Castlevania: Lords of Shadow DLC Was a "Mistake," Says MercurySteam

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Lee Bradley

The Castlevania: Lords of Shadow DLC add-ons were "a mistake,” according to developer MercurySteam. 

Apparently the studio didn’t expect the game to be such a success, so when Lords of Shadow was a hit, they rushed the Reverie and Resurrection DLC into development. 

"We never planned to do DLC, so we ended up doing DLC after the fact and in hindsight that was a mistake," producer Dave Cox explained. "It was rushed. We had to rush it to market."

"The problem was that the game's success caught everyone by surprise,” Cox added. It caught senior management by surprise and they wanted us to do DLC.”

"When you have success there's pressure on you to bring something else to market very quickly. And I think it was wrong of us to do that."

As a result of that misstep, Cox says that should Konami release any DLC for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, it will be planned from the start.

"We enriched the story that we wanted to tell, but if we were going to do DLC again it would have to be planned right from the get go," said Cox.

"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."

[via Gameranx]

Comments
31
  • True Dlc are not ment to finish the main story as I believe in my own option a dlc should just be extra stuff or tell a different character story( just for fun-zi. )
  • If that was them rushing Id love to see what happens if they take their time, the DLC was pretty good, I enjoyed it but then if you enjoyed the game as much as I did then you would get the DLC regardless. Keep up the awesome work I look forward to Lords of Shadow 2 its gonna be epic
  • Rushed DLC only takes to shit. I hope the next DLCs they make (and thait is if they will make more) will be more planned.
  • And then you wonder why companies end up closing because of stupid decisions from the higher ups,
  • I liked the dlc, they added in why gab became a vampire in the first place, though the cutscenes were a surprise (mgs style artwork rather than full cutscenes). If they rush dlc like this...I'd love to see what its like when they plan it!
  • @5 dude spoilers! I'm glad they admitted that, I loved CLoS but the dlc was awful, one of the worst iv ever paid for. 100% looking forward to see what they do for the next game tho!
  • Funny how most companies plan DLC before they even ship the game and cause an uproar, yet these guys don't and STILL get flak for it. Fucking DLC, all I got to say.
  • How could you make such an awesome polished gem of a game and expect it not to be successful? I LOVED LOS, heard the DLC was a bit shite but really looking forward to LOS2.
  • I think there's a fine line between planning methods for incorporating future DLC (making a game expandable) and the current trend towards splitting a completed game up to sell it piecemeal for increased income. The former is very good practice for all developers, the latter is blatant money-grabbing by publishers.
  • @1 I agree with you there. It should never finish the main story, but continue on past it...You already defeated the main bad guy so now there are lesser evils that need to be killed also, that is what the dlc should be.
  • No wonder, finishing all difficulties and all extra objectives take at least 1 hour. $10 for 3 stages of platforming and puzzles and another $10 for 2 stages of boss fight, both lasting only 1 hour, is a ripoff. The worst is the crappy comic art they use for the cut-scenes, which make the DLC feel even more cheap. MGS: PW used that because its was on the PSP, that game was on a freaking HD console.
  • Castlevania games will always be the best when it comes to story It felt pretty weak at the beginning but the build up on the story was amazing. Also everyone commenting here is reasonable, seems to me that a lot of people enjoyed the game, I have to. Even if is a mistake, it has really PIQUED my interest over the past year(played it last year) on what did Gabe do at the end of Lords of shadow. And the DLC just cuts corners, i want to know more!
  • #7 - Exactly what I was going to say! So tired of hearing people bitch and moan about DLC, "that should already be on the disc; they knew all along and are nickel and diming us, and blah, blah, blah" Now we see DLC that really wasn't in planning from the get go and people are commenting on how bad of a decision it was. Really?!
  • I couldn't care less if the dlc was on the disc, not on the disc, up someones arse or in the toaster. If I want to buy it I will, if I don't I won't. Its as simple as that.
  • I didn't think the DLC was that bad. Of course it could have been loads better, and after this news I now wonder what it would have been like if it wasn't rushed, but it really wasn't horrible. The only downside of it was that it should have been one pack for $10 instead of two at $10 each. Cost wise it wasn't worth it. Of course being the fan I became with this game I had to get it reguardless.
  • "we ended up doing DLC after the fact and in hindsight that was a mistake" LOL. Should have had that DLC nearly finished by the time the game was released like everybody else does.
  • well i guess thats why it took so long after the game to come out. i thought everything was great about the DLC but the price.
  • Castlevania LOS wasn't that bad of a game so it is surprising to hear they didnt expect it to go very far. As for the DLCs, they were a nice effort but didn't measure up to being a noteworthy addition to the story/gameplay. However I like the series and expect great things of the continued story. Cant say many games send me about going whipidy-doo-da on mythological monsters. lol
  • Castlevania Lord of Shadows was kinda weak to me, but not bad i enjoyed with it, but this is riddiculous, if the DLC was not intended they shouldn't have to release it, WHAT a Jerks.
  • Money makes people do strange things.
  • the whole game was a mistake. how about making a real Castlevania game?
  • if it was rushed and a mistake.. discount the hell out of it
  • I still liked that DLC... Nothing better than that "Have At You" reference...
  • Well then, If you're going to plan the DLC's for LoS2 from the very start why don't you give it to us also from the start? You just keep thinking of profit. And again the same story... you already have the game at 100% but you preffer to give us the 60% of the game the fist time, then a ton of DLC and finally a game of the year edition but you already said that you have all this planned from the very start... Keep it that way, you're killing your market, don't you see that if this continues the way it goes now in the near future everyone will wait for the GotY edition to come out and you'll loose even more money? Think in your market, not in your pockets. The time you return to do this you'll see that that your pockets will grow again without the need of selling the same things over and over again.
  • There just making excuses for themselves. You should never rush DLC. If you don't have plans for DLC than don't do it.
  • I'm kind of in the middle here, DLC stuff that was thought up AFTER the game's release is one thing, I understand that, hell, even if they get too far into the programming and realize they need a fix, that's fine too, but for the Suit's and Desk Jockey's, who probably don't even play their own games, to demand DLC (I'm sorry, why is it DLC if Download/Downloadable are each 1 word?) stuff, just to cash in on an unexpected Overnight Success is just plain sleazy... How many people got fired, quit, or had some other stress related issue because they thought they weren't going to meet a ridiculous deadline that never should have been laid out in the first place?
  • One of the best cases I can think of for blatant misuse of DLC stuff would have to be Street Fighter X TEKKEN, Capcom had developed, designed and finished Characters, which were then saved onto the Disc and packed in from the start, yet when the time came to play, you couldn't use them without paying extra... WHAT? They called them DLC Characters, yet, Capcom claims it was to save HD space, if it's on the disc you don't have to save it to your hard drive... Riiiiight... But then again, your also not DOWNLOADing anything. Way to go Capcom. But then again, what more should we expect from the company that gave us like 4 different versions of Each Street Fighter title?
  • When online gaming (consoles with internet) didnt exist, they couldnt MOLEST our wallets by making you buy a game for FULL PRICE €60 then an EXTRA (up to) €25-50 for a dlc, back in the days when you bought a game you got the 100% game, but now you get a 70-80% game for FULL PRICE (€60 or $60) and you GET to BUY the REST of the game, people should STOP buying DLC's, just give it to us for FREE, we PAID you, its not like its extra work, just put it on the d*mn disc i know they can, but WILL THEY? NO... you have FOOLS (like me) that STILL BUY their DLC, JUST BECAUSE you wanna EXTEND your gameplay, IF you HAPPEN to REALLY love the game your playing... but if this was 10 years ago and they STILL had trophies, then you would 100% EVERY game to get a platinum but now you CANT with EVERY game, cause some just WONT ALLOW you to do so. Marketing is what their doing, basically making you exited for something that they should give you for free, but when its €2,50/$2,50 for a weapon as DLC in a game, then i feel as if i wanna punch this producer his baby daughter, which is jaw dropping, well, its the same as asking me money for something i paid for when i bought your d*mn game for €60, and €60 is more then $60, so im getting screwed over bigger then americans (sorry to offend people, im not REALLY gonna punch his baby daughter, its just an example, but when you have game rage, then things fly through your mind, but once i would have the baby infront of me, EVEN mid way my game rage, i would not punch her, i would look for her daddy and strangle him for all the DLC he FORCED me to buy to enjoy the game for an extra tiddie taddie bit...) i HATE DLC's, but SOMETIMES, i just feel as if they FORCED me to spend more... (sorry for the long message...., im not suppose to do that, keep it short and powerful not long and full of b*tching...)
  • They should give people that buy the game at FULL PRIZE first day, ALL! the DLC's FOR FREE! with codes or whatever, i HAVE seen games that did this, for example god of war 4 & darksiders 2 & kingdom of amalur and many more, but they only gave you a COUPLE of DLC codes and not ALL!!! of the dlc's but its better then NONE! and if you buy a used game or you borrow it, THEN you should be FORCED to buy the DLC because you bought the game for $30-€30 or less (free: borrowed)
  • In the future, CRAPCOM will make you pay for motions like hadoken and shoryuken in the upcoming street fighter game, they already did it with their newest game, Remember me!
  • Back to Castlevania's DLCs being a mistake... You can tell the DLCs were rushed or low budgeted 'cuz the cinema scenes were gone.. however I did like the bit of explanation of Dracula's origin (Gabriel drinking Claudia's blood) because imagining that Dracula came from Gabriel purging Satan ascending the light and remaining only the shadow in Gabriel was a bit weak for me... Is just my Castlevania fan opinion Cheers!
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