Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has shunned the idea of having paid DLC for Animal Crossing 3DS, as he believes the practice to be “unwholesome” for the game. The game currently offers all of its content right out of the box, with none of it being locked behind subscriptions or paywalls.
Kotaku reports that Iwata-san expressed his views on the matter in a recent Nintendo Q&A talk with investors.
“That sort of element [paid DLC] is absolutely not being added,” said Iwata-san, who argued that the monetization of content would negatively impact the game and all it has to offer. He reportedly referred to the practice as “unwholesome”.
His comments make sense given how the game is structured towards coaxing players to spend a lot of time in the game to get the most out of it. Players collect and unlock a multitude of content in the form of items, activities, and watch their town grow over time. The game would no doubt be perfect for exploiting children to pay for content with real money.
It’s good to see that Nintendo, unlike Zynga, is above exploiting children with their games.