Animal Crossing New Horizons | What Does "In-Game Purchases" Mean?

2020 is looking like an absolutely packed year for video games. Half-Life Alyx, Cyberpunk, and The Last of Us Part 2 are shaping up to make the best game of the year a difficult choice to make. And despite that, the one I'm most excited for is Animal Crossing New Horizons.

However, things aren't as bright and cheery as they may seem. The Nintendo.com page for New Horizons used to show an age rating descriptor for "In-Game Purchases". However that particular descriptor is no longer present. The Animal Crossing website and the page on the official Nintendo eShop for the Switch never showed that descriptor. What does this mean?

Firstly, it's worth mentioning what the removal of the descriptor means. Basically nothing. The fact that it was there means there's almost certainly a reason for it being there. This could mean something as devious as the absurd amount of microtransactions in Pocket Camp or it could mean something as commonplace as the game having a season pass for future DLC. It could technically just be related to Nintendo Switch Online.

And that's the issue with the assumptions going around. Plenty of gaming news sites are reporting that Nintendo is adding microtransactions to New Horizons and has essentially turned evil. And if you think that adding microtransactions to a game makes that game's developer evil, Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U along with Ultimate have 75 cent Mii costumes. That's the definition of a microtransaction.

However I think there's a fair bit of misinformation about what the descriptor could mean. Using other Nintendo games as an example, there doesn't seem to be any reason behind the descriptor being used. For instance, Splatoon 2 features DLC and requires an Online membership for some features, and its age rating doesn't have the In-Game Purchases descriptor. Smash Bros Ultimate also features DLC and Online features, and it does have the In-Game Purchases descriptor. This particular descriptor doesn't always show up in cases where it logically would.

So ultimately we don't have any way of knowing what type of In-Game Purchases will or won't be in New Horizons. However I think it's valuable to look at Nintendo's recent history with In-Game Purchases.

Of the Nintendo games sold on the Switch eShop, many of them, such as Fire Emblem Three Houses, Mario + Rabbids, Luigi's Mansion 3, and Pokemon Sword and Shield contain what I would describe as an In-Game Purchase. However, they all make use of a season pass that allows you to pay for any additional content in one payment. I think it's fair to say that New Horizons has a strong chance of also featuring updates to add new content, and if they're big-scale updates such as the Welcome amiibo update for New Leaf, it's fair to want players to pay for the new content.

Whether the idea of a season pass is a good idea to you or a bad one, it's important to understand that no one outside of Nintendo and the ESRB knows what the descriptor means for Animal Crossing New Horizons. At least not yet.