I remember back before Splatoon came out we would have endless debates as to whether or not releasing content over time via free updates was a good move instead of just delaying the game and releasing everything at once. I've wanted to play this game asap ever since I saw it, so I argued for it's release method, and now that it's all said and done I feel that really was the right move! Really there was nothing but positives behind it. Those really interested like myself got to play the game sooner rather than later, it got to release during a time without a notable release, the updates encouraged people to keep coming back to the game, and those who felt there was too little content at launch could just wait until enough arrives. Everybody wins!

The game's great sales don't necessarily have anything to do with this, but I'd wager the updates helped it's legs, since if people are still playing the game, they're also still talking about it and getting their friends interested. No real proof of course, but with how well the game has sold I think it's safe to say it had an impact, atleast a little! Plus again, it got to release on it's own while a delay would probably have put it the middle of the busy holiday period where it wouldn't be able to shine on it's own.

Alright fine I lied, there was one downside to this method, and that is it's review scores. It still managed a perfectly acceptable 81 on metacritic, but there's no denying the score would be higher if the game was reviewed as it is now, or, you know, if reviewers didn't write reviews they knowingly knew would be made irrelevant days later, but I digress. I have to give Nintendo major props here, they basically said "screw the scores, we're doing what's best for consumers!"

But that's all my obviously biased opinion of course, though I wonder if anyone still disagrees and would of rather had Nintendo delay it.

Personally I would've much preffered it all to release at once, because now, by the time all the content was out I had already moved on from the game.

It might be an OCD of mine, but I honestly don't like the idea of a "barebones" game disc with all of its later content present through internet updates and patches. Whether releasing patches gauges interest or not, it's not something I appreciate, and thus would have prefer them delaying things.

Do u know the number of maps/weapons/gear/modes now compared to what was available at launch?

I agree. I love the way it was handled. If they give you everything on its own, there are a lot of things you wouldn't try out. Those pieces of content get lost in the sea of other stuff. But because they launched things piece by piece, it makes a bigger fuss about that weapon/whatever, and everyone else is going to try it out, so so do you.

I can see different views on it.

Personally, I lost interest in Splatoon overtime, but all these updates, especially things like new weapons and maps is what allowed me to regain some interest, and keep coming back ever since May.

At the same time, there are still some people who only really got interest in Splatoon for the first couple months, then stopped playing the game completely.

Personally, I might start slowing down on Splatoon now that updates are over, but I still plan to plan very long sessions on good occasion, as Splatoon is one of the best games on the Wii U.

Releasing it like this was boring. I stopped playing the game months ago. So I have no idea of a lot of the new stuff in it. I got bored, because nothing was in the game, for a long time.

The way the game is designed it works with this model, you're never using every map at a time due to the rotation it also really helped to get to grips with the game's concept.

I think that the way they decided to release updates was just amazink, the only problem is that reviewes and maybe even sales of the first months were affected by the few maps/weapons, imho this is a problem that'll show off only in this first iteration of Splatoon since from the next one they can already pack in all the weapons from the current game and some stages too...

I hope if Nintendo takes the same approach with a Splatoon sequel that they don't make it as bare bones on release as the original. It was bearable this time around because Splatoon was new and fresh but if they tried it again, I don't know if the audience would be as forgiving. Then again, a bare bones initial release could be a thing that people expect from the Splatoon franchise in the future and therefore tolerated. Hard to say.