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  • This is something real to get angry over, for people looking for reasons, you’re welcome ;)

  • I think that sums up that they're aiming only for parents with kids that would pay ransom for their products.

  • So... ok, hold on, this gets complicated.

    If I understand this correctly there are three pieces of software here. There's the Switch 1 game, which can be digital or physical. There's the DLC, which is always digital, and there's the Switch 2 expansion, which again can be digital or physical.

    So if you buy the physical Switch 2 box you get a cart with the Switch 1 game and the Switch 2 patch in it, but no DLC. Presumably, if you already own the DLC in your account, that's the same SKU, because the base game is the base game, the Switch 2 cart just includes the Switch 2 patch file in there.

    Right?

    So if you want BotW physically for Switch 2 you ARE rebuying the full game, which is a weird thing to do, but if you own the DLC that's the same DLC for the same base game. Same deal if you buy the expansion separately for your pre-existing game.

    If you don't own BotW (or the DLC) this is saying that's not unlocked in the boxed copy, it's available separately.

    I think making the Switch 2 version a "GotY edition" pack-in would have been worth it just to avoid people having to do this in their heads to understand what's going on. At the same time I wonder what sort of weirdness happens if you do own the DLC and they put a different DLC key in the cartridge. I mean, they could always just chuck in a download key for the DLC in a printed card inside the box, but I wonder if you can even build that into the cart and keep the same SKU for the Switch 1 game. I genuinely don't know the answer to that.

    • There's a new "DLC" that gives the game Switch 2 specific upgrades. Buying the fancy $80 cartridge includes this "DLC" on the cart, but not the existing DLCs. If you already have the Switch 1 game (as an install or a glorified access key cartridge) and its DLC, you'll be able to play that on Switch 2 and also able to buy the $20 "generation upgrade" as DLC for it.

      The physical copies "have the game on them" but not the software updates and DLC, and once you've played on the updated version once, your save file is no longer compatible with downpatched versions. You're loading part of the game from system memory with or without a cart, so there's not really a functional difference between a physical and digital copy unless you plan to resell.

      • See how confusing it is? I mean, for one thing, BotW is fully playable offline on Switch 1 cart-only and presumably that remains the case in Switch 2. Despite being a launch title, BotW is one of the larger titles in the Switch library, but they still splurged for the bigger cart size, so no mandatory downloads besides DLC and patches.

        For another, I'm not clear that the title updates will be downloadable in the Switch 2 cart. Switch 1 carts do have an allowance of storage to build patches into the physical copies (for re-releases, later prints, discount lines, GOTY editions and the like), so I assume the build you get in the Switch 2 cart is a latest-patch build. There's no confirmation on this beyond knowing that the functionality is built into the original Switch format, though.

        So no, I don't think you're right. I'm not sure about what happens with your saves if you do own the DLC but you don't download it, or what happens if you try to load a fully patched save from the old game with a downpatched cart version, but I'm pretty sure you can play through the whole upgraded Switch 2 game (sans DLC) beginning to end entirely offline indefinitely just with the cartridge.

  • I think they're even worse than <insert any AAA company that's headquartered over the pond> combined at this point.

  • Why would one of the greediest companies around pass up an opportunity to make more money? They know they won't lose sales.

  • But will the DLC still work properly if you already have it? Or do we have to buy a switch 2 version of it.

    Same for Pokémon or any other games with DLC moving to the switch 2 with or without upgrades.

    I am hoping all purchases transfer and work at least as they do now for the switch games.

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