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When You Buy Season Passes, Do You Feel Like A Sap?

Ben-Dutka 36 Comments

Before anyone labels this as some sort of anti-DLC rant, let me be clear:

Downloadable content, season passes, microtransactions, etc. all exist because they sell. People voluntarily pay for them. The market will bear it and to complain bitterly about it makes little sense. Cearly, publishers are making a lot of money on consumers who willingly fork over their cash for this extra content. I have zero problem with this. Don't like it? You can only lay the blame at the consumer's feet, as is typically the case.

That being said, I almost never bother with any of it. As far as I'm concerned, microtransactions are for the lazy and very often, they exist to further hook a totally addicted player. I've heard of people spending obscene sums of money on microtransactions for certain mobile games, for example. 99 percent of DLC that releases is multiplayer-oriented, which I don't care about, so I don't really partake. Same goes for Season Passes. But I did just get the Season Pass for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and while I can't complain (I paid for it, after all), I can't help shaking this feeling…

It just feels as if I've been taken. I know CD Projekt Red didn't hold back this content just to make money on it later. I know that. I also don't believe developers or publishers make a common practice of this, despite all the conspiracy theories out there. And I suppose one could say that as I'm supposedly getting 30+ extra hours for $25, that's not a bad deal. But there's still this lingering annoyance that I just paid another $25 on top of the $60 back in May, and I'm just playing more of the same game.

Yeah, there are new missions and a new story and all that. I get it. Even so, it really is the same game, yes? It gave me an inexplicable yet uneasy feeling when I paid for this Season Pass, that's all, and I wonder if others have experienced the sensation as well. I doubt it – I find few gamers today are aligned with my beliefs, anyway – but I thought I'd ask.

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Who’s A Fan Of The Season Pass?

Ben-Dutka 31 Comments

There was a time when downloadable content for consoles was unheard of. Add-on content for video games only existed in the PC world, as separately sold expansion packs. Remember those?

But now that the online aspect of the industry has exploded, and most every major game release comes with the promise of future DLC, new systems are in place. One such system is the Season Pass, which has been adopted by many large publishers and game producers.

The idea is simple: The developer has a certain amount of DLC planned for any given game release, and you can pay for all those packs ahead of time. There's a discount involved if you do; for instance, if there are four packs that will retail for $14.99 each, you can grab the Season Pass for $50 and save yourself $10. Plus, you don't have to worry about shelling out when each new piece of DLC shows up; you already paid, so you just download it and enjoy. That's the positive side of the concept, obviously.

But there are downsides as well. For instance, what if you bought the Season Pass, only to find that you really don't like the game much? Then you've purchased all the DLC for a significant sum, and you don't really plan to play any of it. Or, you like the game but the developers release subpar DLC, and you're stuck with it. Essentially, you're betting on the idea that all extra content would be something you'd buy anyway, right? And if it isn't, you can't help but feel ripped off, I would assume. I'm not making any sort of personal commentary; I've never bought a Season Pass for anything and I probably never will. I usually don't do multiplayer.

I'm just wondering what other people think of it.

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