‘Fallout 4’ Updates: DLC Incoming, Secret Weapon Found, No DLC Exclusivity
Everybody’s talking about Fallout 4 lately, and these days in gaming, everyone’s always talking about DLC; where is it, when is it, what is it, and who gets it?
Well, we’re here to satisfy your questions as best we can with a Fallout 4 DLC news roundup.
First off, according to a report from Gaming Bolt, Fallout 4 won’t have console DLC exclusivity, complete or timed. Bethesda Softworks Vice President Of Public Relations And Marketing, Pete Hines, took to Twitter (as he is often wont to do) following the announcement that Fallout 4 would be getting its first patch next week to clear up some questions about Fallout 4 DLC. He indicated that Fallout 4 DLC would be coming to PC, Xbox One, and PS4 all at the same time, and clarified that rumors of temporary Xbox One DLC exclusivity were entirely unfounded.
“No. No exclusive DLC. [DLC coming to Xbox first] falls under the category of “exclusive.” One platform getting it before others is a timed exclusive. No, not doing that.”
He also took time to indicate that debugging commands (known as console commands, a popular feature of Bethesda games for PC players) would not be coming to PS4. “Definitely not. We do not recommend use of console commands for PC players. They screw up their save games.”
A bit of an odd attitude for Bethesda, a company whose games are often buggy enough on release that console commands are required to have a decent experience, but there you are. Hopefully Fallout 4 will prove to be less-buggy and receive more patching than past Bethesda games; most Elder Scrolls games have required unofficial community patches to reach a relatively bug-free state.
Finally, he indicated that the saved game limit on consoles (another player criticism) was baked into the console design; it wasn’t really up to Bethesda.
“Games on console get allocated space. We aren’t allowed to just use as much as we want.”
Meanwhile, the Day Herald has indicated that the first Fallout 4 DLC is on its way in early 2016, only a few months after release, and Realty Today indicates that Fallout 4 already has a lineup of planned DLC content.
Most interestingly, according to Tech Insider, the upcoming DLC packs will be based on fan feedback. Fallout 4 game director Todd Howard explained.
“This game is huge, but it’s not just this launch. It’s going to be well deep into next year. It’s like the game is done but it’s not done, because until everybody plays it, it’s not really done. Because what they bring to it is really important; we’re going to see what people like, what they want more of, what they want different, and we’re going to do that.”
Bethesda says that the first Fallout 4 DLC pack will be worth $40. How does one quantify the value of a game expansion? Regardless, they’re also offering all DLC ever made for Fallout 4 for the one-time price of a $30 USD Season Pass. And while they’re remaining mum on the actual contents, they’ve suggested that they want players to spend a lot of time exploring the wilds of the wasteland before jumping into the upcoming new content, suggesting that simply buying the packs may not be enough to access everything new. Players may be required to explore before the new content is unlocked.
A solitary hint to future DLC has been uncovered, however. According to Cinema Blend, a modder who goes by the name of “xxdeathknight72xx” has discovered a harpoon gun hidden in the game’s files which doesn’t appear anywhere in Fallout 4. When wielded by the player, a faint trail of bubbles can be seen behind the gun, suggesting that it was intended to be used underwater. And while players can go underwater right now in Fallout 4, there’s not exactly much to see down there.
And fan-feedback is going to shape Fallout 4 DLC.
[Image via Bethesda Softworks]
