Nintendo is fucking up pricing in general lately. Galaxy 1 and 2 being 70$ is even worse than this tbh.

If you count it that way then 100 price tag existed way back in the day from the likes of witcher 3 and assassin creed oddysey and so on

Let me ask this: Had the DLC been announced post launch, would you be more or less upset? Would you be so much less upset so as to no longer call the game “incomplete at launch”? (Often times, DLC is in development pre-launch.) If not, then would you argue that a game like Mario Odyssey or God of War Ragnorak were “incomplete” at launch? I’d argue those games were complete and simply received a “cherry on the top.” Additionally, if pre- or post-launch reveal makes no difference, then (going back to my OG point) there have been maaaany games to have absolutely crushed that $100USD barrier when accounting for DLC costs.

While I personally do not appreciate when businesses shove out paid DLC onto a finished product, I think I’m getting a tad bit lost in your rationale.

The reason why I consider it an optional DLC and not "missing content" being sold as extra is because the interesting DLC part (extra story-content) isn't releasing until later - February of next year. You basically just get outfits day one. Plenty of people will be able to enjoy the base game without feeling like they are missing something day 1, because the only thing you miss out on are outfits. 

Quite honestly, I think a lot of people don't even play DLC. I've bought DLC content in the past, thinking I would play it, and then just never got to it. 

I won't get the Pokemon DLC until the story content releases in February, if I am even still interested in the game by the time that happens. 

Did you miss the Nintendo Direct threads? Plenty of criticism, including from myself (predominantly a Nintendo fan). 

Yeah this is truly crazy. But so is literally everything Nintendo is doing when it comes to price ever since the Switch 2 launched.

DLC is supposed to be EXTRA content made after the game release to bring people back to the game with new reasons to play. Sometimes it's paid, and when it is it should offer substantial new content. And sometimes it's just free new content.

Sometimes these things are abused. Like when DLC costs $20-$30 without offering a ton or when they release multiple overpriced small DLCs like say with Smash Bros Ultimate. Or when games are released unfinished and the free updates later on are an apology that they couldn't get those parts of the game ready for the release and still released the game unfinished anyway.

This is the first time I know of that a company literally made the paid DLC alongside the game itself, and are simply releasing it for a lot more money instead of just including it with the game. The whole point of DLC is that it is EXTRA content made after the game, which is why it isn't part of the game itself.

Nintendo / Game Freak is just making it blatantly clear in this instance that the DLC could have come with the game but they are following Nintendo's new super-greed strategy and charging $30 for it. They could have hidden this fact by announcing the DLC a few months after the game released and put out the DLC say like next summer. But I guess at least they are being honest and upfront that they are just abusing their customers.

The one thing we can say about Nintendo is 2025 is that they made the very conscious decision to start screwing over their customers on price in every way imaginable. Affordable Nintendo is dead in 2025, the new Nintendo is all about overcharging for everything, and outdoing everyone else in the industry in this regard.

Legit thread BraLoD. Although I wouldn't say this is being downplayed, at least not by everyone. I mean sure a lot of people on here, after initial Switch 2 pricing outrage, fell completely in line and started acting like Nintendo's new pricing strategy is totally fine and normal and nobody could possibly complain about it. But there's still plenty of us being honest about how insane this all is. As a Nintendo gamer who has long appreciated that Nintendo steered away from the expensive price war that Sony and Microsoft embarked on, and instead focused on great affordable experiences, I am deeply disappointed in the direction Nintendo has gone this year, especially considering they are extremely profitable so none of these crazy prices are at all needed for business reasons. Nintendo may keep offering great games, but they have abandoned their fans in a very real way this year.

Dragon Age II released with paid DLC day-one -- fourteen years ago. There have been dozens of games with day-one DLC since. In almost every instance it has been extremely optional content -- which is the case here as well. The story content isn't releasing until February and isn't likely finished for release. 

Edit: Pokemon games are much more affordable than in the past when you would have to buy the third-version for more content (and the second version to get all Pokemon more or less.) 

I remember having Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal (all $30 games) in 2000 - 2001. That's about $172 in 2025 USD. 

Damn, that sucks - $30 for a DLC expansion, hopefully its a meaty expansion, the Sword DLC was pretty decent for $30.

Well I pre-ordered Pokemon legends ZA (not by choice because I had no other game to choose as my 2nd game cause I already own everything else on the voucher list) through voucher program when I got a $100 eshop card for $80

Next time I get a deal like that I guess I'll use the money to buy the DLC and the upgrade pack for the game though it'll likely be years down the line because I still have a long list of Pokemon games to play before I get to this one (like Scarlet, 4th gen remakes, Lets Go Pikachu, and Arceus).

It doesn't matter, this will still sell millions and millions of copies.

Wait, so the price of game + DLC count now? Bruh, EA had the $100 price beaten years ago then.