The next gen season pass

[Lebowski]

Season pass's seem to be here in a big way, the usual suspects seem to be offering them as the norm, the call of dutys and the battlefileld all have some kind of premium mode, giving early access to maps and special items. this seem to have gone well for them with dlc sales bringing in massive revenues along side the retail price of a game.

And this has made developers take notice games like Dead Rising now have season passes offering exclusive content skins and items as well as a bulk saving on future dlc likewise assassin creed four is offering exclusive missions and items to season pass holders, and a little bit of me thinks "hold on this is the big bad on disk dlc that has been talked about in the past?" these extras are ready now and will be ready to go with the game when it launches the only reason there withheld is to make signing up for a season pass more appealing.

so is ?50 rrp for a game and ?40 for a season pass good value?
or is it a way to make more money out of things that would have been free in the past?

I may be being naive but i liked the old system a few pounds for a map pack, was a nice impulse purchase and you didn't get the day one menu nag about being an elite or whatever. for me the season pass takes away this impulse buy from dlc. i don't think the wholesale adoption of this is going to work for everyone, now its a serious consideration "do i want to commit to this game for a year" and how come if i don't day one content is being withheld?

thoughts?

[Neon Ignition]

The ones that are getting them I don't mind, fans will buy the dlc anyway so they're no worse off and they make sense for stuff like BF and CoD. Its all the other games that come out where its unnecessary but I kind of sense a lessened focus on them in the coming years

[Dogg Thang]

so is ?50 rrp for a game and ?40 for a season pass good value?
or is it a way to make more money out of things that would have been free in the past?

While I find the whole season pass thing very offputting for several reasons (instantly makes me think the cost of a game is much higher and yet if I don't go for it I'll be missing out - easier to give the game a miss), I haven't seen any examples of it that make me think it applies to things that would have been free in the past. Mostly it seems to apply to full-on expansion packs and add-ons that always would have been separate. Smaller things like Capcom's charging for outfits and some other DLC, sure, they often feel like we would have had them free before but not these season passes. At least not from the examples I have seen.

[Lebowski]

While I find the whole season pass thing very offputting for several reasons (instantly makes me think the cost of a game is much higher and yet if I don't go for it I'll be missing out - easier to give the game a miss), I haven't seen any examples of it that make me think it applies to things that would have been free in the past. Mostly it seems to apply to full-on expansion packs and add-ons that always would have been separate. Smaller things like Capcom's charging for outfits and some other DLC, sure, they often feel like we would have had them free before but not these season passes. At least not from the examples I have seen.

the season pass will unlock additional single-player missions, weapons, skins, and collectibles, as well as more multiplayer characters and exclusive customisation options for your ship, the Jackdaw, via the Kraken Ship Pack.

locked out levels on day one?, certain weapons only available to premium users, and customisation options for your ship only available with the season pass? this isn't the norm for single player games and things like ship customisation shouldn't be a premium feature.

I understand there offering a saving overall if you get the season pass but there holding back quite a few things there that are will become available the second you put down your money on day one.

[Pikate]

Publishers want to make money and inflation is inevitable so I don't see why games need to be exempt, while I don't really buy any season passes (Bioshock Infinite is the only one I can think of) I think most people would rather games stayed at a ?50-ish RRP with an optional season pass than games had a ?80+ RRP.

I personally would much rather we had deep, interesting games at ?50 + ?40 for a season pass than the kind of cheap shovelware or 'freemium' games iOS and more modern platforms have been getting.

[charlesr]

Obviously for giant undertakings like Battlefield3 it made sense - most of the main drops were like playing a new game, with new vehicles, game modes and vast new levels.

It makes no sense for single player games like Assassin's Creed, unless it's episodic and each episode feels like a complete game.