The Season Pass

Gaming was once a simple concept; as a matter of fact, it was so long ago that video gaming was elementary, it feels more like a blurred memory or a dream you can't quite recall. I remember the straightforward task of heading to one's favourite rental store or video game distributor and finding the game you intended to purchase right there on the shelf. Of course, there were times where one might browse to find something of interest if they enter the store empty-minded. You find your game, make your purchase and go home to enjoy your acquisition. It's no longer a simple concept...in a general sense, anyway.

Back in the day, there was no such thing as downloadable content or add-ons for video game titles; video games were released in their complete form. There weren't additional map packs, downloadable vehicles or microtransactions to expedite your progress. It was a "what you see is what you get" thematic. Here's the product, we hope you enjoy it, that'll be $49.99. As we broke out of the early 2000's with the seventh generation consoles, we saw an increase in video game prices as well as new concepts to encourage the consumer to spend more money: downloadable content.

You would be hard pressed to find a video game on the shelves today that doesn't offer at least one piece of downloadable content to add to the experience. Nine out of ten times, it's advertised on the box as a reward for purchasing the game new and sealed, opposed to pre-owned with a 14 day return policy. Initially, downloadable content seemed to be an afterthought; developers would release their finished product and as simple as issuing an update over Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network, for a small fee, players could add some extra spice to the game they put 30+ hours into. It was a nice sentiment, a great addition to add a little extra to the experience. Today, downloadable content would appear to be on the drawing board before the actual game itself. We often see a few titles that already have downloadable content planned before the game even launches, which begs the question, "Why couldn't that have been in the game to start with?" There's only one answer: the humble dollar sign.

It's a tried and true practice as we enter the tenth year since downloadable content transformed into more than the occasional free seasoning to a flavourful experience. Downloadable content is essentially a staple in the gaming community, the Aiden to Jodie Holmes, if you will, and sometimes, it serves a decent purpose. However, the concept of downloadable content is often either abused or overworked: developers will use the ability to release downloadable content as an excuse to create unfinished products or to simply generate more revenue and overall, charge more than the MSRP $59.99. It's essentially the equivalent of doing what you can to squeeze more juice out of a lemon than what your hand strength allows.

In addition, there's the not-so-subtle slap in the face of releasing a "Game of the Year" edition of the same title, with all of the released downloadable content bundled for the same price you paid for the game alone just one year prior. It's kind of like, "Hey, thanks for spending that extra money for the downloadable content. To those who didn't, that's okay: here's basically the complete edition of the game for the rightful MSRP price, no strings attached." On one hand, it may appear to be a reward for the patient. On the other hand, it may appear like a slap in the face to the gamers who spent an extra $30 to $40 (for argument's sake, if three or four DLC packs were released at $10 each.)

Evolution. It's something we're all privy to and see in every day life; we've seen it in ourselves, in education, politics, religion...well, sort of, and in the gaming community. Downloadable content has essentially sprouted a third arm and that comes by way of the season pass. Kind of like at Comic Con how the season pass gets you three-day-access for a discounted price compared to buying a single ticket for each day. The season pass is a concept I go back and forth on and commonly question its validity. What does it do? Why does it exist? Is it actually worth it? Finding out the answer to the latter question involves mathematics, which I am not a fan of whatsoever, but is indeed a necessary evil.

The would-be textbook definition of the term 'season pass' as used in video gaming is: a digital peripheral that provides access to all - or a specific set - of a video game's downloadable content, usually sold at a discounted price, compared to purchasing individual downloadable content packs separately. The season pass was first seen four years ago, when Rockstar Games announced the 'Rockstar Pass' for their title, L.A. Noire, that allowed purchasers to save approximately $10 by purchasing the $10 Rockstar Pass and receive a discount on all downloadable content contained therein, which would have cost $20 without the Rockstar Pass. Essentially, in a nutshell, the concept was: spend $10 now and you unlock all of the upcoming downloadable content. Otherwise, you can wait until they're all released and spend $20 buying them individually. Around the same time, Mortal Kombat offered a similar incentive, so the argument of which developer did it first is debatable.

Since the initial inclusion of the season pass, neighbouring developers decided to follow suit and issue their own versions and forms of the season pass concept. It's a common concept among Activision, Ubisoft and DICE and we've seen it in games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Batman, The Evil Within, Far Cry and even The Last of Us. It's a simple concept: spend money now and save money later. However, the season pass has evolved, like everything else. In earlier days, the season pass followed that simple concept - spend money now, save money later - by way of purchasing the season pass at launch with the game and get access to the upcoming content for no extra charge. Now, to once again attempt to get more juice out of a lemon, developers have flipped the script on the purpose of the season pass.

As we see in gaming today, the season pass no longer offers all of the upcoming downloadable content for a game at a flat rate. Now, you purchase the $20 season pass to save as little as 10% on any and all upcoming content. It's all a very cut-and-dry attempt at the game company to get more money from the consumer, as if close to $100 for a video game doesn't generate them enough revenue presently. If you ask me, the season pass is an unnecessary evil.

In the grand scheme of things, the season pass gives consumers a discount on all the content coming for a game―at least if one was planning to pick up all of the content. Some season passes have been priced at as much as $50, at which point you've already spent $110 on a video game. Factor in any "deluxe," "limited," or "collector's" editions and you'll have spent as much as $250...and counting.

Now that the season pass is pretty much a common factor in all video games today, it begs the question: are they even worth it? The short answer is: well, yes and no.

The topic of the season pass is an opinionated one and as such, the answer depends on who you ask and what kind of gamer they are. For the gamer who's been breaking their neck waiting for Call of Duty 32, preordered the collector's edition the day of announcement, the green light for obtaining a season pass is as clear as a summer's day. Such gamers, who developers and marketing teams make collector's editions for in the first place, are usually the kind who know what they like regardless of external criticism; the amount of hours they'll inevitably pour into the experience will most likely be on the same level of their financial funding to the game, so they're getting their money's worth.

For anyone else, though, the season pass concept isn't one to shake a stick at. I remember a few discussions I've had with fellow gamer friends who are still on the other side of the fence in regard to paid downloadable content; they argue the fact that one's paying $60 for a game and still not getting its completed form. At the end of the day, with games that rely on released content post-launch, are games that sneakily dodge the MSRP barrier of $59.99 and their product ends up costing say, $99.99 instead. I mean, one can't particularly blame businesses for doing what businesses do, but one can certainly feel as though the practice takes advantage of both the business model and the consumer in the same breath.

I mean, the fact of the matter is, with most games today, we're spending the $59.99 (plus tax if you don't live in Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon or a country without sales tax) for basically an incomplete experience. We spend the $60 and are essentially expected to spend more for items that should have been in the game at launch. It's even worse when the content is already on the disc and one must pay to unlock it, though we don't see much of that anymore. Throwing a season pass into the mix with its promise of "discounted prices" only solidifies and justifies the backlash.

With "discounted prices," one would think it's a nice sentiment. Let's spend the $20 now so I can save more when buying the content later. What about the gamers who only want specific add-ons? The season pass does nothing for them. But with games that come paired with a season pass that offers a disclosed discount―Dying Light for example―of 10% off the upcoming content, one would really have to sit there and do the math and figure out what would be a better investment: buying the season pass to save 10% on upcoming DLC or skip the incentive and just get the DLC separately? Without price tags being revealed until the day the DLC launches and non-returnable season passes, it's almost like a smoke and mirror illusion to get you to spend more money blindly. It's the equivalent to being asked to have blind faith and doing so in an often corrupt and money-hungry industry is practically a fool's errand. Is it worth it? The only sure-fire way to find out is to wait until the content's been released and do the mathematics.

For most gamers, the best response to the season pass is simply patience. I'm not in the business of telling others how to live their lives, but games will always be on the shelves and their additional content will always be in your console's online store, sometimes even on GameStop's shelves. Just don't forget the aforementioned "Game of the Year" editions of games that seem to be just as commonplace as the season pass itself. If you don't want to wait, you can sometimes manage to get a game at launch and trade it in once you finish it for a pretty decent return price at GameStop, especially if you're a PowerUp Rewards member. A year later, the same game will be re-released with all of its released content for the price of the game alone, which essentially makes the DLC cheaper. You can get the same content that costs $80 in one year and $30 the next.

But the one thing we can't forget about is evolution. Everything changes, everything evolves. It's only a matter of time before the season pass is history and something else takes its place.