There was some confusion last fall when gaming site CentrumHer revealed that Arma 4 is in development. It arose from the fact that Arma 4, as far as anyone knows, is not in development at all. What was actually happening, PR manager Korneel van 't Land explained, was an "Arma 3 Creator Bootcamp" for potential third-party Arma 3 DLC creators. Bohemia Interactive has "concrete plans for a significant amount of support for Arma 3 through a combination of official new content and hopefully third-party DLC content in at least the coming year," van 't Land said, and this was a way to get those creators up to speed.
The first of those Arma 3 Creator DLC releases, by developer Vertexmacht, is now available, and it's a literal blast from the past: Global Mobilization – Cold War Germany returns to the 1980s with West and East German forces squaring off on a massive map in northern Germany. The DLC includes 42 vehicles and variants, 21 weapons and variants, 17 multiplayer scenarios, and a singleplayer campaign with ten missions.
"With Creator DLC such as Global Mobilization - Cold War Germany, Bohemia Interactive aims to provide more original quality content to Arma 3 players, create an opportunity for outside talent to earn a financial reward, while also making it possible to invest more into the Arma series' long-term future," Bohemia said. Details on the program, if you're interested in trying your hand at content creation or just curious what it's all about, are available on the Arma 3 Creator DLC page, and in this update from earlier in April.
The Cold War Germany DLC is the latest example of Bohemia's longstanding commitment to modders and to Arma being a platform for other people's work. At the end of 2013, the company's "Make Arma Not War" competition awarded €500,000 to creators. One of the winners? A then-unknown PlayerUnknown.
Arma 3: Global Mobilization – Cold War Germany goes for $23/£17/€20 on Steam or through the Bohemia Store, and is available for ten percent off those prices until May 6. The base price of Arma 3 has been permanently reduced as well, to $30/£24/€28, and previously released DLC has also been marked down.