Tetris 99 is (probably) getting a physical release in the West
Tetris 99, a multiplayer battle royale version of Tetris, had a surprise launch in February of this year, free for Nintendo Switch Online members. Since then, it’s also gotten paid DLC, allowing anyone to play its offline modes, provided they’ve paid for it. Now, it might be getting a physical release.
A new listing on the Australian Classification Board website suggests that Tetris 99 could be getting a release at retail in the near future. Submitted by Nintendo Australia on behalf of their Japanese counterpart, Nintendo Co., Ltd., this is the second listing for the game that’s appeared on the website.
The first, which shows the game as having been classified back in January, was submitted by IARC, the International Age Rating Coalition, which is an international organisation that handles classification in over a dozen countries. However, IARC classifications generally only apply to digital releases — if a game were to be released physically, it would have to be submitted to each country’s classification authorities. And that’s what we think has happened here.
If we had to guess, we’d say that a physical release would include the base game, all the DLC, and possibly a year of Nintendo Switch Online, much like a bundle that was recently announced for Japan. In any case, we’ll probably find out pretty soon; classifications usually come to fruition 3-4 months after they appear on the website.
In that case, a physical release is definitely happening. Tetris 99 would not have needed to go through the traditional peer-reviewed classification process otherwise (as indicated by the 4th July decision).
This is pretty great news (forced paid online notwithstanding). I was subconsciously fantasising about a Tetris 99 physical release, but I never expected it to actually happen. I have no intention of supporting Nintendo’s ridiculous and insulting online “service”, but if the Tetris 99 retail package includes a subscription, then I may as well use it. While I’m at it, I will play a bit of Tetris 99 online (still yet to crack the top spot during the online free trials) and I ought to try and unlock all of the Smash online challenges.