Greg Zeschuk of BioWare proclaims that continuous DLC content is a big part of the Dragon Age release.
The Ultima VIII Sound Pack was my first experience with expansion contentMTV Multiplayer has an interview up with BioWare VP Greg Zeschuk where he mentions that they're planning for up to two years of DLC content for Dragon Age: Origins, the multi-platform RPG set to be released later this year. Here's the quote.
You have to remember that video game consumers are some of the smartest, most connected people on the planet. You can’t trick them with anything, so don’t even try. I don’t think it’s so much as to trick them, as it is the strategy behind it has to be fully thought out. This is the reason that with “Dragon Age,” our DLC strategy is doing it in maybe a year and-a-half or two years, planning exactly when you’re going to do it and how you’re going to do it. Some of our fans would really like us to extend the world, so it’s going to be something that will make the world even bigger and more interesting. It’s not going to wreck it or break it.
If you're interested in more of what Greg has to say about Dragon Age check out the special BioWare Bombcast Brad and Ryan did with him a week ago. It's a good listen.
Being an old-man PC gamer I remember the previous name for DLC content -- Expansion Packs. You remember, those physical boxed copies of CD / DVDs or floppies where you'd install new content onto your existing game. While I know some people think we hit the zenith with DLCs when horse armor for Oblivion came around I challenge you to remember a time when you'd actually pay for sound pack additions (dude, when you step on the grass it makes noise!) in games like Ultima VIII: Pagan. In any case, do you guys think the traditional physical expansion pack is a thing of the past? With games like Dragon Age potentially escewing the physical updates common in the genre (Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights...etc) I wouldn't be surprised if players could only get expansion content digitally within the next two years. While I'm all for that in concept I wonder if we'll get to the point where DLC content will cost $30-$40 like their expansion pack brethren. For the most part, the norm has been for DLCs to include small updates and moderate pricing but with content like Lost and Damned for GTA4 I think the lines are getting a little blurry. What do you think? Is is simply a question of the delivery medium?
