I've been thinking about everything involving Erdrick and Steve and wanted to let out some thoughts.
Disclaimers: I'm not saying either character isn't happening. Also, although I wish to see Steve join the battle, I am putting aside all biases.
First a bit of history:
Since May of last year, Verge claimed that Minecraft would have some unspecified content in the base game. Later in July, there was a "leak" on NeoGAF that claimed Square Enix/Final Fantasy would receive a second character, again in base game although in August Verge claimed that there would be a second SE character and that there was a list of 7 names going around to catch leakers, but he didn't know about NeoGAF, which ultimately ended up wrong (NeoGAF that is). Then came the Box Theory, which contradicted the SE newcomer. But then Verge stated SE was DLC. So already the goalposts have moved. Cue DLC announcement, then cue Hitagi claiming SE and Steve as DLC. Hitagi later gave up on everything except playable Steve. Around this time, Verge stated SE was DLC 1.
Things really heated up when the game leaked and everyone realized Minecraft had nothing in base game. Verge even stated Minecraft would be a boss despite Ryce, ResetEra member and insider, stating Verge was being misled on Minecraft. Then the Game Awards came and DLC 1 was... Joker from Persona 5. Specifically not a SE character. Later, he stated the SE rep was someone from Dragon Quest, most likely Erdrick.
There are a few flaws I see in all this that make me question everything:
1. Knowing that there'd be DLC before base roster was revealed
2. Knowing specifically who 2 of the 5 DLC is
3. Knowing the DLC for the period of time that we've known
Sakurai prefers to start with DLC only after the base game is completed (barring
and
maybe though both could've been planned for base in their respective games). He also has a much smaller team because the game's done, all that's left are a few characters and ensuring they work. So how is it that lots of insiders are specifically claiming Erdrick and Steve are in?
I could understand if this were a Ken leak situation with a legit screenshot, but all we keep getting is whispers and text on a forum. Sure, it is possibly legit information and they want to keep the people with a job safe, but for the DLC specifically, the people working it are usually those with experience in the field and thus the
least likely to go forth and start risking their NDA's.
Finally, this whole Erdrick and Steve thing somewhat bugs me that a ton of people flock to these characters like sheep and make the real fans look bad for wanting a "hated" character.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I just wanted to get this off my chest.