Not familiar enough with Skyrim and Baldur's Gate to comment on them, but Monster Hunter World: Iceborne doesn't fit the criteria. It added one new area, G-rank, returning monsters from past games and associated weapons and armor with said monsters. That is nowhere near "just as large in size and content as the original game." You can say that the expansion is equivalent to the the "Utlra" version of past games that were essentially base games + expansion packs released as new SKUs, but that is a completely different scenario to releasing the entirety of Gen 4 as Gen 8 DLC in Pokemon.

The Old Hunters added a lot of new gears, weapons and lore to Bloodborne, but how many brand new areas? How many new bosses? Enough that if TOH was released as a brand new game instead of an expansion, it would justify a $50-60 USD price tag? You and I both know the answer is no.

So based on the two examples you listed that I feel qualified to comment on, I'm going to take your others with a huge lump of salt.

The last part of my post wasn't ranting, it was fact. Your idea DOES make an entire separate game into a paywall to get to another game. And if someone doesn't want the first game, why would you make them have to buy and play it, hoping that they'll then drop another wad of cash on the expansion? Imagine another publisher doing this.

SEGA: "HEY KIDS! Want remakes of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 on your Switch?"

Fans: "YES PLEASE!"

SEGA: "OK, but first you have to purchase Sonic Forces and beat that game to unlock the chance to access those DLC areas!"

Konami: "We heard you guys want classic Contra on the Switch."

Fans: "YES! YES!"

Konami: "Awesome, we're releasing Contra 4... as DLC to our existing Contra game on the Switch, Contra: Rogue Corps. You can buy the expansion anytime, but you'll need to beat the game first just to get to the game you really want."

Here is my rant:

How the hell would you even balance such a thing? in MHW, Iceborne makes sense because it adds a new, harder rank to shoot for. Imagine going through Sinnoh with the team you just beat the Pokemon League with in Galar? Is Game Freak going to scale the max level up to 150 or something? Or are you supposed to just dump all of your Pokemon and items from Galar in a box and pretend like it never happened so you can have a fresh start in the brave new world?

Wyrdness said:

"if someone didn't find Sw/Sh appealing then it's clear they're not part of the people GF would be aiming for"

See, that kind of thinking is why people think all of us Pokemon fans are mindless sheep.

- Why have new regions as DLC simple to increase the sales of the base game while selling a season pass as well as give the game even greater legs.

- You're going on as if Pokemon games are expensive when they're not to begin with

- Already answered.

- Yeah sure don't have the same level of prestige yet Sw/Sh sold 16m and will hit 20m the end of this year a mile stone TW3 took 5 years to hit okay mate okay, Pokemon had MK level of stability long before Mario Kart even did that's how RGB and GS sold so well before they began doing yearly releases which is the whole point to begin with they have the option to change the structure.

- Iceborne adds in more monsters (you know the things that make up most of the play time) than what was in the base game old or not is irrelevant as many in the base game were old as well a long with new equipment, G-Rank

- Old Hunters added 4 new main areas to go with the 4 in the base game on top of the new weapons, lore and bosses.

- Except it's not a separate game I said add in the region the same way they did with the DLC in other words they extend the adventure of Sw/Sh into these regions, how to balance it easy through badges like they always have.

1) Not what I asked, I asked for a reason why a DLC for 4th gen will make more money than a new game. It won't, unless this DLC someway catapult SwSh sales for a stellar level (AKA making Pokemon SwSh be the best selling game on Switch by FAR). Daring prediction, there is a current DLC for Pokemon and the sales are only decreasing. In USA and European markets the game is already falling to the bottom of top 10 lists, and in others it isn't even in top 10 anymore

2) Pokemon games not being expensive are exactly the reason why release new games. In general, DLC are done because they are much less expensive than making a new game from scratch. A DLC who only adds a island or two makes sense because they are done pretty fast. A DLC for 4th gen remake however would take pretty much the same time of making a new game, and since a remake-game will just make more money than just a DLC-remake release this damn 4th gen as game

3) Prestige is not the same thing as popularity. Pokemon was much more famous and popular than The Witcher, that's why Pokemon always sells a humongous number of copies in the first month every time a new game came out. You can measure a classic more by its legs than by its short term sales. While Gen 1 and Gen 2 Pokemon were absolutely classics and must-buying, this generation 8 is not. Sure it's a huge, successful and popular game, but it's soon going to be replaced by another pokemon game. Not like Nintendo or Game Freak cares about that as long the brand can still making over 15 million copies for anything they release, but it's for sure set a roof in their potential and stability. And I'm not talking about quality, inovation, whatsover, just talking about public perception. Mario Kart 8 is literally a port and public still have choose it as their Switch party game, so let it be. I'm just not seeing any signs of Sword and Shield becoming a perennial seller, can I be wrong? 100% yes, but I don't think so

- So still in top 10 after 6 months even after selling 16m in two months? I'd say that's very good especially as a game like BOTW hasn't been in the top 10 for ages and is heading to 20m.

- Like the other guy you keep jumping to this separate game argument it's not a Remake we're talking of here it's adding in other regions to extend Sw/Sh's adventure into them.

- You're the one bringing up prestige in sales mate and tbh your opinion on Sw/Sh means very little because you know what says they were must buys for people? 16m in two months and being in the top 10 for 6 months by your own admission which means at this point it's likely already the third best selling game in the series which contradicts everything you just posted in the last part your view is not public perception in fact your view is the minority something many forum goers need to learn, the people who have nostalgia aren't the majority of fans you've been long replaced by new younger fans.

1) I agree it's good, but when I see it behind, let's say, Super Smash Bros released one year before and with a current on sale DLC plus a huge market campaign to back up it show me that Pokemon is failing to reach other Nintendo IPs longenvity. It's nothing new, Pokemon sales are usually a bit more frontloaded than other Nintendo franchises and the DLC is not turning things around, at least not yet

2) So I don't know wtf we are arguing for. Game Freak is realising this, and will probably release more in the future. A Pokemon generation lifecycle is about 3 years now,  another generation will come out only by the end of 2022. It means there is enough time for both DLCs AND for a Gen 4 remake. One thing absolutely don't block other to happen, neither cut off other sales potential. I don't agree with releasing Sinnoh region as a DLC because it's a potential entire new game with potential to sell just as much as SwSh, if they want to expand SwSh adventure is just release more islands and got their 30 buckets for the minimum effort

3) We aren't, not according to Nintendo at least: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2017/170201_2e.pdf

"According to our latest data, we have seen that the ratio of players in their 20s and 30s has risen for Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Mooncompared to past Pokémon titles for Nintendo 3DS"

Actually I'm not even that old, I'm a player from 4th generation not 1st nor 2nd. As we can see by the drop in sales from Game Boy to GBA and DS games that people who played gen 1 and gen 2 and never come back again were huge, but people who played gens 3, 4 and 5 has been steadily loyal to the franchise. Of course in each generation a big part of the fanbase just drop the games and play anything else instead (or just stop gaming cause why not), while new kids start to pick up new pokemon games, but yes, older fans matters and matters A LOT

16 million sales suggests a huge anticipation and a extremely well know franchise (is there anything more famous in gaming than Pokemon or Mario?), but not exactly a must-buy game. A must-buy game is a game new Switch players will think it worth to buy no matter if it's a 3 years old game or not. IMHO SwSh won't be a game like this, don't agree with me? That's ok, lets wait and see, future will prove if I'm right or just deadly wrong 

- Sw/Sh has sold almost as much in 2 months as Smash did in one year it may even be even or ahead at this point that's not a good example on your part nor does it really say anything about longevity either.

- You're the one who responded so finding the reason for the argument is down to you not me, the is enough time for DLC and new games yes but then at the same time we're in a different era so not only can the structure change so can the scheduling.

- Older fans don't matter as much as you think the reason Pokemon began doing well again was because they went back to focusing on appealing to younger audiences instead of retaining long term fans with their business model, simple fun game + media and merchandise to market it, that's why the series began regaining selling power if you read the views of a lot of older fans they either expect BOTW wild with Pokemon and don't like the direction the current director has gone yet the sales have gone up. All of this is because older fans get replaced due to the target audience GF go for yeah the series has a decent amount of older fans who are fond of it but then if they leave they're simply replaced by a new fan in the dozens who become older while another batch of younger fans come in this is why the animes, movies and merchandise are given so much care because they also serve to market the games to their audience.

You are simply at that stage where you're not the main target audience anymore as an older fan and haven't fully realized that as a result the series will take turns that may not only be different to what came before but also may not be fully to your liking. The only views that matter on the games are not mine or yours but the younger generation who replace us.

This is what I asked of you to do: list some examples of major retail/AAA games that released, and then later had DLC packs/extensions released that were just as large in size and content as the original game. Think of it this way: if the expansions were instead released as a brand new game/SKU at retail, would you pay the same price for them as the original game? Would the publisher be able to market the expansion as a full-fledged product?

We both know the answer to that when it comes to Iceborn and The Old Hunters. They are good expansions, but they would never make it as standalone products.

The new areas that are coming into the SS expansions for Galar are a drop in the bucket compared to the Sinnoh region. Why on God's green Earth would you expect Game Freak and TPC to suddenly grow a heart 10 sizes bigger and give you an entire full-fledged region that has never been presented in HD 3D for the price of an expansion?

Or if you're thinking that such an expansion would be about the price of a new game, then why wouldn't they just release a new game?

-Much easier to market and build hype

-Doesn't require customers to own a previous game

-Charging standard MSRP price is easier to justify

-Allows the Sinnoh and Galar to stand on their own and maintain their own identities instead of stepping on each other's toes

A Sinnoh remake would be pretty clear that GF is aiming for fans of Gen 4 and people who never got to play Gen 4 and want to experience the story and region for the first time. It's entirely possible to find a Diamond/Pearl/Platinum remake more appealing than Sword and Shield.

Not agreeing or disagreeing with this; I'm curious as to how you have arrived at this notion and would like further elaboration, preferably with examples such as sales data or quotes from company officials, not anecdotal evidence from fans on forums.

i could see a big boost in the sales of Pokemon right around when the DLC drops because they will put copies that come with the DLC making it appealing to some people. Also if Nintendo brings back Nintendo selects then games like Pokemon will get price cuts and a new lease that a good amount of people would buy into.

- MHW as it is itself lacks heavily from prior games in content and the expansion has comparable content in it to the base game so either way my examples answered your question opinions and personal views on such games are irrelevant.

- Why would they make an expansion? The same reason companies have been making expansions for decades to push and get the most out of a single title hardly rocket science. Don't worry about people needing to own the base game because 16m and counting already do.

- Pokemon runs on a circular business model, in the GBA era sales declined in the series to literally a third of the first gen despite the games being pushed this was about the time the anime and merchandise was in a slump what Nintendo began to realize that although the games were popular a large chunk of that popularity was generated but the media and merchandise so it wasn't just the latter benefiting from the games it was also the games benefiting from latter as they were marketing the games to a continuous audience hence why even the remakes of RG couldn't change the situation older fans were simply moving on or not buying the games as often.

When D/P were arriving the was a renewed push to the media side of thing which had seen stiff competition from numerous shows pop up since its dominance had been reduced compared to the 90s which caused D/P to do well and replaced a significant number of fans who had left. Some may argue that the DS' success was the main factor but then the GBA was heavily successful as well and the series declined on that platform, you can't even say it's because of close releases because the series has had close releases for ages now with no repeat of that decline the major change wasn't to the games it was to the rest of the franchise. The games were now even more closely tied to the media side of things with even the anime season being called Diamond and Pearl with each game and season after that sharing their names this was a more direct attempt at marketing and pushing the games to the younger audience.

The reason for the push to younger audiences? Pokemon was never an advance or flash game it was built on just being fun and simple which younger new players tend to not have a problem with and the are always going to be more of them on them way, someone gets older and finds the games aren't appealing or buys fewer games no worries the are always replacements to fill any gap left behind.