When Crackdown 3 launches this February, the game will be bucking an ever-growing trend in the gaming industry. As of now, the development team hasn't laid out any plans for downloadable content. In an age where "season passes" are the norm, the decision to hold off is standing out.

In a recent wide-ranging interview with Windows Central, Microsoft Studio's Creative Director Joseph Staten and its Head of Production Jorg Neumann explained why they aren't willing to commit to any kind of DLC just yet. The pair said that while the title's launch is just over three months away, they are still experimenting with what will and won't work.

In taking this approach, the team has focused on a Crackdown 3 that is going to have a familiar story for fans of the long-running series. At the same time, that which is familiar has been beefed up. The world is four times bigger than anything players saw in Crackdown or its successor. The destruction has been turned up to 11 as well, though the story mode won't be quite as crazy as some might have first believed.

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Staten and Neumann believe the campaign coming at launch is going to be enough to keep players happy, despite the fact that the cloud technology that has been talked about since the game was fully unveiled, won't be a part of it. Instead, the title has essentially been divided into two modes. The second mode, Wrecking Zone, will be an open world that will allow for players to destroy almost anything in their path and lay waste to all they survey.

The Crackdown 3 development team is clearly hoping this approach will be enough to stave off any disappointment that players won't be able to have the same level of destruction in the campaign. The focus on trying to put together a good base game at launch has taken all of their time and attention. The disastrous launches of games like Mass Effect: Andromeda has clearly served as a cautionary tale in this regard.

At the same time, waiting on DLC until a later date doesn't mean it's never coming it simply means Microsoft is going to wait and gauge reactions before it pours more resources into something that won't be appreciated while saving itself the embarrassment of eventually having to announce cancellations.

Crackdown 3 releases on February 15th for the PC and Xbox One.

Source: Windows Central