Does anyone remember that "interview" last year where Todd Howard and Notch from Minecraft sat down and talked about each other's games? Notch mentioned getting grief from Microsoft about Kinect, and You could see in Todd's face that Bethesda had too.

It might be possible that Bethesda talked Microsoft down from pushing Kinect into Skyrim at launch by agreeing to making the first two DLCs Xbox exclusive for a period of time.

Obviously there's holes with this idea, and there's no way, short of Todd himself revealing it, to tell if this was the case, but an idea, nonetheless.

As a side note, I'm hoping that Beth take a nice long time to make their next DLC smooth and creamy for all three platforms. Maybe get Dawnguard out on PS3, too.

Offered money, Sony would have done the same....

why should sony waste millions just for 30 days?
i dont get this exclusivity stuff

People be more inclined to buy the game on a particular system, if they own multiple, simply to get ahold of the content quicker.

Good thing they didn't do that 30 day exclusive DLC thing with Bethesda or we would never see any Skyrim DLC withing or lifetime. For real, if they did do that. Would Dawnguard be already out for the PS3 or would it still be a work in progress?

Thats what Bethesda wants you to think...That they svck at coding ps3....

I think they are smart enough not to. Besides, the way Dawnguard is looking for the PS3. They would have wasted millions for exclusive day DLCs they would not be able to play.

cause money, it runs the world man.

Then why don't they get some game developers that have better experiences with it. To help them code it or even better. Have some of the people who designed the PS3 to help them code it?

I know why the signed it Microsoft started throw money at their faces. Then they got drunk off of ms money and they signed the contract.

Simple, they dont really want to give it too much effort. It costs money to do patches and fix bugs, they dont feel like spending more of it on smarter people...at least thats my guess.

...perhaps they did it for money? as all companies do?

just an uneducated guess.

Microsoft just gives bethesda an [censored] load of money (someone told me it was 3 million) just not to release it on ps3 for 30 days,sure it may be bad for the fans (which is why rockstar stopped doing it) but they aren't gonna turn down 30 million (and even if desginers do, it's up to the higher ups.)

Sure it might make a FEW buy the game on xbox if they have three console but people who have it on ps3 or pc aren't just gonna magically buy an xbox so they can get an dlc, no they will (annoying) wait 30 days or however long it is.

Overall I don't see it's worth money wise or result wises and is basically just microsoft throwing there money around to encourage people to buy xbox.

If that is the right amount. I love how we have to pay for Xbox-Live, but they have enough money to do that. Maybe that's some of the money that got from all the advertisemants on their Billboard-box. Oops I mean Xbox.

Because Gamebryo- I mean the Creation Engine is such an advanced piece of technology.

I like how people think that Microsoft shareholders would accept them just throwing unlimited amounts of money at game companies for a 30 day exclusivity deal. The fact is that during the previous generation, PS2 beat everything else so badly, that they got cocky and ruined a lot of their relationships by being less accessible then before, assuming everyone would just have to "fall in line". Couple that with a game system (PS3) which is a major pain in the neck to program for, and you wonder why people are willing to lean Microsoft's way. People at Microsoft know they are percieved as the 'evil empire' and bend over backwards in their business dealings in order to buck this stereotype.

30 million dollars? Get real, the entire Skyrim budget was 85 million. They're willing to subsidize a third of a third-party developer's game just for an exclusivity on some expansions?

oops I mean to say 3 million although wahtever the price was it had to be worth to Bethesda since they WILL lose money from PS3 and pc players who don't by the dlc's and move onto new games or such.

Oh, okay lol. I think the exclusivity deals are probably more around letting the 3rd party guys have a slightly larger share of profits, and I think it only makes a difference at the point of purchase, for people who have multiple consoles and a computer that can run the game, they decide to go 360 since they'll get it a little sooner.

I think its a gimmick honestly, I'm not trying to defend microsoft or anything, I think they need to develop more franchises in house instead of this kind of BS, what other series besides Halo and Gear of War does Microsoft own that matter these days? Fable? Some old Rare owned franchise that a handful of people are awaiting a sequel for?

I'd pin the blame more on the publisher Bethesda rather than the developers. Unfortunately that's what many publishers seem to do: effectively accept money from Microsoft.

Just how thick does MS thing people are? If anything, I'd rather wait until the DLC has been patched rather than spen ￡160 on a new console for the sole purpose of slightly earlier DLC. I hope Bethesda realises what a complete mess the DLC period turned because of the exclusitivity deal: hopefully after Hearthfire, things will be a little more stable.

Some people even buy a new platform just for that, which means in this case, Microsoft will sell even more Xbox'es. And the money isn't wasted at all, they makes loads of money from it otherwise it would be bad for business, don't you think?

Don't know why they signed anything since Skyrim was a massive success

Where is the proof Microsoft is paying out a ton of money for these exclusivity deals? Other then just assumption. Seriously, I searched for articles about microsoft and these payouts and can't find anything about this.

It all comes down to coin, thats how the world works as im sure you are aware.. They get a good deal with alot of money included, who wouldn't take it? and its only 30 days
Also keep in mind that even tho Bethesda has been very successful with Skyrim, they get even more money from this which means that their budget will be bigger in the future games

I think the only two games Microsoft does this exclusivity thing for is Elder Scrolls/Fallout and COD. Seems like people love to exaggerate on this