Bethesda Rightsizes its DLC

Fallout 3’s “The Pitt” and “Operation: Anchorage” – in terms of size and complexity – are where Bethesda wants to be with its DLC strategy, according to Bethesda’s marketing and PR vice president.

Pete Hines, talking to Gamasutra on Friday, said Oblivion’s “Knights of the Nine” DLC is the model going forward. “It’s substantive and it adds multiple hours of game play and new items, but we can do it in a time frame that allows us to get it out without waiting forever.”

Hines was obliquely referring to the other two extreme examples of Oblivion DLC – the painfully skimpy, much derided horse armor, and the behemoth Shivering Isles – “what I think was the first ever full expansion on a console for download.”

Hines also touts Bethesda’s attention to managing its product’s life cycles as “something we do better than most publishers, if not all publishers.” He adds:

They have these large number of titles and they just don’t think about them like we do. … We don’t give up on our stuff, ever. There is always a market and a niche and people out there who are willing to buy it. DLC is just another component of that.

With all due respect, PS3 gamers might feel a bit differently about Bethesda’s attention to their products. Sure, there’s probably a Microsoft contract holding back that DLC. Maybe Bethesda is still thinking about them, too, but PS3 gamers might still feel a bit neglected, if not given up on.

Growing Your Long Tail: Hines On Bethesda’s Keen Focus [Gamasutra via EvilAvatar]