Disney Dreamlight Valley Coming Out of Early Access; Will Not Be Free-To-Play; Announces First Expansion

Gameloft’s popular DIsney Dreamlight Valley life-sim, which has been in Early Access since its launch last year, has been announced for a full release on December 5th, but there is a catch for players who were waiting for the game’s promised free-to-play debut.

The game was released in Early Access last year, either for a $30 paid player (more if you wanted to also purchase Moonstones, the game’s premium currency, at a discounted rate) or included in Xbox Game Pass. It has since seen several substantial updates that added the full first arc of the game’s story, and over a dozen new Disney characters that can be befriended and move into the player’s town. The game is a fairly typical life-sim with farming, decoration, and crafting elements, but with a whimsical Disney twist.

The original idea was to have players pay to play in Early Access, but that anyone who did so would be a “Founder” with extra perks, and the game would go free-to-play once it came out of Early Access sometime this year. As of now, that is no longer happening, and the “Founder’s Edition” version will be replaced with a new $40 base price that includes more Moonstones than the $30 one did. The game will also have a physical “Cozy Edition” release for $50, with even more benefits, and a digital “Gold Edition” for $70 that will grant access to the newly-announced A Rift in Time expansion.

As a thank-you to Founder players, all of the cosmetic items from the Gold Edition (as well as 2,500 Moonstones) will be given to anyone who purchases and claims a Founder’s Pack in-game before December 5th. Additionally, the post clarifies that all in-game progress will carry over to the full version of the game.

The A Rift in Time expansion pass will be $30, and grant access to a new area called Eternity Isle, as well as new characters and gameplay features. There will be a livestream on November 1 to go into further detail. The post does say that free content updates will continue to come to the base game, but does not say whether the expansion pass will also be included for Xbox Game Pass players.

You can read the full update post here.

Disney Dreamlight Valley is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.