Gameranx recently had the chance to chat with Konami’s David Cox, producer of 2010’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. The main topic of discussion was how the team wasn’t prepared for the game to be a runaway success, and how that molded the way they approached the DLC model. “The problem was that the game’s success caught everyone by surprise. It caught senior management by surprise and they wanted us to do DLC,” Cox explains.
“I think we enriched the story that we wanted to tell, but I think if we were going to do DLC again it would have to be planned right from the get go. And it wouldn’t be something that would try to build upon an ending — it would be something that’s perhaps a side story that enriches the original story. If we were going to do DLC again it would be something much more carefully considered.”
Interestingly enough, the studio wasn’t forced to crank out DLC, but they were under extreme pressure to do so. Cox says it was “wrong of us to do that. [DLC] should add to the experience, not take away from it.”
Well, lesson learned I guess — hopefully we’ll get better Lords of Shadow 2 DLC from this learning experience. Also, if you were planning on getting either of the two $10 packs for LOS 1 this late in the game, you might want to do a double-take and read a few more reviews first.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Producer Admits DLC was a Mistake [Gameranx]
