pc

Dawm that horse armour

Failing to see a downside to this as a PC gamer, it gives us 30 days of hearing about whether the DLC is a good investment, fixing any bugs etc all the while I can tweak my current game with a plethora of mods from the wonderful modding community. For Skyrim I'd rather wait 30 days on the DLC then miss out on the mods that the consoles don't have the fortune of utilizing. Thinking that the DLC for Skyrim will be similar to Shivering Isles, prolly not as long though maybe Fallout DLC length.

I dont think they have even started making DLC yet for this game..Todd Howard and his team at Bethesda make awesome games and are not going to hold back content for a later DLC release..oblivion had more content than i would ever know what to do with...microsoft is just doing their job by rewarding Bethesda the best way they can for making an awesome game that we can enjoy..and hopefully that translates into Bethesda selling alot more copies of skyrim so they can continue to create the best RPG''s out there.

DLC: the curse of modern gaming. I miss the days when companies focused on delivering the most complete products at launch. Now they speculate on what game elements to remove and re-sell.

F**king sellouts... It's a shame that I am still going to buy this game.

Wooooo!!!!!!!!!! Skyrim!!!!!!!!

I seriously don't care about it ! exploring huge lands, cities, villages, 150 dungeons, side quests etc will take a lot of time and I will gladly give this time to the game because it deserves it then I will play it again and again to see all the possible endings, consequences etc... After that since I'll get it on PC I'll start looking for mods that the wonderful community will make after that..... I will start looking for DLC. We PC gamers usually get DLCs late so we are very patient these cheap techniques from Microsoft and Sony won't affect us. I am saying cheap because Microsoft and Sony always play politics even in game industry which in my opinion is the best entertainment industry of world, terrible companies like these plague this beautiful industry with their money and so called tactics.

I wonder if Microsoft will ACTUALLY listen to it's gamers. It seems that MS opinion is linked to the numbers in Excel, not the thousands of gamers they should be listening to. 30 days is almost nothing, what does bother me is that some DLC's will never be translated. I have ESIV on both 360 and PSX3, Sony lost out on 5 locations for ESIV.

Oh no...no dlc for PC gamers?!?! WHAT?! WHY?! Oh yeah thats right, we get tens of thousands of mods to choose from in a years time and Bethesda has a tendency to release the same dlc for every platform eventually so I'll end up with that option too at some point. Well, have fun with your test...i mean...exclusive dlc console kiddies =P -Dys

I don't get it. I've been waiting for almost 10 years for MS to give me a reason to buy one of their consoles. This timed exclusive nonsense will NOT incite me to do that. ES games have always offered hundreds of hours out of the box. I doubt I'll be ready for the addons before 2 or 3 months at least goes by.

30 days?! I'll be playing Skyrim to death anyway as it is, 30 days is nothing! Plus if by some miracle I do actually manage to get bored of the pre-DLC content (which is impossible) I'll have Uncharted 3 and Battlefield to keep me occupied. Way to waste a whole load of cash Microsoft. More money than sense it seems :/

Pppssh. As if that matters. TES prides itself in being a fleshed out and well made series that is ready to play (and fully satisfy) right out of the box. It's a great big expansive game world with TONS to do, and you won't be getting bored any time soon. This sort of DLC is intended mostly to be used by games and developers that make 6 hour campaigns, or are foreign to the concept of releasing a finished game, and have to sell it to you bit by bit. Basically, I can't think of anything major the players can benefit from with the 30 day exclusivity, other than bragging rights for their platform (if they go with the 360). It may be great DLC, but 30 days is just no big when you have SO MUCH already on the disk, waiting to be explored. And if it's just something as simple as armor after all... who can't wait 30 days for that?

Bethesda have always seemed to prefer the Xbox 360; especially since most of their previews and demos at gaming conferences were on the system. I guess they just want to showcase what they can still do on the eldest of the seventh generation consoles.

I think I may wait for the GOTY edition with all the dlc. I understand exclusives but this is really sad.

@Atheosis Seriously, people are having a fit over a 30 day period? I mean this is just pitiful.

Wonder how much Bill Gates is paying Bethesda for this 30 day exclusive plan. Guessing it will be more then 30 days of play for the core game for me so not an issue. And most likely will not fork out DLC$ for this one anyway. I wise they would stop talking about DLC months before the release of the core game, this is getting way out of control. Next we will be buy DLC before the release of the main program HEHE

@Pitthepunisher Maybe I didn't explained myself correctly. It's not about the numbers but about the fact itself. I do not care if the game is 2.000+ hours long and it has more than 7 millions of dungeons, if you hold back material already created to sell it separatelly you're deceiving, no matter the numbers. Please have a look at this article written by Brendan Sinclair called "When $60 Isn't Enough": http://www.gamespot.com/features/6327148/when-60-isnt-enough/index.html?tag=result%3Btitle%3B0 Edit: While writting these lines I learned that Epic is launching a season pass for 4 DLC that they have planned to release after the game, the first DLC will be launched in November... do you realize where we're heading? as @x_wolverine said: "we're a few years away from buying a blank disc then publishers charging us to add different parts of the game to it"...

I can easily wait a month, especially when I'll be able to play with mods, better graphics and controls on a PC. @ Scud09: Timed exclusivity does not mean free.

I want free DLC too! Damn you sony.

Skyrim will have enough gameplay hours in it to last much more than one month. So, meh

stupid ms can you please get exclusive games not timed exclusive DLC

calm down, it is only 30 days. 1 month

I swear people will complain about anything.

@noigel You are seriously complaining about having to shell out some bucks to get more for a game? With 300 hours of gameplay that would amount to $0.20 per hour. Even if they charge 40 bucks more in DLC and you only get 150 hours out of it that is still $0.66 an hour, which for any video game is amazing. People pay 60 bucks for a game with 20 hours of gameplay, so $3 an hour. So I wouldn't be complaining.

@risseer23 if its not your cup of tea, aiight, but don't complain that other people like it. Everybody's different and you gotta respect that, other wise it be like holocaust all over again brah.

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

Atheosis,Bethesda makes games that have more bugs then my backyard.They are overrated and the way Bethesda has treated Pc/Ps3 players is wrong.I won't be buying this crap anyways since Oblivion was trash as with fallout.Let 360 players enjoy this overrated turn of a game.I really could careless if fanboys hate on my comment, this is the way i feel about it.

Lol, only 30 day's XD

[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

@Atheosis I don't think you're talking seriously...You're asking me why I complain about the fact that they do not put everything they have in the game? You're definitelly joking here. It's not important if X360 have it 30 days earlier, what matters is that they have content that they could put in the game and instead they charge for it as DLC. Really don't you see the problem? The problem is that you're paying full price for an incomplete game and then you pay again to get the pieces the game misses. If you agree with that...well...what else can I say?

[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

This sucks, now I have to wait 30 extra days to get my horse armor =(

Well said joep0113. I'm not buying each dlc as it comes out, I'll get the goty. I have mods for free until then, and Elder Scrolls mods are endless. P.S. This in no way makes me want to buy a blasted 360 lol, get real, I'd rather shoot myself than play an rpg or shooter- anything on a console. If you like consoles, that's your business, enjoy- this is just how I feel about it, and believe it or not no offense. :)

Yeah, you take your DLC 360. By the end of 30 days there'll be more content in mods than DLC for Skyrim on PC, and it'll all be free.

@BrianMX34 Well it makes more people want to buy the 360 version and therefore Microsoft gets more money from those sales. Is it worth it though, maybe? Also Microsoft needs to supplement their lacking first party titles so this is what they are doing.

hmmmm. Microsoft sweetened the deal with Bethesda for what? 30 days? Pfffft. I'll still be playing on my dual 6950s at 5760 x 1080 widescreen and enjoying the 30 extra days before I "maybe" purchase the download. I can't stand DLC anyway. Just sell it with the game and call it finished already. wth? I just don't feed into the DLC frenzy. You will already be getting my money for the game, so you wanna milk me for more? Do I look like a f**cking cow? Next thing you know, I'll be going to the store to buy milk and it will be a gallon of half-a**ed DLC in a jug. Just stop already. Sell expansion packs. They make a game good.