No official Oblivion expansions planned

by Alan Rose { Aug 9th 2006 at 9:00AM }

Here's an interesting nugget from the Elder Scrolls forums, posted last week. Bethesda employee mburg responded to the most recent thread discussing Oblivion expansion packs: "We have no plans to make an expansion for Oblivion. Should that change, we'll make an announcement on Elder Scrolls.com."

The steady stream of downloadable content Bethesda has been providing only adds incremental enhancements to the best selling RPG. However, you can still get lost in Tamriel for months. So do we even need an official expansion, or are mod communities such as The Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary enough to extend the Oblivion experience for years?

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Tags: 2k games, bethesda softworks, dark brotherhood, elder scrolls, expansion pack, mods, oblivion

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ACE @ Aug 9th 2006 9:24AM

An expansion would be awesome considering there is not enough (hardly any at all) download content for the 360 to "extend the experience for years" I went through that game with several characters in a month and im already almost bored with it.

Justin @ Aug 9th 2006 9:40AM

I perfectly fine with downloadable content.

I'd like to have more quests and in-game objects.

If an 'expansion' can be one download or a series of downloads (provided by one cost), then I would have no problem with that.

Replace 'expansion' with 'episodes' though. By delivering shorter content more frequently, I will be more satisfied because I won't have to wait too long for the 'expansion'. Plus, I can pick and choose which episodes I want to buy.

Scooby Doo @ Aug 9th 2006 9:47AM

Well, the product has only been out for a little over four months, that seems awfully early to be planning expansion packs.

They've kind of gotten themselves into a no-win situation though. If they put out an expansion pack with the content that a number of us have purchased already, we'll feel a little cheated since we probably would have waited. If they don't include that content, that could tick off those who have been on the fence and wanted to wait on the microtransactions until an Expansion Pack came out to buy them in a bundle.

The mod community has been a pain for me because some of the best places for mods seem to require paying for the service. Why on Earth should have to pay a fee to FilePlanet to download a mod? I understand that servers cost money, but if you look at say...Neverwinter Nights...it's a much better community with much easier access to mods and resources.

soco @ Aug 9th 2006 9:56AM

should they even bother with all the people still buying their somewhat pricy addons? i imagine they can make a lot more money that way, than with one reasonably sized expansion pack.

PsyClerk @ Aug 9th 2006 10:00AM

I've got 150 hours invested in the game so far, and I still find new dungeons and quests as I roam around. I don't think it needs an expansion.

It helps that the downloads they've offered so far, other than the horse armor, have been pretty decent (and at a good price point).

Urbanstorm @ Aug 9th 2006 10:34AM

This is just my opinion and I know I might be the only RPG fan in the world that wasn't too impress with any of the scrolls game (and for some reason I bought them all).Although I can see why making an expansion pack isnt really worth while at the moment , why make an expansion pack when your making a killing off of add-ons (5 bucks for horse armor WTF ???).Again just my opinion but I really think they need a new art crew because some of the models look down right.......creepy (I believe theres a mod that sort of "fix" the problem).

Anononomous @ Aug 9th 2006 11:12AM

ScoobyDoo: What are you talking about? FilePlanet membership is free. So is standard membership at every other DL site I've ever used. The only way you would be charged for a mod is if the modder/modteam were to charge you for it (and that probably isn't allowed, anyway).

slybri @ Aug 9th 2006 11:16AM

After the terrific expansion packs of the last SCrolls game, fans were expecting a full on expansion or two. The little add-ons are nice but they don't take you beyond the invisible walls into new territory or add new player classes.
This is like expecting a second helping of a meal and only getting expensive desserts.

Bethseda should feel ashamed that they helped coin the new term for overpriced and useless add-ons, "horse armor."

Intangible 360 @ Aug 9th 2006 11:25AM

I want an expansion I hate these over-priced plug-ins! And the mod community foes absolutely nothing to help us 360 owners!!!

Pepple @ Aug 9th 2006 11:49AM

An expansion could be a huge cash cow. Not only do they sell the expansion, but more people will buy the original game, plus they eventually get to offer compilation packs in stores. It seem exceedingly unlikely that they would pass that kind of green up. No matter how succesful those plug-ins may be, there doesn't seem to be any reason not to be working on an expansion or two as well (I just don't imagine that all of the original development team is dedicated to the plug-ins). I would wager that "We have no plans to make an expansion" equates to "we just haven't announced it yet", and that taken in context the original post probably isn't so dire.

In any event, it's just a post on the forum. It's not like Peter Hines put out a press release saying, "Hay guyz expansions sux0r so no expansions 4 u".

Ian @ Aug 9th 2006 12:24PM

Duh! They don't need expansions when ppl are already paying for overpriced crappy content (yay horse armor!). I bet we'll see a "value pack" with all the dnlable content some time.

ACE @ Aug 9th 2006 12:50PM

Let us not forget the possible release of a whole expanded game, like fable lost chapters

joe smith @ Aug 9th 2006 1:07PM

They'll do one. It is too good a chance to make $$ without having to do a whole new game. The only reason they might not would be if the cost of doing all the audio and everything was too high. I would imagine they'll do a major expansion within the year on PC, and then relase it on Marketplace for 360, then release a "Gold Edition" that includes the base game and the expansion for both PC and 360. Too much money to be made to not do it.

phillosmaster @ Aug 9th 2006 2:24PM

My problem with the staggered downloadable content is that I'll play through the game once initially and then move onto another games. The downloadable content so far has not really IMO warrented another play through of the game. The traditional idea of an expasion pack is much more attractive to me because they will usually pack in enough new content to present a fresh experience. Plus usually espansion packs came out a good 6 or so months after the intial release. At that point revisiting the game is more attractive a notion considering I'd been away from it for so long. Of course no one is forcing me to buy the downloadable content. I just hope this doesn't delay their production of a formal expansion.