Announcing DLC before a game's release is foolish.


On February 14th, 2017, Nintendo announced their DLC-plans for Breath of the Wild. The game launches on March 3rd.

Why would they do this? It makes no sense.

It doesn't make early-adopters feel any better. "Yay. I'm getting this game on Day 1. Oh wait. I can't get the full experience unless I pay 20 more dollars." So that's $80 for the full game.

You know, I wouldn't be so peeved if they announced this after the game came out. Wouldn't it be great if people had been playing the game for a few months, beaten it, explored the crap out of it, all the while enjoying every minute of it. Guess what, playas? New content! DLC! That's when you announce DLC. Not before the game comes out. It's gonna rub people the wrong way. It reminds me of what Keiji Inafune did by launching the Kickstarter for Red Ash way before Mighty No. 9 came out.

There are Nintendo-apologists who are claiming that this 'content' is being worked on after the development of the main game. That is a nice claim, but one without proof. Even if it were true, there is no point in announcing DLC before the game comes out. "Here guys. Have this game. Oh, but if you want everything, you're going to have to pay 20 more dollars. Sorry." It doesn't make early-adopters feel good. It doesn't make 'beating' the game any fun, because, oops, there will be more 'content' later on. What would be the point of playing an incomplete game. I'm not saying the game is 'unbeatable' out of the box, but this is a general problem I have with DLC.

When Mass Effect 2 came out, I beat it, but then DLC came out. So I basically went back in time to play through events that I had not gone through during my first playthrough. What's the point in beating a game, just to have to go through it again, or play a few missions out of order? It breaks the narrative flow and feels tacky.

Of course, it's all about money. Development-costs are astronomical and companies need to recoup them, but this is not the way.

DLC is okay when 1) it's timed right, 2) it's inexpensive or free, or 3) it's substantial. Splatoon got free DLC for months; that was awesome. But that was a multiplayer-focused game. With a story-based game like Zelda, I'm personally not gonna want to go back to it months after release to play one new dungeon or whatever. The DLC they announced is not substantial enough. A Hard Mode? Some apologists are claiming that Hero Mode will be in the retail-release. I have never heard Nintendo say that. As far we know, the Hard Mode in the DLC will be Hero Mode.

I think it's a waste of time and resources. Nintendo, please go take a vacation, or work on the next game instead of dwelling on Breath of Wild.

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