Two documented examples show how a project framed as downloadable content can grow into a standalone game: Assassin’s Creed Mirage began as a brief Valhalla DLC concept, while Naughty Dog introduced Uncharted: The Lost Legacy as a story expansion before announcing it as a standalone release. Their paths differ, so “DLC first” describes a project’s development history—not a claim that every standalone expansion began as DLC.
What “DLC first” means
Here, “DLC first” means a project began as downloadable content or a story expansion for an existing game and later became a standalone release. The label is about how development started. It does not mean a complete expansion was necessarily finished and then repackaged, nor that every standalone expansion followed this route.
The clearest way to compare examples is to ask how the project was initially described, what change is documented, how it relates to the original game, and how it was ultimately released.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage began as a Valhalla DLC concept
Ubisoft says Mirage grew from an idea for a Valhalla expansion in which Eivor would travel to the Middle East. The concept became a standalone prequel starring Basim. This was an early development idea, not evidence that a finished DLC was converted into a separate game.
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In an Xbox Wire interview published October 5, 2023, creative director Stéphane Boudon said the project started as an “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla DLC on paper for a few weeks.” He said the team decided to make it standalone after its first pitch received a strong reception.
The change also affected the story’s focus. Lead producer Fabian Salomon explained in a Ubisoft interview published March 22, 2024: “Chronologically speaking, starting from the idea of doing an expansion for Valhalla to creating a standalone game, we had to rethink the main character, so that’s why we thought about Basim.” The project’s shift was therefore more than a change in how it would be sold: the developers rethought its protagonist.
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Uncharted: The Lost Legacy moved from story-DLC framing to standalone
Naughty Dog introduced The Lost Legacy after the studio’s work on Uncharted 4 and plans for the series’ first story DLC. Its December 3, 2016 announcement called the project the series’ “biggest story expansion to-date” and said it would be available as a standalone game “on store shelves and for digital download.”
That announcement documents both the expansion framing and the standalone release format, including physical and digital availability. It does not say exactly when the internal decision changed, so the transition cannot be dated more precisely from that statement.
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How the two development paths differ
| Question | Assassin’s Creed Mirage | Uncharted: The Lost Legacy |
|---|---|---|
| Initial framing | An idea for a Valhalla DLC, described by creative director Stéphane Boudon as being “on paper for a few weeks” (Xbox Wire, October 5, 2023). | Naughty Dog’s planned first story DLC for the series, later described as its biggest story expansion to date (December 3, 2016 announcement). |
| Documented change | The concept became a standalone prequel starring Basim; producer Fabian Salomon said the team had to rethink the main character (Ubisoft News, March 22, 2024). | The announcement identifies it as a standalone game but does not specify when or how the decision was made. |
| Relationship to the original | A prequel in the Assassin’s Creed series; the initial concept was tied to Valhalla. | A story expansion in the Uncharted series, announced as a standalone game. |
| Announced release format | The cited interviews describe the move to a standalone game; they do not specify physical availability. | Store shelves and digital download, as stated by Naughty Dog. |
What these examples establish—and what they do not
Both projects have a documented path from expansion-related framing to standalone release, but the evidence describes different kinds of transition. For Mirage, developers describe an early concept that lasted only a few weeks on paper and a change in protagonist. For The Lost Legacy, Naughty Dog’s announcement records the story-DLC context and standalone format, without giving a decision timeline.
These examples are not an exhaustive list, and they do not establish how common the path is across the industry. They are best treated as two distinct development histories rather than proof of a single standard way games move from DLC plans to standalone releases.
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