Thoughts on season passes

Here on the giantbombcast they have talking briefly and even on the goty editions about season passes for games i am personally against companies that do that. I am cheap and always buy games when they are a couple months old except for skyrim when they are 20 or 30 bucks less than retail. Am i alone doing this and what are your thoghts on season passes?

I enjoy the season pass type program when it's implemented well, surprise I like something when it's done well. Seriously though as long as it's a good value I don't mind getting it. Recently I bought the Uncharted 3 season pass for $24.99 and so far the maps and skins have been great with much more to come, very happy with my purchase and it keeps me coming back to the game. I also thought MK did a good job with the whole season pass thing and I wish companies like Capcom would apply that to their fighting games so it somewhat confirms continued downloadable support.

It saves over time if you're interested in bite sized updates for your favorite blockbusters.
 
It also ups the purchase of a new title to +20-30 bucks.
 
I don't like em, but I dislike most DLC, I fancy old school expansions.

I like the idea of seasons passes because they ultimately offer more content for less money to the consumer.
 
However I want to know up front what I'm getting, not a full fucking seven page description but at least a sentence or two explaining what the shit is, and I want to know I'm getting a value.
 
I'm already somewhat regretting jumping on the SR3 season pass after Genki Bowl, although I'm still holding out for the next two packs before proclaiming it a waste.

Season Passes are kind of a scammy way of getting even more money out of people.

Not really a scam per-se because you are getting the DLC at a lower price no matter what - but the part where you don't always know WHAT you're getting is what sucks about it.

I was about to jump all over the Saints Row 3 season pass but then saw the Nightblade stuff, then this Genkibowl DLC and it's like those second thoughts at the Gamestop where you start clutching your money and pulling your hand ever so slowly away from the counter.

If I was planning to pick up all the DLC included in the Season Pass then why not? I just dislike how Mortal Kombat got a season pass on the 360 with no PS3 version in sight and then after all four characters came out, SURPRISE! One came out for the PS3.

Season passes are best if the games and extra content are good. The problem is what the content will be. You have to make personal judgement about it at the end.

I'd much prefer buying something up front and getting the cost out of the way when I know I will buy all the DLC (I'd love for example, a Mass Effect 3 Season Pass and also some confirmation they will sell their shitty action figure PDLC standalone)

That being said a 'Season Pass' needs to cover ALL Premium DLC that comes out until the end of the 'Season'. LA Noire did it right, you got all the missions, all the cosmetic items. Mortal Kombat as well (though I don't know first hand). Both games had Season Passes that included ALL available PDLC. Saints Row The Third and Gears of War 3 are the primary offenders here because they have their 'Season Pass' Content and on top of that have cosmetic DLC for sale.

Genuine question here; has the entire DLC schedule for any game offering a season pass ever been revealed before the pass is made available? I've never bought one, but off the top of my head I remember Saints Row 3, Forza 4 and Gears 3 having season passes. Were those always a "pay now and see what you get later" situation?

Also, are season passes typically always available for purchase, or limited to the launch window of a game?

Youre basically paying for a promise of here ill Take your money and ill coma back later with great fantastic things Does anyone think season passes will rid away goty game editions and or platinum hit games

I like the seasons passes.

It's a gamble. So much DLC is total shit. Rockstar did well with the LA Noire cases though. I'd like to see more pubs/devs do it like that instead of this Saint's Row abomination's Genki Bowl.

I don't make passes at girls with season pass.... fuck, it's lazy to rhyme a word with itself.

I love it. I've bought season passes for MW3, Gears 3 and WWE 12' and its fun to remember you bought the season pass and in many cases brings me back to games. Been playing a lot of MW3 ever since the new maps dropped.

the idea i think is good but its in the practice.

Most companies are not upfornt with what you are getting in the pass. LA noire told you what the 4 cases were. Mortal kombat had you take a blind leap on what the characters were. If companies are more clear what you are getting then there is less of a risk. its a great way to get money upfront and lock people into DLc so its easy to abuse

@Demoskinos said:

I love it. I've bought season passes for MW3, Gears 3 and WWE 12' and its fun to remember you bought the season pass and in many cases brings me back to games. Been playing a lot of MW3 ever since the new maps dropped.

What's not fun is when it turns out to be a bunch of shit or you're egged into buying it and then after playing the game, you realize you don't really care about playing any more. I'd rather they just reduce the price across the board and leave it be. Hopefully we evolve a better business model around the time of the next console generation.

i find DLC to be scams. i don't' buy a lot of DLC so season passes aren't good for me.

I think it is a cool idea that I have never used

I'm not big on DLC. I'm sure it's fine if you're willing to trust the developer to release good content. But if you only end up liking one or two things then it just ends up being a waste of money. I would also much rather come back to a game a year or two later and pick up a GOTY edition for the same price and have all the content available to me then just waiting for them to release the next piece of content I already paid for.

I like the idea of season passes, but I rarely ever buy them. Because who knows how much I am still going to be into the game 8 months later, its why I didn't buy a Call of Duty one because I really don't play it anymore.

I don't like paying money if I don't know what I'll be getting. It may save you money but only if you plan on buying all the DLC.

Take Saints Row 3. You should not pay money for the Genkibowl DLC. If the rest of the DLC was good, would you end up breaking even if you bought the season pass vs. buying everything but Genkibowl and useless costumes/cheat packs?

Multiplayer games make more sense for Season Pass since single player content is harder to make good than Map packs.

I don't mind them. 
I even bought the one for L.A Noire and the Saints Row: The Third one.. 
 
People saying it costs more than 20-30 bucks are fucking insane. 

They're fine. If you know you want all the DLC (like in Forza I want all the cars), then you can save money buying them all up front. If you want to see how they pan out first, then you pay the same as everyone else. Don't see any real reason to oppose it. It still requires developers to make good DLC since the majority still buy it piecemeal.

@Branthog said:

I don't make passes at girls with season pass.... fuck, it's lazy to rhyme a word with itself.

Or really clever if you're post-modern about it. Morrissey does it all the time and once you know he's a complete piss-taker it's all good.

The crap thing about season passes is when they go on sale, like happened with the Gears of War 3 one. I'd be so annoyed if I bought it because it's like I'm buying this and getting the stuff cheaper and now you're offering it cheaper again after only one item as been released. And of course the DLC does end up on sale like the LA Noire stuff is now. They're fools' gold at the moment.

Passes, like achievements, also play a part in delaying games from entering the 2nd hand market because you're more likely to keep them while you wait for new gubbins to come out.

They're good if you know you're going to get everything that's included in them anyway. For example, if you love Gears of War and playing it online, getting the season pass is less than if you bought all the DLC separately if you would have bought it all anyway.

not a fan of DLC in general. I'd prefer they put some real time into it and made a full up expansion disk or just get on to the next game.

Season Passes are all well and good for the most part, but what I loathe is when they sometimes release DLC outside of the Season Pass, like THQ did with Saints Row and that whole Gears weapon skin travesty. They may be little things like extra weapons/costumes, but I purposely paid for the season pass to have it all, and it was just a slap in the face for them to start releasing stuff on the outside.

Uncharted 3 has handled it the best, since it's given you a good outliner of what to expect (4 map packs, 3 skin packs) but then actually announced more DLC (3 skin packs, 3 more unspecified packs and another coop campaign) down the line to be apart of the season pass for no extra charge. Of course they could of been planning it all along and only announced later on to make them appear like the angels of generosity, but whatever the case, there's now a lot of content nestled within that £20 season pass for anyone who's interested in the MP. Actually there was also some Killzone themed gear you could slap on your custom guy that was released out of nowhere and it was free

The L.A Noire season pass is another great example of handling it well, but that was no surprise given how Rockstar are always the best when it comes to console DLC.

It's a gamble. So much DLC is total shit. Rockstar did well with the LA Noire cases though. I'd like to see more pubs/devs do it like that instead of this Saint's Row abomination's Genki Bowl.

I've never touched one and I never will. I'm not going to gamble for some DLC I wouldn't be interested in anyway.

@iam3green said:

i find DLC to be scams.

Uh, what?

I've never touched one and I never will. I'm not going to gamble for some DLC I wouldn't be interested in anyway.

@iam3green said:

i find DLC to be scams.

Uh, what?

@Mendelson9 said:

I don't like paying money if I don't know what I'll be getting. It may save you money but only if you plan on buying all the DLC.

Take Saints Row 3. You should not pay money for the Genkibowl DLC. If the rest of the DLC was good, would you end up breaking even if you bought the season pass vs. buying everything but Genkibowl and useless costumes/cheat packs?

Multiplayer games make more sense for Season Pass since single player content is harder to make good than Map packs.

Thats your opinion. The Genkibowl DLC is absolutely fine.