DLC Season Pass

Overview

As DLC offerings for games have continually increased, starting in 2011 some publishers have begun offering a "season pass" for sale that provides access to all (or a specific set) of the game's downloadable content, including the ability to pre-order not-yet-released DLC.

The first introduction of this business model was with L.A. Noire's "Rockstar Pass" that, when bought, granted access to four downloadable cases (including two that had yet to be released), plus two outfits and a "badge pursuit" challenge mode. The price for buying all of this content individually is $20, but the pass which includes everything originally sold for $10 (a limited-time offer; the price later raised to $12) - a savings of 50%.

Possible Benefits

Some argue this business model provides benefits to both players and publishers. For publishers, this bundling together with a discount may influence players who were going to only buy a small amount of DLC to purchase all of it bundled together to take advantage of the discount. Additionally, by offering pre-orders of future DLC they can collect revenue before the DLC is officially released.

For players, those who were already planning to buy all of a title's DLC are able to receive a somewhat significant discount.