BioWare Creative Director Mike Laidlaw told Official Xbox Magazine that Dragon Age: Inquisition won't have DLC party members because it requires the DLC to be shipped on-disc.
"Because of how deeply enmeshed in the system companion characters are, we can't just add them on the fly; part of them has to be shipped on the disc," Laidlaw told the magazine. "Which has led to criticism that we're forcing people to pay for content they already own. It's not the case, but we've decided this time to not go that route. There will be no DLC party members," he added.
The criticism can be recalled when people uncovered content of the Mass Effect 3 DLC character Javik on the base game's disc. It spawned controversy since gamers had to pay extra to "unlock" the content.
It was also noted that there will be nine party members in total. We recently reported on one of the confirmed companions for the game. Additionally, we were introduced to another party member named Vivienne.
Dragon Age: Inquisition will be released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One this Fall.