User blog:Pokweeismypsn/Bethesda: We don't "carve out" DLC content from games before release

Bethesda may have a rough idea of what it wants for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim DLC, but marketing and PR boss Pete Hines is adamant that any "good content" dreamed up before development ends will make it into the retail release.

"We leave ourselves some wiggle room so that we don't paint ourselves into a corner with something so rigid that we can't add to it," he said, when asked by MCV whether digitally distributed content is now mandatory for all Bethesda releases.

"With Fallout 3 we knew what the first one or two pieces of DLC were going to be, but the third one was a reaction to the release of the game and the feedback we got from people wanting to raise the level cap.

"If we went out from the start and said: 'We're doing five pieces of DLC for Fallout 3, here are these five,' then we wouldn't have been able to be as reactive or responsive to what the fans said.

"I think that's what allowed us to be so successful with that DLC, not just that we had them but that they were more of what people said they liked and not something set in stone six months before launch.

"If you are nine months out and you are still thinking of good content, then that probably goes into the game, right?" Hines added. "We have designers and artists and content people focusing on the base product until it is done. And once it is done and they have had the chance to catch their breath, then they can look at the other things that they might do."

"But there's no point in planning the content that comes after because what if this content makes the base game better? We want the base game to be the best thing possible. We don't believe in carving out a little part to sell as DLC later."

Game director Todd Howard has said that Skyrim DLC packs will be fewer and more substantial, with more of an "expansion pack" feel.