http://yachtclubgames.com/2017/01/switch-up/

In summary:

2-player co-op added to all comupter/home console versions.

New DLC: Specter of Torment, free for current owners (see below)

Shovel Knight will be split into separately purchasable components (so you could, for example, get just Plague of Shadows without the base campaign), which will be cheaper than buying the entire game. You can still get the whole game (including expansions) in one purchase, called Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (which you will get if you already own the game), but the price will be increasing in the spring.

Thoughts?

(By the way, the Specter of Torment trailer has some nice music.)

They split it and the price for the whole game is increasing? That's rather odd. It's probably still worth the money, but I hope that won't become the new standard for successful indie games.

Better buy it now and get everything at one low price. ;) The original campaign was well worth $15 all on its own. Now I'm simply getting more for no money down. :) Almost everybody else would have already used the paid DLC model for non-backers. They're already being more than generous with existing owners. Devs eventually need more money for extra work, too, you know.

I predict upgrade headaches on GOG.

The local co-op sounds nice, though.

I was thinking the same thing too. My guess is that they'll award the new DLC retroactively to existing owners but discontinue selling Shovel Knight in its current form and instead sell the Treasure Trove Edition with the adjusted price. I think they did something similar in the past with SotS: The Pit.

Interesting move separating the campaigns for a smaller price, but hey I'm still getting the updates and DLC free like they said. Also nice to know that King Knight’s Campaign is planned for this year too (unless it gets delayed), so two more playthroughs. =D

Well they are adding more content too. So they're basically giving that for free to current owners but charging everyone else for it.

Yes, I know. And it's nice that they give away the DLC for previous owners for free. Seems I misunderstood the OP last night. Sounded like you could only buy the base game with the DLCs and so the price would increase for all new buyers. But I guess you can still buy the base game without the DLCs for the old price, which is fine for me.

By the way, not almost everybody uses paid DLC for new content. Check out my GOGmix about games that got additional content for free:

http://www.gog.com/mix/games_that_got_addtional_content_for_free_after_release

So, that means that the stand‐alone campaigns will be three different products (Shovel of Hope, Plague of Shadows, and Specter of Torment), purchasable separately; and they will all be included in the Treasure Trove (along with any eventual future game addition), which could be viewed as a bundle. Also, maybe, buying the Treasure Trove will be cheaper than buying its parts one by one?

Did I understand correctly?

This is how I also understood it.

For me, this is good news. Shovel Knight is an excellent game and well worth its full price, with the additional content even more so.

If anything, I wish more developers/publishers would adopt this kind of practice (though I'm aware many of these updates were part of the promised Kickstarter rewards).

Periodic free content updates increase a game's value, which helps maintain the market's goodwill and interest in the game, thus justifying maintaining (or even increasing) the standard price. Furthermore, it would incentivise people to become early adopters, thus contributing to the game's success even more.

Granted, though, this sort of thing only works if the game doesn't have extremely niche appeal (thus limiting its sales potential) and if it's...well, an actual quality product (though cases where updates helped salvage an otherwise mediocre game are not unheard of).

I never played Shovel Knight, but so many people rave about it. Why is it? What keeps it apart from other similar games?

Okay, so did you ever play the old Capcom NES games like Ducktales or Megaman?

Compelled. Bought.

I've been curious about Shovel Knight, but so far the price has put me off. In part because I'm not exactly the greatest fan of platformers, especially such fast paced ones...