I think there are some awards you can only qualify for with a theatrical release.  There may have been contractual obligations as well.

That Babylon 5 reference came out of nowhere to knock me into laughter.  Well played.

I don’t know that anyone is married to the console as a device, but it seems unlikely that graphically demanding games will be played by anything other than specialized hardware unless significant strides are made by streaming services.

While continued updates for the game might require cash, server maintenance seems strange.  Presumably PSN fees pay that?

Well, they weren’t putting it in the game, so it had to go somewhere.  ::rimshot::

Next, Picollo pre fusion with Kami and Picollo pre fusion with Nail?

Human Instrumentality starts at the ankles, apparently.

Rotten Fish Mace is a hero for our times!

Do you ever encounter any of his former companions to recruit?  Like a super wizard, etc?

I can’t speak to the Spanish speaking market, but the Big 3 is used in Japan to refer to the three most popular Weekly Shounen Jump titles. While this has of course varied over time, the Big 3 consisting of One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach persisted for a very long time. Market dynamics have changed somewhat since then…

The last of the Big 3 is waning.

Also, there is a good will cost associated with not providing some solution. Other games with similar features may find it harder to benefit from them now that their relatively short life is apparent.  Again, that’s a hard to quantify value.

The ROI investment is a definite question, though not doing it essentially negates future returns from the investment in developing the now walled off unlocks. It would be difficult to quantify that value though.
As to man hours, development should be trivial, more time would be spent recertifying the new patch.…

If only the had the ability to patch games after the fact.. like unlocking the content once an arbitrary game state was reached.

To paraphrase an old saw: Streaming is the technology of the future... and it always will be.

Needs more Diamond Joe.

That’s a shame.  Were it like FF6, I’d buy a switch just for it.

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue - An Epic quest concludes with a bittersweet ending... and then you get the band back together to make it a happier one.

And I gazed through the crack and I saw... PUBG.

I’m familiar with the Rick and Morty Szechuan sauce phenomenon, but not what it has, if anything, to do with Jetpack Cat?
Is there a connection?