Disney Dreamlight Valley may seem like a cute and fun simulation game based on Disney’s enormous canon, but the title has seen its fair share of controversy. The latest hubbub surrounding Disney Dreamlight Valley involves one of the game’s core features, Scrooge’s Store. With strange disappearances occurring, players are not only puzzled, but upset at these changes and a lack of statement from Gameloft.
Previous controversies for Disney Dreamlight Valley include the quality and grinding aspects of Star Paths, the game’s version of a battle pass. Players have also become annoyed with specific characters’ voice lines and aspects of the game’s monetization.
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Someone is Swiping from Scrooge’s Store
In fact, monetization is a key criticism surrounding this controversy. Players began to notice that exclusive items found in Scrooge’s catalog had apparently been removed for no reason whatsoever. A few of these mysteriously vanished items include items themed specifically to the Monsters INC. Realm and a Small Quirky Teapot that was originally part of a Dreamlight Park Community Challenge. Other quest-related items have also gone missing.
The exclusivity of these items has led players to speculate that Gameloft is removing these items so that they can be reintroduced to Disney Dreamlight Valley’s Premium Shop. Unlike items available in Scrooge’s Store, which cost Star Coins, items in the Premium Shop are purchased using Moonstones, Disney Dreamlight Valley’s premium currency. Premium Shop items are typically bigger or more elaborate than items available in Scrooge’s Store, or exclusive in some way, such as originally being introduced to the game in a previous Premium track of a Star Path. Because exclusivity is associated with Premium Shop items, and the missing Scrooge Store items have a level of exclusivity to them, it makes sense why the Monster Mug Rack, the Monsters, INC. Computer, and Small Quirky Teapot, have gone missing specifically.
But Gameloft never voiced that these items would be going away, or likely switching shops, to Disney Dreamlight Valley players. While the number of missing items seems to be more egregious this time, this is not the first time that Gameloft has increased the price or pulled items from Scrooge’s Store for seemingly no reason. A key example is the Cozy Fireplace that players gain from reaching Friendship Level 5 with Goofy. The Scar’s Kingdom update increased the price of the item from 4,000 Starcoins to 24,000—a 600% markup.
Gameloft is Keeping Disney Dreamlight Valley Players in the Dark
Fortunately, the inflation of the Cozy Fireplace is an example of an item still purchasable with Star Coins. If these missing items are truly being reintroduced in Disney Dreamlight Valley’s Premium Shop, players will have to shell out their hard-earned Moonstones or spend real money on items they could previously obtain through quests and events.
Additionally, this change would cement players’ fear that Gameloft is more interested in monetization than listening to player feedback. Players have complained about glitches like randomly appearing bubbles and a bug that does not allow gamers to pick up stacks of squid on the floor for weeks. Gameloft has left Disney Dreamlight Valley players in the dark not only on these missing items and bug fixes, but when the game’s next update will be.
Disney Dreamlight Valley’s 2025 base game roadmap teased that an update to the game would be coming early this year. With another drop planned for Spring 2025, one would think that Gameloft would announce the Early 2025 update sometime soon. On the contrary, Disney Dreamlight Valley’s news page has remained silent since the game’s last update in December 2024. Perhaps when the Early 2025 update introduces Aladdin and Jasmine to the game, players will finally see if the missing items from Scrooge’s catalog return to his store, or appear in a different, more expensive, Disney Dreamlight Valley shop.
- Released
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December 5, 2023
- ESRB
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E For Everyone