The Remembering update to Disney Dreamlight Valley has been a substantial one for the ongoing experience, including new missions that look for answers to the main plot of the game. However, along with these new plot developments and even a new character to interact with, some concerning new items have also arrived in the in-game shop that runs on Dreamlight Valley's premium currency Moonstones.
The new item for purchase is the Dream Bundle, a collection of items for players to unlock using Disney Dreamlight Valley premium currency, which of course means it costs real-world money. However, the content hidden behind this paywall isn't simply cosmetic, as many of the other bundles and items on sale for the Moonstone currencies had been up until this point.
Locking Dreamlight Valley Quest Content Behind a Paywall
What is concerning about this Dream Bundle is that it locks a sidequest behind its purchase. This is the first time that actual gameplay content has been locked beyond a paywall, instead of simply cosmetic items that either can alter a player's outfit or their in-game home. While normally Dreamlight Valley's sidequests are locked behind the friendship meter of the character handing out the quest, these can't be obtained by simply playing the game on its own.
This comes after the Moonstone store has already received some backlash from fans, as many of the items for sale for this premium currency are already rather costly. With players able to gain 50 free Moonstones per day by hunting down Dreamlight Valley's daily chests, being able to afford some of the higher-end items in the shop could take months to earn. This combines with the FOMO design of the Moonstone store that cycles items on a weekly reset, which makes it unclear if and when items will return after disappearing for the week. It already adds up to the Moonstone store becoming increasingly predatory for a game in Dreamlight Valley's position.
Premium Content in Disney Dreamlight Valley's Early Access
There are several factors that make the FOMO of the Moonstone store rub the wrong way, especially with the Dream Bundle now locking actual content behind a paywall. However, most of all, Disney Dreamlight Valley is still in Early Access, meaning the game already has paid-DLC before it officially even launched. This compounds with the fact that while Dreamlight Valley will be free-to-play when it launches, any players currently playing it have paid for the early access to the game.
At this point, the idea of making Dreamlight Valley free-to-play is still part of the roadmap, meant to happen at some unannounced point down the line in development. So, while microtransactions might help the game survive in that future era of development, this is currently a pay-to-play title, with multiple levels of premium editions. Stopping players from engaging with all the content unless they pay an extra premium is strange, since what they've already paid for isn't even a full game on its own.
This all makes for terrible optics on where development of Dreamlight Valley will go. If the quests in the premium Dream Bundles are also going to follow the same FOMO designs that the limited-time Star Path and other Moonstone store do, then it is preying on players with an addiction model. To make matters worse, the Dream Bundle has the same red dot that acts as an "unread" mark for items that the player hasn't checked in their menu, but it doesn't go away until it is purchased, not just when it is viewed. So, there is always something artificially drawing the player's eye to go spend money for content, in a game that they already paid to get access to and is admittedly not even finished being built.
Disney Dreamlight Valley is currently available in Early Access for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.