After the impressive critical and financial success of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, fans demanded a sequel. Once it was announced, though, it was hard to imagine a Zelda game that not only managed to fill the large expectations of the game to follow up the title that helped change open-world game design going forward. However, after a wait of six years, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom managed to deliver on all that and more. Between the strange Zonai creations players are making and its story that tests what it means to save Princess Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom is certainly a contender for many fans' game of the year.
However, it begs the question as to just how much The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom aims to follow in its predecessor's footsteps as Breath of the Wild had an entire expansion pass of DLC for players to enjoy after launch. While TOTK is certainly an incredible and complete experience all on its own, Nintendo would definitely be leaving money on the table if it didn't get its own expansion pass in the future.
How DLC Can Be the Icing on Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's Cake
While it's easy to say that Tears of the Kingdom doesn't need DLC, the same could actually be said of Breath of the Wild. Both of the open-world Zelda titles have plenty of content in their base games, along with a complete story. Additional content being added after that is merely a bonus on top of an already lengthy and expansive title, even as the announcement of Breath of the Wild's Expansion Pass led to some speculation that it was yet another "unfinished" Nintendo release.
However, the Expansion Pass added tons of new features that not only added to Breath of the Wild's gameplay, but literally expanded upon it with difficult challenges such as Master Mode and the Champion's Ballad. The Champion's Ballad alone shows just how much DLC can surprise players beyond the base game's resolution has passed, and it begs the question as to what Tears of the Kingdom's own DLC might tackle if given the same opportunities.
Nintendo's Gains from Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom DLC
Even if there's potential in TOTK DLC to surprise players, ultimately it's not a worthwhile endeavor if there isn't a benefit for Nintendo itself. While finding exactly how well Breath of the Wild's Expansion Pass sold is tricky, it's very unlikely that a pass for such a best-selling game sold poorly by any margin. Even without DLC, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is currently the fastest-selling Zelda game of all time, and this means that an Expansion Pack on its own will likely sell rather well if it entices players to want to pay for more.
On top of that, TOTK could take advantage of something that Breath of the Wild couldn't. In between both games, the company introduced the Nintendo Switch Online Plus Expansion Pack tier to its online subscription service. As part of this offer, fans can get DLC of other Switch games included in its offerings, including expansions for Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Splatoon 2.
Adding DLC to Tears of the Kingdom and offering it as part of the Expansion Pack at no extra charge would be a great way to bring in and keep subscribers, as the higher tier of Nintendo Switch Online is already Zelda fan friendly, with plenty of games included in the service as it stands. Even if fans don't subscribe to the Expansion Pack due to TOTK's bonus content, they'll likely purchase it anyway if the content is just as good as Breath of the Wild's bonuses, meaning Nintendo would have nothing to lose if TOTK continued to follow BOTW's footsteps with DLC as well.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out now for Nintendo Switch.
