When Excitement Turns Into Exploitation

Last week, we got the release date for Star Wars Outlaws, which honestly looks pretty promising (when’s the last time someone said that about Star Wars?). Then, Ubisoft reminded us that Ubisoft is behind the game by marketing its Gold and Ultimate editions—and its season pass.

The season pass includes a mission with Jabba the Hutt, and many assumed this meant players had to pony up to see the Hutt. This week, Ubisoft clarified that Jabba’s in fact in the main game; this mission is the only thing exclusive to the pass. We don’t know how big a deal this mission is, but when Ubisoft did this with Far Cry 4, that locked away 5 missions and some weapons behind a pre-order (and then paywall).

Blatant greed is a tale older than horse armor, but the cynic in me stirred when I saw Ubisoft’s materialism mix with the corporate consumerism of Star Wars. Disney has already wrung fan nostalgia dry, and now it’s Ubisoft’s turn to squeeze more out of the kyber crystal.

You see it in other parts of the games industry too. Yesterday, Paradox Interactive apologized for Cities: Skylines 2’s latest DLC, which players said had too little content to justify the cost and felt rushed.

This comes after developer Colossal Order promised it won’t ship DLC until the game’s performance is “up to their standards.” This is the same developer that just days before release basically admitted the game will have performance issues.

It’s hard not to be cynical when you see stories like this. It’s a haunting reflection of the gross relationship between money and gaming in this industry.

But there’s a lot to still be excited for in this industry. Hades II is rolling out technical test access, and last quarter gave us enough good JRPGs to last until the heat death of the universe. Elden Ring is getting DLC so big it took at least two years to build. And let’s not forget, the Nintendo Switch 2 has been rumored to be just around the corner for the past 3 years!

There are other promising games on the horizon, some of which were shown in this week’s Nintendo Indie World Showcase.

Other News to Know

That’s it for us this week. Thanks for reading through the newsletter, and we’ll see you in the next one!