Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Reveals Expansion Pass Including Story DLC

gamerant.com:

After a surprise bumping up of its release last month, Nintendo and Monolith Soft's Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is very quickly approaching. Earlier today, Nintendo aired the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct, a presentation focused entirely on showcasing the upcoming JRPG as it gears up for an early release. The show ended with a surprise in revealing that the game will be supported by post-launch DLC alongside an expansion pass, which teases new Xenoblade Chronicles 3 story content arriving by December 2023.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was first revealed during the February 2022 Nintendo Direct presentation, where it was revealed that the highly anticipated follow-up to 2017's Xenoblade Chronicles 2 would release in just roughly seven months. Nintendo then shocked fans again by revealing that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 would be pushed forward to July 29th, with Splatoon 3 now occupying its September release window. Given that the game is expected to include hundreds of hours of content, it came as a major surprise to fans to learn that its release was being pushed forward, and with the absence of an E3-style Nintendo Direct or Treehouse presentation, fans began to wonder when Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will appear again.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct Lends Credence to Rumors of Another Direct

That is until earlier this week, when Nintendo announced the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct, which has now aired and revealed a plethora of new details regarding Xenoblade Chronicles 3's combat, characters, world, and story. One of the biggest surprises came at the end however, where it was revealed that much like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the third game will receive post-launch DLC alongside an expansion pass that will cost $29.99 at launch.

The expansion