How has GI been able to obtain exclusivity? What kind of deals are made?

Oh, you know. Blood, circle, deadly nightshade, chants, the usual.

I think you're overreacting. I'm assuming it's going to go more like Fallout 3, and while the system was the same with one exception (you had to get to cities the real way first, too) the actual environments were so interesting you didn't feel the need to rush it. The screens of Skyrim in the GI article looked very nice, so it'll likely be more of that.

Post limit.