Splatoon Amiibo = $10 Pay Wall for Content???

[Ryuho]

Uh....them not thinking it's worth paying $35 for doesnt mean they dont care about the content. It means they dont want to pay several times the price of what the content would cost as a download because it's restricted to a figure they dont like.
We need to stop defending content being locked behind these with, "the figure is so cool and nice it totally justifies the price" when a lot of the people arguing against this practice have stated they either dont care about the figure or actively dislike them.
The figures themselves are decently priced for people who want the actual figure. Which is the problem, it's only catering to people who already wanted the figures. And that tends to be the only perspective that it's being defended from. You are already getting what you want so any content locked behind it is just a bonus.
But the figure is a REQUIREMENT for people who just want the content. There's no other way. So they are SOL either way. Either do without the content, or buy figures they dont want for upwards of 13x the price of what the content might have been offered as DLC. That's also a physical item they dont want that has to be literally pounced on to find at even the normal price or at all most of the time. For the people who just want the content these amiibo literally are paywalls for on disc DLC that have the possibility and likelihood of becoming stupidly rare and expensive. The only people benefiting from this model are the people who already want the figures :/

Arguing that the figures are nice and that it's a good price for the figure is literally ignoring the point that some people just dont want the figures in the first place. And if the content is so insignificant why cant people be allowed to purchase it as normal DLC as well? Why should it be locked behind the figures exclusively?
I see no reason why this is argued against. Let those who just want the content just buy it as normal DLC meanwhile those with the figures get it as a free bonus. This should work for both sides. Those who mainly want the figures get a nice figure with some content as a bonus if they want and those that want the content arent forced into buying a more expensive and potentially rare figure if they dont want to. This could also possibly let them put more significant content for the amiibos as well if you really want to bring up people who think the figure itself isnt enough for some reason

Also in the US there is no way to get the squid amiibo outside the 3 pack. Unless you import you cannot get all three splatoon amiibo separately in the US. Which makes it even more expensive if you go that route.

 

[AEM]

I think it's important to consider that the amiibos will eventually do things in other games as well.

Sure you may be wanting the cosmetics and minigame that come with the amiibo for Splatoon, but as time goes on you could (and probably will) be seeing other unique content available through amiibo (ala Mario Kart 8's Mii Costumes).

Also the fact that these are pretty nice figurines that come with the bonus content makes it pretty worth it too, though that part mostly depends if you have somewhere nice to place it.

- - - - - - - -
With that said, Ryuho brings up a good point with how Nintendo is handling amiibo. Not making the Squid Inkling available separately is just flat out stupid. Though I do suspect that Splatoon's amiibo series will be a very common one, since Nintendo previously stated that they are treating the ad funding like they did for Mario Kart 8.

But on the subject of the downloadable content exclusivity, I do agree. There should be some way to at least get the minigames without the need of an amiibo, but I guess they want people to be really interested in getting them.

Whether you want the amiibo or not, if you want the content that comes with them you're stuck needing to find one. And unfortunately, that's just the way it is for now. At the very least, we should hope the Squid is eventually sold separately.

 

[DDB]

I still feel like the Squid amiibo will be like the SMB series Mario amiibo: Only available through the pack for a week or two, and then eventually sold on its own.

 

[get ROWDY]

I think it's called "having you by the balls" and Nintendo is doing it really well

I spent $40 on figurines I don't want just for in-game cosmetics, since you can't get them any other way. Honestly at the end of the day it's good business practices, it might not be 'fair' but what is lately? People should just buy the Amiibos, unlock the content, and sell them after. That way it cost you $10 instead of $40

 

[Ryuho]

I think it's called "having you by the balls" and Nintendo is doing it really well

I spent $40 on figurines I don't want just for in-game cosmetics, since you can't get them any other way. Honestly at the end of the day it's good business practices, it might not be 'fair' but what is lately? People should just buy the Amiibos, unlock the content, and sell them after. That way it cost you $10 instead of $40

I honestly wish I could do that with my Link amiibo. When I first saw amiibo I really wanted Fox since I thought it looked the best out of the starting figures. And to this day I still actively dislike Link's figure with it's pee colored stand and how he's staring at the ground for some reason. The problem was I was totally in love with Hyrule Warriors as well and they had announced that Link amiibos were the only way to get the spinner weapon in the game(a weaponset in a Warriors game is pretty much the equivalent of a new character so that's pretty significant content to be locked behind these). I could only get one amiibo before the new year because of christmas shopping. I felt kind of forced to get Link because of the content locked behind it for HW and reasoned that I could get Fox later or trade someone for a Fox later..........boy that wasnt happening.
Fox and several amiibo of characters I like pretty much fell off the planet meanwhile the Link one I had as far as I can tell became one of the more common figures. I dont like the figure and its trade value is pretty much crap :/

 

[PrinceOfKoopas]

I can picture it now...
(Nothing to follow is fact)

Each of the four minigames was designed by a different aspiring newbie Nintendo designer. They wanna make it to the big leagues and become the next household name.
So each one makes a minigame that they can take ownership of. It's just a small project, right? And totally silo'd from the greater Splatoon project. Their name is on it from start-to-finish.
So they each make it, and the Splatoon director says that only one can come with the full game. The other three are gonna be incentives to buy the amiibo, as told by the amiibo director who was in the Iwata Asks for Splatoon.
So the director doesn't care which minigame goes with which amiibo and which one goes into the full game, but the aspiring designers care a lot. 'cause everyone who buys Splatoon (or plays the Global Testfire, though they didn't know that'd be a thing at the time) will play its included minigame, but not everyone will get its amiibo.
(And sucks for the guy who got the Squid amiibo which is the most rare one.)
So they present their cases as to who gets in... and they even fight over it. Physically. They're so emotionally invested but no one else is.
Eventually, they decide to settle it in SMASH! And that's why we have Inkling costumes for Miis.

Squid Jump won out, and now that guy's career is going places while everyone else is doomed.

 

[suavevillain]

My question will be off topic but does anyone know if you can buy the clothes from the amiibo in game? Some people told me you could i'm not sure if you can.

 

[get ROWDY]

My question will be off topic but does anyone know if you can buy the clothes from the amiibo in game? Some people told me you could i'm not sure if you can.

I have yet to see those amiibo unlocks available by any other means other than using the amiibos. Everything I've read led me to assume I can only get them from the Amiibos, which is the only reason I bought them. If I could get them in-game I would have definitely not bought these, but nothing has shown me that's the case.

 

[get ROWDY]

My question will be off topic but does anyone know if you can buy the clothes from the amiibo in game? Some people told me you could i'm not sure if you can.

does this answer your question? I don't know if this is very 'official', but I believe this is the case.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkHxsQIfA

 

[suavevillain]

does this answer your question? I don't know if this is very 'official', but I believe this is the case.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkHxsQIfA

Yeah it does man that sucks i really don't wanna support or purchase amiibo. I miss paying for a game and actually having all the content. It would be great for some type of alternative for people who don't like the figures or don't wanna collect them.

 

[AstralSpirit]

I'm gonna be honest, amiibos are one of my biggest complaints with Nintendo lately. I want this content for sure, but I don't want to pay for the figures. I'm a pretty practical person, and I don't like spending money on something that won't have a use. I would never buy these figures otherwise, because they'd just sit there. But making them unlock all this content means that I need to buy the figures if I want access to everything this game has to offer. I'm a little more willing to accept it if these are purely cosmetic changes, and nothing is different stat-wise or sub/special-wise (which seems to be what people in this thread are saying), but it's still quite an annoyance for me. Also, I never really cared enough to pre-order the amiibos, and even if I'm getting to my Gamestop right when it opens on the 29th (which I am), I'm still not confident they'll even be available. Which is my main problem with amiibos. Not only do they unlock content, but they are not always readily available, which means many unlucky people are stuck without the content. I'd probably have bought Code Name S.T.E.A.M. if the Fire Emblem amiibos were more readily available, becuase I do enjoy the Fire Emblem series, and at least they'd have some use in Smash as well. But they're almost impossible to get. Which is a shame, because otherwise I don't even have enough interest to buy Code Name in the first place. Nintendo is just not going about this the right way. Figures are great for those who want them, and bonus content can be nice as long as it's not overpriced, but they don't mix well.

 

[DonkaFjord]

Amiibos didn't interest me and I haven't bought any, and like I mentioned before I am hoping there is a more Amiibo-centric game shown off at E3 and maybe the Smash amiibo card packs or something. I did however buy the Splatoon 3 pack and, if nothing interesting is coming out soon that utilizes them, I might resell them or trade them off afterwards.

 

[Yaezakura]

You know what I find funny? Everyone's complaining about not having all the content, but this kind of thing has been a common practice for ages.

How many games have had bonus content that's locked behind having a save file from another game on your system? Or physically connecting another game to your system while the current game is running? Tons of them have. Pretty much no one ever complained, because it was recognized as bonus content not part of the normal experience.

Now, you tie that same kind of content to a collectible figurine that costs $13 instead of another video game that costs $60, and people lose their friggin' minds and start ranting about paywalls and on-disc DLC.

 

[DaBoss]

You have to consider how and when this content is being made and for what purpose. The amiibo and content tied to it are made at the same time for Splatoon. They intentionally had content tied behind it day 1. It's not like say Mario Kart 8 where it can actually be viewed as a bonus (I still think they should sell it separately) cause the content was made afterwards with the intention of letting people who had some amiibo use them to get a costume.

Getting a bonus because you had a savefile for another game is like the Mario Kart 8 example, except less "exploitative". It feels more like a "thank you for getting our previous game, here's a little bonus". It's hardly ever significant. Usually just a skin.

This just kind of goes into the day 1 DLC sort of thing. It's hard to view amiibo as bonuses cause for some people, they aren't interested in figurines, cards, and etc. and they are being made alongside most games with the intention of locking stuff behind them. And in Splatoon's case, the challenge mode is something I would consider to be significant to me. Very cool take on some of the single player modes.

A solution that would appease people would be to give an option to buy it separately, but then it can't be considered no less different than day 1 DLC, so I'm not really sure. I would prefer if they just kept it to cosmetics like Mario Kart and Yoshi, but even then, I'm still bothered by the idea that you need to own a significant amount of amiibo for most of the costumes.

I guess there really isn't a way to truly satisfy me regarding amiibo.

 

[FlygonSquid]

If the missions were crazy new content that takes seriously large amounts of time to complete, I would have a problem with it. But instead, it's just going through a single player mission that the player has already completed, only with a different gun or playstyle requirements (iirc) that unlocks purely cosmetic content. Since this is the case, I think it's perfectly fine. Especially because the figures look amazing and are really well made. Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[Yaezakura]

You have to consider how and when this content is being made and for what purpose. The amiibo and content tied to it are made at the same time for Splatoon. They intentionally had content tied behind it day 1. It's not like say Mario Kart 8 where it can actually be viewed as a bonus (I still think they should sell it separately) cause the content was made afterwards with the intention of letting people who had some amiibo use them to get a costume.

Getting a bonus because you had a savefile for another game is like the Mario Kart 8 example, except less "exploitative". It feels more like a "thank you for getting our previous game, here's a little bonus". It's hardly ever significant. Usually just a skin.

This just kind of goes into the day 1 DLC sort of thing. It's hard to view amiibo as bonuses cause for some people, they aren't interested in figurines, cards, and etc. and they are being made alongside most games with the intention of locking stuff behind them. And in Splatoon's case, the challenge mode is something I would consider to be significant to me. Very cool take on some of the single player modes.

A solution that would appease people would be to give an option to buy it separately, but then it can't be considered no less different than day 1 DLC, so I'm not really sure. I would prefer if they just kept it to cosmetics like Mario Kart and Yoshi, but even then, I'm still bothered by the idea that you need to own a significant amount of amiibo for most of the costumes.

I guess there really isn't a way to truly satisfy me regarding amiibo.

Of course the Mario Kart Amiibo stuff came later... because the game existed before Amiibo did. Sure, they had obviously been planning Amiibo since before the Wii U launched, but they didn't have the specifics nailed down yet. They made the game, later released the Amiibo, then released content that the Amiibo could unlock. If the Amiibo had existed before Mario Kart was published, that content would have been on the disc to be unlocked by the Amiibo.

How is the Splatoon content anything other than a "thank you for buying the Amiibo"? It's literally no different than having, say, a save file from another game on your Wii U. Except it's a figurine instead of another video game. What if the bonus content another game's save file unlocks is tied to a game you have no interest in? How is it any different than it being tied to figures you have no interest in? Tons of games have had content tied to owning other games that I have no interest in (For instance, bonus content in Payday 2 tied to owning the Hotline Miami games that don't interest me), but no one really complains about that kind of thing.

Amiibo are a new thing, which makes them an easy target for ranting. People want more stuff for free, not realizing the sales of the Amiibo figures are part of what helps pay for the content they unlock to be developed. If the Amiibo didn't exist, the content they unlock wouldn't exist. It's pretty much that simple.

 

[DaBoss]

If the missions were crazy new content that takes seriously large amounts of time to complete, I would have a problem with it. But instead, it's just going through a single player mission that the player has already completed, only with a different gun or playstyle requirements (iirc) that unlocks purely cosmetic content. Since this is the case, I think it's perfectly fine. Especially because the figures look amazing and are really well made. Just my thoughts on the matter.

I don't think so because they are basically challenge modes like found in NSMBU. I find it really interesting to be able to complete some levels with different weapons.

Of course the Mario Kart Amiibo stuff came later... because the game existed before Amiibo did. Sure, they had obviously been planning Amiibo since before the Wii U launched, but they didn't have the specifics nailed down yet. They made the game, later released the Amiibo, then released content that the Amiibo could unlock. If the Amiibo had existed before Mario Kart was published, that content would have been on the disc to be unlocked by the Amiibo.

How is the Splatoon content anything other than a "thank you for buying the Amiibo"? It's literally no different than having, say, a save file from another game on your Wii U. Except it's a figurine instead of another video game. What if the bonus content another game's save file unlocks is tied to a game you have no interest in? How is it any different than it being tied to figures you have no interest in? Tons of games have had content tied to owning other games that I have no interest in (For instance, bonus content in Payday 2 tied to owning the Hotline Miami games that don't interest me), but no one really complains about that kind of thing.

Amiibo are a new thing, which makes them an easy target for ranting. People want more stuff for free, not realizing the sales of the Amiibo figures are part of what helps pay for the content they unlock to be developed. If the Amiibo didn't exist, the content they unlock wouldn't exist. It's pretty much that simple.

True about the Mario Kart amiibo stuff.

It's more like "thanks for buying the day 1 DLC key" than that. And yea, it isn't different if it had stuff that Splatoon locked behind amiibo by any other method, but these are just "what ifs". They would be terrible as well. I don't know anything about Payday 2 stuff, but generalizing people haven't complained isn't going to help your argument. I imagine people did complain about it, but this is an isolated case unlike amiibo. amiibo span across multiple games that can affect multiple different fanbases, some overlapping. Not directed at you, but the same goes with the whole stupid "it's okay if Nintendo does it" nonsense. This thread and multiple discussions across the Internet have people, Nintendo fans included, have stated their displeasure towards Nintendo regarding amiibo, so those people can take that **** out of here.

This is basically my stance on the matter, many companies are doing terrible "DLC" (for the lack of a better word to say "additional content") practices along with some doing some good DLC practices. For some, amiibo is one of those practices. It's not because amiibo are new. Every time someone says it is better than Skylanders, Infinity, and etc. because they work for multiple games are ignoring that people who aren't interested in those games can easily ignore the games and the toys. The same isn't true with amiibo.

And to address the last point, we will never know. Some of the things may, some of them may not.

 

[Yaezakura]

And to address the last point, we will never know. Some of the things may, some of them may not.

Oh, I know. I 100% know. Because I know how game development works.

If it's not on the disc, do you know when "Day 1 DLC" is made? After the game is done, but before it winds up on shelves. There's a period of months where the game is being rated, reviewed, produced, where the team either moves on to another game, or makes DLC that will be available at launch/shortly after. Day 1 DLC is also the surest way to get the money back that you spent developing the content, as sales figures consistently show that the longer after a game's launch DLC comes out, the worse it performs. It's content that otherwise wouldn't exist, because content isn't free to create.

Games have budgets, after all. Splatoon's budget was much smaller than a Mario game or Zelda game would have had because it wasn't a guaranteed sale. They likely had to pull their punches on quite a lot of things that they wanted to put in the game but couldn't fit in on the budget they had. The Amiibo content would have been tied to a separate budget--one balanced around the income they projected for the sale of the figurines. So the reskinned weapons and challenge levels and little mini-games, which maybe don't sound like a lot of work (and in the context of the full game, they really aren't) still took thousands and thousands of dollars to develop, as you have coders making sure everything works right, artists making sure everything looks right, etc. Tying it to the Amiibos paid for that content to exist, because they knew they could sell enough Amiibo to cover costs and still make a decent profit off the toys.

It's fine to not like it, but it's hardly exploitative, especially compared to what most of Nintendo's competition is doing. If any of the content that the Amiibo offered actually mattered to the overall experience, maybe. But the end result is a couple of unique skins and time-passing minigames to play during matchmaking.

 

[missingno]

But in this case, the amiibo content actually is literally on the disc. It has to be.

 

[Yaezakura]

But in this case, the amiibo content actually is literally on the disc. It has to be.

Why does that matter? As I mentioned before, games having content on their discs locked is nothing new. It's been a common practice since at least the Sega Genesis (where Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles had specially designed cartridges meant to link together and half the game couldn't be played unless you owned both). Tons of games have content locked behind having a save file from another game on your system, but no one's looking at those games the same way they're looking at the Amiibo content in games.

This stuff isn't DLC. It's bonus content intended as a thank you to those who support the company in a wider framework. Just instead of owning another Nintendo game, it's tied to owning the Amiibo figurines.