Splatoon DLC Incoming Today!!!

[ToxicJosh]

well, looks like my timing predictions were way off. and whilst i think that 5 maps was too mean to launch with (7/8 would have been much better IMO), it's clear that I was right about Nintendo's strategy. essentially, witholding content allows them to:

1) manage the player base; having all modes available at launch would split the number of people wanting to play each mode at any one time - making it harder to find matches, annoying the fanbase and ultimately driving people away from the game. Even on the 360, on MW2, it was impossible to find matches in some of the game modes because so few people were playing on them. Now imagine that same issue on a new IP, on a struggling console, with a fanbase who (for the most part) are playing a genre that is new to them. It would kill people's interest in the game. And trickling in new maps keeps the game fresh and keeps people coming back.

2) it's about teaching the game: as I mentioned above, shooters are uncommon on Ninty platforms and Splatoon is very different to other shooters - by trickling in content, and having a limited number of maps available at any one time, Nintendo is allowing people to learn how to play the game. From what they've said on the Direct, the new maps that are incoming are much more technically challenging than the ones at launch. It's about ensuring that everyone can keep up.

Essentially Nintendo isn't just managing out content over Summer to lessen a drought (although they are, and this strategy wouldn't work at another time of year); they are managing out content to ensure that their money invested in Splatoon pays off in the long run. Nintendo doesn't look to make all their money opening weekend, they look to create evergreen titles that sell consistently well over the life of a console. Like Mario Kart, like Smash, Nintendo are trying to position Splatoon in such a way that it becomes part of their stable of excellent MP games. I would be surprised if Splat2n wasn't out in the first 18 months of the NX.

If everything on disk was unlocked at the start then people wouldn't be able to find matches, they would get bored, and they would get frustrated due to the steepness of the learning curve. Splatoon may have had 90s across the board on its reviews, but that doesn't help it in 2 months time when no one is playing it anymore. Look at Titan Fall.

Drip feeding this content is definitely the right strategy, even if I personally would have preferred more maps on day one.

(BTW I've noticed that the loudest voices in the debate aren't Nintendo fans and haven't played the game. Sour grapes perhaps?)