Imagine that the next big Zelda game for the Nintendo Switch 2 releases. You've been looking forward to it for years and while it may have some rough edges, it's a fun and innovative title overall, a strong contender for game of the year... But months after release Nintendo announces paid DLC for the game, which costs as much as Hollow Knight: Silksong and doesn't really add any substantial content. Instead, it's a simple game mode, where your goal is to collect as many Rupees as possible within a time limit.
That mode is fun in theory, but not really worth the additional price point. But to add some incentive to play (and buy) it, there will be time-limited events, which can score you exclusive armor pieces, which you can't get otherwise. It's a practice used by many mobile and free-to-play games to create "FOMO" and incentivize player retention, except that this won't be for some mobile game, like Super Mario Run, but for a full-priced title, which requires an arguably overpriced DLC on top.
Sounds like something that Nintendo would never do? Well, they are doing it right now, with Donkey Kong Bananza:
To be fair, the DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC from the latest Nintendo Direct looks quite neat, but it is something that you would expect from a free update, similar to Luigi's Balloon World in Super Mario Odyssey, not something that costs an extra 20 bucks. And to make things worse they have also announced time-limited events for it, which is the only way of getting certain statues (and potentially even certain outfits in the future). The first of those "Chip Fevers" will happen between October 28th and November 4th, so only for a week.
I don't have a Nintendo Switch 2 yet, but I've planned on getting one soon for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. And Donkey Kong Bananza has been on the top of my list of other games to buy for the system, even above Mario Kart World. Now... I'm not so sure about that anymore, because I'm absolutely sick of such event nonsense, where you're obliged to play the game on certain dates. "Play the game now or miss out later!" At the same time I like my games to be "whole", so it's hard for me to ignore.
This is a singleplayer game first and foremost. And with those there should be no such obligations. You should be able to buy and play all of it whenever you want, without potentially missing out. And maybe they will repeat these events. Maybe they will update the DLC in a couple of years, so that you can still get the exclusive rewards after the events are over. If that happens, I won't have much of an issue with it. But as of now this is looking scummy.
Next they'll add a monetized gacha system to Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, since this has been working out nicely for Fire Emblem Heroes...
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