I'm so old. What is a season pass?

MightyUnclean

I keep hearing that game developers are now charging extra for something called a season pass.  What does this mean, exactly?

Horusra

basically gets you access to all DLC's that a game puts out that year...you are paying in advance and maybe a discounted price to get the future DLC's

MightyUnclean

Ah, thanks.  Well, I guess in a time when so many of the companies are screwing players with DLC instead of complete games, any discount is something.

Palebane

Its an advertising scam, like preorders and early-access. Have the customers pay extra or ahead of time in case the product sucks. They are banking on people being too lazy to refund. Good games can get away with it so it has sadly become an accepted standard.

Phry

MightyUnclean said:

Ah, thanks.  Well, I guess in a time when so many of the companies are screwing players with DLC instead of complete games, any discount is something.

More often than not it will only be 'some' DLC, not all of it. Unsurprisingly the best DLC will often not be included in the Season Pass. If you treat Season Passes as a scam then you will rarely be wrong.

acidblood

Palebane said:

Its an advertising scam, like preorders and early-access. Have the customers pay extra or ahead of time in case the product sucks. They are banking on people being too lazy to refund. Good games can get away with it so it has sadly become an accepted standard.

Basically this ^ ... though the only 'good game' I can think of where the season pass was maybe worth it was The Witcher 3, and even then you'd have been better off waiting for the complete edition.

Alverant

I got the mobile game Sentinels of the Multiverse that had two season passes. While not everything in each season pass was great, enough of it was to justify the purchase. Plus they're a small company so I can grant them some leeway. Overall though, season passes are a gamble like preordering a game.

Grunty

Prepaid DLC for approximately one 'season' usually consisting of a one year time period.  No guarantee on quantity or quality of DLC.  It might be pure fluff; weapon & player skins.  It might be a campaign half the length of the original game.

H0urg1ass

I give the same advice for season passes that I give for pre-ordering games:  Don't!

I've never played a single game where every bit of DLC was worth the price of the Season Pass.  In fact, with the Fallout Games in particular, and the Far Cry games as well, there's usually only one good piece of DLC in the entire roundup and none that couldn't wait 12-24 months to pick up on a 75% off sale on Steam and play then.

ChildoftheShadows

I like how the moment a company tries to make some money it's called a scam.

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H0urg1ass

ChildoftheShadows said:

I like how the moment a company tries to make some money it's called a scam.

In general I agree with you.  I think the pushback on companies trying to make money can be a little harsh around here, but in this case, it generally is a scam.

The gaming world in general works like this these days:

A home builder is building a new house.  He's got a good reputation so far and has built a few houses that people really love.  He's building another house, and you need one and want one of his homes because they've been so beautiful in the past.  So you give him your money up front thinking about the beautiful homes he built other people.

Then he finishes the home and you go see it... and it's nothing like what you expected.  Not only that but parts of it aren't functional.  Some of the plumbing is missing. Some light switches don't work or do unexpected things like turn your shower on instead.  It's the right color and has the right amount of rooms, but everything else is a disaster.  But you've already paid, so there you go... enjoy.

Buying a season pass is paying the same home builder, up front again, because he promises to add four different upgrades to your home in the future.  He won't tell you what they are, what they'll add to your house and you don't get to have any say in the choices.  Just pay him now and see what you get.

The first thing he builds you is a dream dog house in the back yard.  It's got AC for summer, heating for winter, an automatic feeder and watering system.  It's every out door dog owners dream... except you're allergic to dogs, don't own any, won't own any ever and have no use for it, but too bad cause you paid for it up front and technically he fulfilled his side of the bargain.

My very long-winded point is this:  Never, ever ever pay someone upfront for work that they haven't already done.  Pay someone, and pay them well, for good quality work that they've already finished that makes you happy.

Ungood

MightyUnclean said:

Ah, thanks.  Well, I guess in a time when so many of the companies are screwing players with DLC instead of complete games, any discount is something.

I get that this might be only me, but I look at DLC's like "Mini-Expansions", in the form of dungeons, or maps, races, classes, etc. They are adding to the game as the game goes on. This also keeps them making more of the game, building, developing, adding to the game world if they want to keep an income going. As opposed to lootboxes or cosmetics, or pointless fluff items, that don't add to the game, but become the focus of development.

Also with DLC directing their income, what I buy drives what they make. This way, I am directing the games development with my wallet, not by ranting on the forums.

Unlike say, Lootboxes or Cosmetics or Subs, where the source of the money is obscure, and can't be effectively traced, this allows some loud minority to direct the development of the actual game, which is a horrible idea IMHO.

Just my feels on that payment model.

AlBQuirky

I first heard "season pass" for the Telltale Games' The Walking Dead. I have no clue if that was first or not. That was basically paying for the game by chapters, beforehand.

Since then, I've seen all kinds of single player, non-story based games use this scam. It is set up to lure in the impatient with wonderful marketing words and terms when in fact, if they could wait a year or so, the "Complete", "Gold Edition", GotY", or any other "package" would be much, much cheaper, after all DLCs are released.

Raquis

I am old too but it means dlc`s that will release later and you get extra armor and weapons sometimes also access to betas and sometimes you get weapons and armor that people dont get that just bought the normal game but its not pay to win.( if you really like a certain game like the souls games or Nioh then buy the season pass its cheaper than getting the dlc`s later on)

Wizardry

it doesn't necessarily mean ANY update or dlc at all,just means give us money and we will let you play through each season,more like a library card,pay to update it each year so you can keep taking out books.

Furthermore i am pretty sure ALL ,like every single one of these games operate with cash shops.Sooo if you pay us we will allow you to access our ongoing updated cash shop to spend MORE money.this is the era of selling $30 games for 10++x more than they are worth.

We have purchased shooter games for 30+ years and only paid ONCE and we gave the community the tools to make mods/maps/assets etc etc .NO ADDED costs.
This new idea of seasons pass is SCUMMMY and should not exist.

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Quizzical

ChildoftheShadows said:

I like how the moment a company tries to make some money it's called a scam.

Asking me to pay money so that I can play a game that is already released is not a scam, at least if they give me the access to the game that they promised in exchange for the money.  It's asking me to pay money for something that does not yet exist and may or may not ever exist in a form substantially similar to what is promised that is far more dubious.

Palebane

ChildoftheShadows said:

I like how the moment a company tries to make some money it's called a scam.

I liked how they used to make money by making great games.

TheDarkrayne

I've had some good season passes and some bad ones..

Borderlands 2 season pass is an example of a good one. Lot of content for the money that was on par or better quality than the rest of the game. Probably 4 times the amount of stuff you typically get in a season pass.

Pillars of Eternity 1 'expansion' pass was pretty good.

Destiny 2 current season pass is hot garbage.

The Division 1 season pass was hot garbage.

There's more bad examples than good overall...

timtrack

From the first time i heard about it i got a very bad taste in my mouth. In what other market would you agree to pay for something like this?

"Hey man, pay me for this."
"Eh? What is that?"
"You'll see."
"What? No, tell me what i'm paying for."
"We haven't decided yet, but it'll be great i promise."
"But... how much of whatever it is will i get?"
"Well that depends on how well we're doing and how much we can make."
"So i might get nothing?"
"I guess. But we'll try to make you at least one thing for sure."
"Sounds like a bad deal man."
"We'll throw in a super special sword, totally unique with glowing stuff on it."
"Deal."

Enters game. Sees everyone running around with the super unique sword.

"Well, shit."

SirAgravaine

Anyone that is upset at Game Developers and Publishers selling DLCs or for adding microtransactions have no business sense whatsoever. When was the last time the box price on a video game changed?

ConstantineMerus

Season pass means a package containing all the DLCs of the season. You can buy the season pass whenever. It is usually cheaper to get a season pass instead of buying all the DLCs separately. Pre-purchasing it is same as pre-ordering a game or an expansion. Developers lay out a season plan so you'd know what to expect.

There is nothing dodgy about the season pass by itself. If someone has experienced something shady (which can be discussed) it doesn't taint the concept in any way. 

It seems the word "scam" in the gaming world is the equivalent of "snowflake" or "racist" of the political atmosphere; we just yell it out for no good reason whatsoever. 

karmath

SirAgravaine said:

Anyone that is upset at Game Developers and Publishers selling DLCs or for adding microtransactions have no business sense whatsoever. When was the last time the box price on a video game changed?

Box price has increased somewhat in the last decade, however that whole argument isn't looking at the whole picture and is tossing aside the hugely important principle of economies of scale, in which prices should be going down, not up. Even more so when you take into account that all games needed to be on physical media along with an actual box that needed to be shipped and stocked at a retail outlet, the cost of so is incredibly higher that most seem to assume.

Coupled with  a decade ago if a game sold 100,000 copies it was considered a successful title. A game today that sold 100,000 copies is considered a resounding failure, leading to a hugely different consumer market reception and that's not even considering the impact of company stock price, another hugely important factor. Eg. A game a decade ago sells 100k copies and gets rave reviews, one could expect consumer demand to increase for the studios next title, 150k would be a conservative outlook. If a game today sold 100k, it would get slammed in the media and the studio could expect consumer backlash on their next title even if it was a marked improvement and could potentially sell even less, such an outlook would be represented in stock price.

TLDR; You're getting ripped off, and if you defend such practices you are a fool.

Iselin

They're to future content what loot boxes are to loot: you pay ahead and hope the DLC will be worth it