EA’s Monster Hunter-like has no plans for microtransactions, all post-launch content will be free

Wild Hearts will be getting more monsters, but you’re not going to have to pay for them.

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Ina Reddit Ask Me Anythingthis week, the developers of Wild Hearts stated that they already have plans for post-launch updates, and they’ll all be free.

“All post launch contents will be free, including new Kemono and more! We don’t have any plans to feature MTX,” they answered in one of the AMA’s most-asked questions.

“Kemono” are the jumbo-sized monsters of Wild Hearts, which you’ll be hunting and trapping in an action game that obviously owes a lot to Capcom’s Monster Hunter. The monetization also seems to be following Capcom’s lead: with the recent Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise, Capcom added free monsters and quests for many months, without ever charging for specific battles. If anything, though, Wild Hearts sounds more generous: there are more than 200 bits ofcosmetic DLC for Monster Hunter Rise, while Wild Hearts' devs, Koei Tecmo, say they have no plans to offer microtransactions. Then again, it’s a lot easier to sell little bits of DLC in a series that already has millions of players and is known for being ludicrously replayable.

“No plans” doesn’t mean future DLC couldn’t happen, of course, and I think it’s likely that we see a paid expansion for Wild Hearts if it’s a hit, like last year’sMonster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.

Here are a few other details from the Wild Hearts AMA:

Wild Hearts is out on February 17—check back before launch for our review.

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Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites likeThe WirecutterandTestedbefore joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he’ll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

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