Apologies to all PS3 fans; if you thought that there was the faintest spark of hope that Fallout 3 DLC would eventually make its way to Sony’s platform, you might as well douse it. It just ain’t happening. Bethesda has made it very clear that its DLC efforts, including the recent Operation Anchorage and The Pitt, coming up soon, are for Xbox 360 and PC only.
In response to a question from The Bitbag on behalf of PS3 owners hoping for something – anything – in the way of add-on content, Bethesda’s Pete Hines, VP of marketing and PR, stated “Fallout 3 DLC is for Xbox 360 and PC.” Or to put it more succinctly: ‘No’.
It is entirely up to Bethesda as to where and when it decides to put out Fallout 3 DLC, of course, but it still feels like PS3 owners are getting shafted, and for no particularly good reason.
DLC exclusivity was a major coup for GTA IV on Xbox 360, fine, but only a very few titles get the kind of hype to make that a deciding factor when buying the game at launch. For most games, even players who have the luxury of choosing which platform to buy them for are probably more concerned about which is going to run the game best, rather than which one is going to have the best add-on content several months down the line.
So when it comes to Fallout 3 DLC, will exclusivity have affected Microsoft’s standing in the console wars at all? Has it made Games for Windows LIVE look better than Steam or its other rivals? We doubt it.
Furthermore, the message for people who only had the choice of buying the PS3 version seems to be that your money just isn’t good enough for Bethesda. Game exclusives are an acceptable part of the hard fought console wars; they can drive innovation as well as giving each platform its unique image. But DLC exclusivity on multi-platform titles? That’s now looking increasingly petty, screwing players just to feed console-maker’s egos. We sincerely hope developers will put a stop to it.
