Skyrim DLC Release On PS3 May Come Next Year: Dragonborn To Be Bethesda’s Main Focus [TRAILER]

Bethesda has addressed this issue numerous times via Twitter and its own online blog, but today the studio gave fans some tangible information. When it comes to launching Skyrim DLC on the PS3, Bethesda’s first priority will be Dragonborn, the most recent add-on that launched on Tuesday for 1600 Microsoft Points.

“And as noted in Monday’s blog post, we’re hard at work to make this content available early next year on PS3 and PC,” read Bethesda’s blog. “On PS3, in particular, we’ve turned our attention to Dragonborn, as we thought it was the best content to release first, and we didn’t want folks to wait longer. Once it’s ready to go for everyone, we’ll continue our previous work on Hearthfire and Dawnguard for PS3.”

The company, however, could not reveal any additional details about when the content would launch other than “early next year.”

“Each one takes a lot of time and attention to work well in all circumstances and all combinations of DLC,” the post read. “Once we have a better idea of release timing and pricing, we’ll let you know.”

Some players originally speculated that the delayed PS3 launch was due to exclusivity deals with Microsoft, but Bethesda confirmed that wasn’t the case. Earlier this year, Bethesda took to its official forums to tell fans that Skyrim’s Dawnguard expansion simply isn’t ready for the PlayStation 3 yet.

“The PS3 is a powerful system, and we’re working hard to deliver the content you guys want,” the post read. “Dawnguard is obviously not the only DLC we’ve been working on either, so the issues of adding content get even more complicated. This is not a problem we’re positive we can solve, but we are working together with Sony to try to bring you this content.”

Bethesda Game Studios isn’t the first developer to encounter problems when developing for Sony’s platform. For years, game developers have criticized the PlayStation for this reason, as Valve chief Gabe Newell called Sony’s console a “waste of time” back in 2007. However, Sony’s video game system is intentionally difficult to create games for, according to CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Kaz Harai who spoke to the Official PlayStation Magazine back in 2009.

“We don’t provide the ‘easy to program for’ console that [developers] want, because ‘easy to program for’ means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do. So then the question is: What do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?” he said.  

Bethesda has been struggling with this challenge from Sony since it began launching DLCs back in June, and now Dragonborn will be at the forefront of its efforts. Dragonborn, unlike previous Skyrim DLC, gives players an entirely new world to explore rather than just adding linear quests like Dawnguard did. Players are immersed in the land of Solstheim, which comes complete with the game’s staple landscape features such as caves, frozen wastes, barrows and more.

The island is located just northeast of Skyrim and to the right of Morrowind, and players have quite a few new additions to look forward to besides the appealing landscape: a new map, new weapons and armor, new dragon shouts and new quests among other add-ons. And yes, you can ride dragons. This is perhaps one of the longest-rumored features to appear in a Skyrim DLC, as there have been talks of such capabilities since before Dawnguard was even released.

This is due in part to a video from this year’s DICE Summit known as Game Jam. The developers of Skyrim were asked to get together and create a montage of ideal features they would like to see in the game. So far, at least one feature from each of the three DLCs was initially seen in this video: the Vampire Lord form which appeared in Dawnguard, the abilities to adopt children and build a home which are found in Hearthfire and finally the recently introduced dragon mounts from Dragonborn.

Check out the video for yourself below and the trailer for Dragonborn.