‘Skyrim: Dawnguard’ DLC Releases
Bethesda

After months of waiting, PS3 players of “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” finally heard the news they’ve been waiting for last week. Bethesda officially announced that each Skyrim downloadable content package would be available for Sony’s console starting this month.

Until now, the game studio had only revealed launch dates for North American PS3 players, but on Monday it acknowledged its European fan base as well. The Dragonborn DLC will go live for PS3 players in Europe on Feb. 13, while Hearthfire will launch on Feb. 20 and Dawnguard will follow on Feb. 27. In addition, the company also announced that the PC version of Dragonborn would be released on Feb. 5.

However, German, Italian, Spanish and French editions of the Skyrim expansions will be delayed a little longer. Bethesda has not specified the reason for the set back, but has said that it is currently in talks with Sony.

“We continue to work with Sony to finalize these dates,” Bethesda’s official blog read. “We’ll update this post when we have the dates.”

As for North America, Dragonborn will be available on the PlayStation Network beginning Feb. 12, Hearthfire will debut on Feb. 19, and Dawnguard is set to launch on Feb. 26.

While PS3 players are gearing up for these extended Skyrim missions and quests, Xbox 360 gamers have had the chance to purchase these expansions for months. Dawnguard, the first DLC, made its debut on the Xbox 360 way back in June while PS3 players have yet to see any Skyrim expansions. Bethesda launched another content pack for the 360 and PC known as Hearthfire in September, and the Dragonborn DLC made its way to Microsoft’s console in early December.

The studio didn’t specify price points for the European versions of these DLCs, but we’re expecting them to cost the equivalent of the North American editions. Both Dawnguard and Dragonborn cost 1600 Microsoft Points, or $20, upon launch, and Hearthfire sold for 400 Microsoft Points ($5). Each of these add-ons will be sold at half price during their first week in the PSN store, Bethesda said.

Near the end of 2012 Bethesda had promised that PS3 players would get their long-awaited expansion packs in “early 2013,” and it looks like the company is keeping good on that pledge. Pete Hines, Bethesda’s VP of Marketing and PR, made it clear that developers had difficulties getting the content to work properly on the PS3. Some players initially blamed the delay on exclusive deals between Bethesda and Microsoft, but the company clarified that wasn’t the case.

“Skyrim is a massive and dynamic game that requires a lot of resources, and things get much more complex when you’re talking about sizable content like Dawnguard,” Bethesda wrote in its forums back in August. “We have tried a number of things, but none of them solve the issue enough to make Dawnguard good for everyone.”

Hopefully this means PS3 players won’t be seeing any more delays with future Skyrim DLCs, and we’ll update this post accordingly when launch dates for France, Spain, Italy and Germany have been announced.