DLC 19 Speculation

[Aramar]

I got totally different vibe from it. In my opinion, they had this teasy tone on purpose. They always do. From all the info we have gathered over the years, planning and actually making a pack takes as long as a year. I am sure they already worked on this next pack. I very much doubt they would just wake up one morning and say: look guys, they want more, so lets quickly make one more pack.

I agree, they know exactly what's coming next and when. Maybe even they have already planned the whole 2025 with one DLC in Spring, 1 in Autumn and the 6th anniversary.

 

[Hinvolur]

I disagree, I still think PZ2 is on the way.

I mentioned this before we knew last pack was Zookeepers, and that was the idea that maybe packs wouldn't end and simply move from 4 a year to 2 a year while other staff at Frontier are busy with other games. Now that we have another pack confirmed for next year I feel like this is a pretty likely scenario.

We know PZ is one of their most profitable games, I think keeping it on support just at a smaller rate until the next game is a smart decision.

Agree that it is coming but I don't now think it is the next management game after PC2.

 

[Marvinb]

Maybe im delusional but i think there is a world where you could bring releasing dlcs and working on pz2 under one roof.
If you do stuff for the dlcs that you can later use for the Pz2 base game you can kill two birds with one stone essentially, working on pz2 and keeping the existing player base busy and engaged aswell as have a little extra money on the side.

Like PZ2 could probably use some new or overhauled building themes, so maybe you could take 1 or two of them and use them for PZ dlcs in the meantime.

Its not at all likely and more of a tinfoil hat idea, but also not impossible i guess?

 

[SivatheriumGuy]

Maybe im delusional but i think there is a world where you could bring releasing dlcs and working on pz2 under one roof.
If you do stuff for the dlcs that you can later use for the Pz2 base game you can kill two birds with one stone essentially, working on pz2 and keeping the existing player base busy and engaged aswell as have a little extra money on the side.

Like PZ2 could probably use some new or overhauled building themes, so maybe you could take 1 or two of them and use them for PZ dlcs in the meantime.

Its not at all likely and more of a tinfoil hat idea, but also not impossible i guess?

That would be an amazing reality, idk how probable it is but not a bad outcome at all. We wouldn't have much to be surprised about when PZ 2 eventually comes out though.

 

[Doran]

.... or PC2 sales collapse and Frontier as company basically cease to exist. No reason to think about sequel or more content afterwards.

 

[Hugo98]

Well sounds like a fun little challenge

While pack themes are a bit like a wild west rn its no secret that there are 2,5 more likly ones based on last years pack themes, the communitys wishes and the dictionary leaks.

Starting with the first point, an americas theme would fit well with eurasia, oceania and the fact that arid was basicly just arid africa.
Now for the animals, im 100% certain that wed get the ABB, not because of anything exciting but just to round out the bears, but atleast it would be a lie to say that it isnt the favorite of a certain part of the community, adding some rep to pretty much every biome present on the north american continent.

Next up for north america we are cheating a little with geoffreys spider monkey. People might not think about it very often, but north america has tropical rain forests so getting a monkey from them clears a slot for south america. Geoffreys spider monkey is also among the most common if not the most common spidermonkey species in captivity, so thats also an upside.

Lastly for the north american exclusives to make this an actual americas pack and not a south america + ABB pack, id dedicate the nessecary by frontier standards ungulate spot to the north, the far north actually with the musk ox. Its been allmost 3 years since the NA pack, the last pack to really throw a bone to the arctic so its imo completly fair to get one of its last remaining animals to the game, especally when its as well requested as the musk ox. It would neatly shake up arctic areas and has less themes to fit in then the walrus, which could still feature well in something like a coastal theme, so its the prefered choice here.

Now that we coverd the north american exclusives, its only fitting to cover the 2 animals that range into 2 continents, the roseate spoon bill and the ocelot.
The roseate spoonbill fixes 3 issues at once, those are no bird for north america, no bird for south america and the general lack of different bird taxa in the game. It also has the added bennefit of being a tropical water bird, bringing us one step closer to the joy called wetlands aviarys.
The ocelot is THE filler animal for central and south america, i mean just look at this range map. Is it another cat? yeah and its even a spotted one and i dont care this range is stupidly large and cover most biomes of the tropical and suptropical americas, it just makes sense to include them to bolster any kind of more specific themed section, be in the north american desert, south american thorn forest, the andes cloud forest or even the south american savannah, these guys will fit their and do an important job of bolstering the general species lists.
View attachment 406080

And lastly for the just south american options we got the coati, south american for more explicit south american range and the white nose for more central america focus.
Among the most common animals from south america, including more common then any single species of monkey they defenetly are among south americas greats and should be in the game.

Last but not least, one of patagonian mara or rhea takes the cake for representing non tropical south america for basicly all the reasons the coati should be in the game.
Ideally we get all 3 but we gotta cut somewhere for a pack that mixes both north and south american fauna and the patagonia duo is where id make it.


So we got:

Americas animal pack
1. ABB
2. Muskox
3. Geoffreys Spider Monkey
4. Roseate Spoonbill
5. Ocelot
6. Coati
7. Mara/Rhea
And no exhibit animal and some random props instead if the trend from last year stays, but if we do get one a simple corn snake would be pretty dope.

For just a south + central america pack easy, cut ABB, Muskox and corn snake and replace them with the second one from the patagonia duo and another monkey, most likly howler or squirrel.

Now going with a more around the worlds pack, id say we are most likly looking at:

The 3 leftover dictionary ones in secretary bird, goodfellows tree kangaroo and shortbeaked echinda, which im quite happy with as we got a very good way to round out oceania and the most popular bird on the meta wishlist even if i personally dont see the secretary as a priority bird is bird and its a very different one to what we allready got.

Then for reasons mentioned before the ABB and a Coati feel like save inclusions even if for very different reasons. Add the Black howler Monkey as the new world monkey and the Blackbuck as the nessecarry ungulate and most needed animal to finish up india and we got a pack that revisits every continent besides europe and antarctica thats stuffed full with a reasonable selection of fan favorites and a decent variety of different animals that all fill a role in the roster. Add in the King kobra as a last exhibit for the cobra engine and the fact that asias exhibit situation is abysmal and you got a pretty dope farewell pack.

Farewell Animal Pack
1. Secretary Bird
2. Goodfellows Tree Kangaroo
3. Shortbeaked echidna
4. ABB
5. Coati
6. Black Howler Monkey
7. Blackbuck
8. King Cobra (E)


Of these 3 packs id personally be most on board with a full on south america pack, but id be lying if i was upset with any of them as a last pack to round out the game (shocker when i made them myself).

Really good ideas!
A full South American pack is also sth I would love to see but I think another around the world pack is more likely (but with a focus on South America), also considering the dictionary thing. A tree kangaroo would still be very cool to have!

Regarding South America: one New World monkey, coati, mara and rhea is the necessary minimum in my opinion.

 

[Losing My Lunch]

Interesting that a 19th DLC is confirmed. This disrupts the trend of doing DLC bundles on console because there will be nothing to pair with it, unless Barnyard/Zookeeper/DLC19 becomes its own bundle.

 

[Mjmannella]

Interesting that a 19th DLC is confirmed. This disrupts the trend of doing DLC bundles on console because there will be nothing to pair with it, unless Barnyard/Zookeeper/DLC19 becomes its own bundle.

Which is why I think there’s gonna be 2 DLC packs in 2025, purely for the sake of more console bundles

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Really good ideas!
A full South American pack is also sth I would love to see but I think another around the world pack is more likely (but with a focus on South America), also considering the dictionary thing. A tree kangaroo would still be very cool to have!

Regarding South America: one New World monkey, coati, mara and rhea is the necessary minimum in my opinion.

Agreed but highly unlikly in an around the world pack.

Best case imo would be an americas pack to throw north america 2ish last gifts aswell and an around the world pack where south america gets however many animals it gave up in its own pack, preferably in the form of a monkey and a bird

 

[NachoB]

It feels like that since barnyard, the same kind of "might as well make another since they keep asking". It also mirrors what one of the frontier financial meetings reportedly said where they are unsure about the longevity of planet zoo in the long term, I'm still doubtful whether planet zoo 2 is actually happening or they are just keeping planet zoo alive by giving us a new dlc every so often to keep the community calm because we keep buying them.

I feel like pz 2 won't happen for a long time. Maybe that's why we get more DLCs in the mean time but spaced out more. I guess our waiting time now is six months between packs.

Also with this next DLC we will go over 200 animals so that's another milestone reached. After that it could make sense making a 20th pack to wrap things up in a round number but i think a pack like ZK dlc could be sold on it's own for console first anniversary as well an anniversary pack just like it was for us.

Also i missed the convo about burrowing owl amd puffin but yeah don't care about realisim. I don't need them flying around other than to maybe perch on poles and rocks or smth like that with a new animation and most deffinetly cam make an implied aviary in the game if i want them enclosed so i don't see how is that an issue that prevents them to make it to the game. Same goes for the secretary. I just put a net over the enclosure and done but i don't even care about that for the secretary either. So bring them all in

 

[Fossa]

For an ALL OVER THE WORLD DLC I would like to see

South America: Black Howler Monkey, the only primate (with Gelada and Aye-Aye) I'd really still like to see, not really a primate guy I guess...

Africa: Secretary Bird, it's the number one in the list, you can't take it away and modders can't create it after the game doesn't get support anymore, so the secretary will never be there if not given by the team.

Asia: Reeve's Muntjac, such a bizarre and cool species with the long fangs, Golden Pheasant comes close second though.

Australia: Tree Kangaroo, just such an iconic animal and many people want it, so give it! Also very hard to do for modders.

Europe: Great White Pelican, we really need a pelican! Doesn't matter which species to me, but Europe is very hard to come up with another animal

North America: Musk Ox, yeah, this one is iconic and in zoo tycoon

Antarctic: Leopard Seal, not really wanted by the realistic community, but I really would like to see it, if they skip antarctic animals I will switch the Musk Ox for Walrus.

Then maybe because it's the last pack:

New Zealand = Echidna, is it even living there I wonder? If not, then Kakapo

Madagaskar = Aye-Aye, to complete the Lemur family.

Central America = Coati, I don't really care for it that much, still like it, but many people want it

Probably some errors in there, but still, I would like these animals in one pack.

 

[NZFanatic]

To be honest I have seen a lot of Puffins in zoos and aquariums lately. I almost never see them fly.

See:

Indeed, but that's the same for most birds in zoos. Besides very small flocking birds, such as finches, parakeets, so on, aviary birds do not tend to expend the energy it takes to fly if they don't need to. It's rather more about what they need to be contained than what they actually behave like.

As I said, it's not about what they do, it's about how they're contained. The puffins in that habitat you shared swim because that's where their food is. In the wild, they will spend the vast majority of their time flying great distances in search of food. In captivity they don't need to. However, take away the aviary and put them in the open air, and they won't hang around for long. Given that they use their wings to steer in the water, too, clipping isn't viable or ethical.

 

[Thylaco]

What do we think this means for the next Planet game that we know is coming? It's unlikely it's PZ2 now, surely?

Next CMS after PC2 is very likely JWE3 (a Frontier JW game is confirmed to be around the next film, and JWE2 doesn't have a pulse on steamDB). Soonest PZ2 could be expected is November 2026.

If we just keep getting DLC, the identity of the third CMS might be something else, but based on the decision coming from financial hardship, it's hard to see it not being a sequel.

I just saw the stream. From the announcement I get the vibes like they aren't really sure themselves in making this pack.

Now of course, since they publicly said it, it's happening, but it feels like it might have been last minute idea (last minute in terms, after the newest DLC). I'm all for new content, I just wouldn't like them forcing and stretching new pack out of the blue, if they didn't plan it, and don't have enough "man power" to do it, just because they saw that there's enough interest and demand for more packs to be made

While the language leaves it open, it's really not something they'd be discussing at all if it wasn't fairly concrete. I would think she was hesitant because she didn't want to accidentally divulge too much, seeing she's working on it.

At the very least it is confirmed it's being worked on, so at minimum a free update at some point (the DLCs pay for that, so it seems a bit weird to not have one).

Interesting that a 19th DLC is confirmed. This disrupts the trend of doing DLC bundles on console because there will be nothing to pair with it, unless Barnyard/Zookeeper/DLC19 becomes its own bundle.

Might be another after, or there's the fact PC1 console had the final DLCs unbundled. A celebratory themed DLC alongside the 5th anniversary was about as good as it gets for a finale, at least in theory, so it's hard to not see that as the original intention.

Barnyard/Zookeeper bundle would be in Late May following the current trend, Late July would be the following interval, which also happens to be after the typical Summer spot (June-July), so potentially room for two DLCs in that time, albeit not at the current rate.

 

[Marvinb]

See:

As I said, it's not about what they do, it's about how they're contained. The puffins in that habitat you shared swim because that's where their food is. In the wild, they will spend the vast majority of their time flying great distances in search of food. In captivity they don't need to. However, take away the aviary and put them in the open air, and they won't hang around for long. Given that they use their wings to steer in the water, too, clipping isn't viable or ethical.

But should that stop them from being in game? All birds that look believable without flight should just be habitat animals, whoever wants to have them in an aviary or indoor setting can still very easily do so.

 

[USzoofan42]

NA got 2 unofficial builds, then got an animal

I don’t understand when people say this. Yes the animals were the focus of these packs but the builds were European.
Twilight- Gothic Theme, Germany
Red Fox, Almost worldwide rep
Raccoon, NA
Skunk- NA

Arctic- Norwegian Theme
Bear- Arctic Circle
Sheep- Alaska
Wolf- Arctic Circle
Reindeer- Arctic Circle

If also like to point out that none of these animals are useful to NA players besides the bear and reindeer.

 

[Erior]

As if European zoos don't have foxes, badgers or wild boars.

 

[Marvinb]

If also like to point out that none of these animals are useful to NA players besides the bear and reindeer.

Why not?

 

[Utahraptor Arcanus]

If Frontier actually makes a Americas pack: please for the love of everything you believe, don't add the coyote on it.

It already sucked to receive the African Leopard, nobody need that situation again.

 

[Erior]

Loved the African leopard, would love the coyote, don't be so self-centered yucking other's yum.

 

[Britches]

I would love the coyote.
...and I also love the african leopard