Bruce Springsteen
Member
I believe Mario Kart 8's DLC was done wonderfully well.
2 DLC Packs with enough content to fill an extra half of the game for $12!
half a game of content? how many tracks/modes were included in the DLC?
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Season Passes: This is how they should be done
- Thread starter Son Of Sparda
- Start date
half a game of content? how many tracks/modes were included in the DLC?
NinjaCoachZ
Member
I believe Mario Kart 8's DLC was done wonderfully well.
2 DLC Packs with enough content to fill an extra half of the game for $12!
For perspective: Mario Kart 8's season pass adds 16 new courses, in gorgeous HD, for $12. And you get Link.
On the GCN or N64, 16 courses would cost you $50.
MK8 as a base game includes 32 courses. The DLC bumps that to 48. Four times as many as what the original games offered.
Ridiculous value.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
And just today I saw Street Fighter V Halloween costumes for $4 a pop.
thekiddfran
Member
Sword Of Doom
Member
Forza Horizon 3 post release and extra content is expensive and confusing. There's a car pass, a VIP pass, and an expansion pass. All it does is make me not want to buy any of it
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
WTF are you talking about?
Expansion packs for games have rarely ever been free.
Games like Unreal Tournament had the occasional mappack for free and that is all well and good, but that situation is not remotely comparable to today.
Son Of Sparda
Member
Klart
Member
Really? Costumes? I first thought those were all new characters, which would've been great.
But costumes; it's the same character with the same moves & everything, it just looks a bit different. No thanks.
Driveclub had a great season pass.
Dragonslayer_023
Banned
They cut out enough content that it's such a bargain!
People have different values and appreciations.
If you want spend money on digital items rather than solid contents, that's up to you. However, to me that is just as same as throw money in gacha type of mobile games, or MMOs.
Which is something I dislike to see in console games.
The lockable contents used to be appreciation or a bonus from the developers to its fans in the beginning but now this artist/fan kind relationship is no longer a main focus of this industry. If producers don't make money, they are gone. What the stockholders want is always the opposite of what gamers need.
If you want spend money on digital items rather than solid contents, that's up to you. However, to me that is just as same as throw money in gacha type of mobile games, or MMOs.
Which is something I dislike to see in console games.
The lockable contents used to be appreciation or a bonus from the developers to its fans in the beginning but now this artist/fan kind relationship is no longer a main focus of this industry. If producers don't make money, they are gone. What the stockholders want is always the opposite of what gamers need.
Lord Frieza
Member
So what do you mean, exactly, you think DLC for a game is going to somehow sell that game to enough people who weren't interested in buying it to begin with to warrant expenses? I don't know, I get the idea you're going with there, but I feel like it's a much riskier idea than selling DLC to the pre-existing base
This is the golden standard for Season Passes.
I believe Mario Kart 8's DLC was done wonderfully well.
2 DLC Packs with enough content to fill an extra half of the game for $12!
witcher 3 season pass
dishonored season pass (don't like the city trials though but knife of dunwall and brigmore witches made it good)
bioshock infinite (don't like clash in the clouds, but burial at sea 1 and 2 were worth it)
i'm a fan of extending already solid games with substantial single player content, fluffing up the season pass "value" with costumes and trite extra modes is not the way to go.
well, i'd have to think the closure was related to the way driveclub was handled -- game was delayed, then when it launched the online was garbage, and the ps+ version was delayed too, launching like 10 months after with little fanfare since excitement had died down
if anything the season pass and the updates after the terrible launch proved that evolution were willing to put in all the efforts to make things right, but sony decided it was too little too late
dishonored season pass (don't like the city trials though but knife of dunwall and brigmore witches made it good)
bioshock infinite (don't like clash in the clouds, but burial at sea 1 and 2 were worth it)
i'm a fan of extending already solid games with substantial single player content, fluffing up the season pass "value" with costumes and trite extra modes is not the way to go.
well, i'd have to think the closure was related to the way driveclub was handled -- game was delayed, then when it launched the online was garbage, and the ps+ version was delayed too, launching like 10 months after with little fanfare since excitement had died down
if anything the season pass and the updates after the terrible launch proved that evolution were willing to put in all the efforts to make things right, but sony decided it was too little too late
ShadowElliot
Banned
I believe NinjaCoachZ has got your answer. It's insane. Plus, the replayability is added even more with the free 200CC update.
Son Of Sparda
Member
The game already has 37 characters from the get go. What more they can add?
Also, it's 30 costumes and 8-10 missions. One of which adds a new island in Dream Log which challenges you to fight with 8-10k enemies at the same time!
I think for $11.99 that's ridiculous amount of value. Especially when you consider that some fighter like SFV or DoA5 respectively charge $3.99 and $1.99 for a single costume.
Also, I agree. DC's Season Pass is amazing.
Coffee Dog
Banned
Continued support keeps attention on a game. That's why PC games like TF2 and Counter Strike, as well as new digitally distributed titles like Shovel Knight and Minecraft simply sold the base game for years and managed to be profitable just fine.
Games do not disappear from store shelves once DLC releases. Of course, this is less immediately profitable than selling DLC, but the devs are definitely not "working for free".
The only two "season passes" I've ever bought were the Mario Kart 8 DLC pack and the Witcher 3 Season Pass for the two DLC's.
Those are the only two season passes I've ever bought because the developers demonstrated clear value that matched reasonable pricing. Niether felt like things that were ripped out of the original game to sell back to me, they both felt like considerable expansions to content. Mario Kart's season pass nearly doubled the game's content for only 11 bucks. Witcher 3's season pass ended up containing almost 60-70 hours of brand new content.
Those are the only two season passes I've ever bought because the developers demonstrated clear value that matched reasonable pricing. Niether felt like things that were ripped out of the original game to sell back to me, they both felt like considerable expansions to content. Mario Kart's season pass nearly doubled the game's content for only 11 bucks. Witcher 3's season pass ended up containing almost 60-70 hours of brand new content.
This is how you do a season pass.
Came to post this. Best season pass to date.
Yup. Just like halo just like rainbow
Unless its single player. Then I need a detailed list of what they want to add. And don't raise the price on the shit.
Shovel knight's updates were stretch goals from their kickstarter and were paid for up front. CS and TF2 have a much different business model than a AAA console game. Were you serious with any of this?
Let's take Witcher 3 as an example. It took me 30 hours to beat both expansions. What game before season passes gave away 30 hours worth of new content for free?
Lord Frieza
Member
Well, I mean, there you go. Companies will always lean towards the easier and more immediate path over the riskier one. And even if the games don't disappear off the shelf, it doesn't guarantee a spotlight will be on randomly be on them because DLC is released
Season Passes should just be called something else. 90% of the outrage over Season Passes come from the expectation of what a "season" entails and the expectation that the pass entitles the customer to whatever content is released during the time frame they believe constitutes a "season."
So they should just call it DLC Pack #1 or whatever and list what's included ahead of time.
So they should just call it DLC Pack #1 or whatever and list what's included ahead of time.
There's novel idea - by selling their game to new customers over time. It's not like games can be sold only by preordering them.
shawnoftheshred
Member
For single player focused games, I want my season passes to, first and foremost, include new campaigns. All of the other things, like costumes or skins, booster packs to multiplayer modes, weapon skins, currency, etc. are nice bonuses (I'm a sucker for customization), but I hate when season pass prices are only deals if you actually consider that you might buy those things.
For fighting games, I'm a little more lenient to bad pricing of bundles when there are things like tournament support DLC. $2 for a skin or $10 for a character seem outrageous to me in most games, but if it's going towards a pot bonus somewhere, I'm all of a sudden fine with it. But I guess that's moving outside the scope of "season passes."
For fighting games, I'm a little more lenient to bad pricing of bundles when there are things like tournament support DLC. $2 for a skin or $10 for a character seem outrageous to me in most games, but if it's going towards a pot bonus somewhere, I'm all of a sudden fine with it. But I guess that's moving outside the scope of "season passes."
I do agree that practice would be shitty and I'm not trying to call you out, but is there an example of any game that has ever not outlined what would be included in the season pass before putting it up for sale?
Outside of major PC developers in the late 90s and early 2000s, was it really the norm? I don't remember that being the case. For every Half-Life or UT there were countless games with either nothing or a paid expansion pack.
Not arguing that DLC is a generally good value, of course. I'm extremely selective with it.
It's ok, just selling the game normally over time will clearly fund all content post release
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
Blackthorn
"hello?" "this is vagina"
Agreed on the quality of the Driveclub season pass. They were upfront with a complete timeline of content, all delivered as promised and I think most would agree even at an even higher quality than expected.
It's a shame what happened to Evolution because they (after a terrible launch) proved themselves to be principled and hardworking developers.
It's a shame what happened to Evolution because they (after a terrible launch) proved themselves to be principled and hardworking developers.
Aces&Eights
Member
I am partly to blame; I purchased horse armor in Oblivion.
snoopeasystreet
Member
Saying that a season pass is good value because it includes 30 costumes at a reasonable price implies that there is a reasonable price for costumes. I'm not sure I agree with that (outside of F2P games).
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
Feels like you're setting your standards low. 11 bucks for 30 customes does not feel like a good deal especially when I look at just slightly higher priced souls dlc, witcher dlc.
Those show how it should be handled.
Those show how it should be handled.
BRocknRolla
Member
Season passes with unclear future content = Terrible.
Paying for new content after a game has released = Totally reasonable.
This isn't some sort of new concept, and the idea that devs should keep working on their game in perpetuity without every getting paid beyond "new buyers" isn't a reasonable request.
And OP, your costume pack? That's worth single digit dollars at most given that it doesn't actually effect the game. Charged for content should still be meaningful. (Which is simply my personal opinion. People can spend their money on whatever they want.)
Paying for new content after a game has released = Totally reasonable.
This isn't some sort of new concept, and the idea that devs should keep working on their game in perpetuity without every getting paid beyond "new buyers" isn't a reasonable request.
And OP, your costume pack? That's worth single digit dollars at most given that it doesn't actually effect the game. Charged for content should still be meaningful. (Which is simply my personal opinion. People can spend their money on whatever they want.)
I believe Mario Kart 8's DLC was done wonderfully well.
2 DLC Packs with enough content to fill an extra half of the game for $12!
However, they implemented it in a very intrusive way - unlike Smash Bros which just adjusts its CSS when you expand its roster, Mario Kart 8 filled up your character and track selection with links to the eShop. There's nothing worse than playing a game and having it shoved in your face that your game is currently incomplete.
Even Hyrule Warriors leaves out menu options and character selects that haven't been purchased and leaves the eShop link way out on the main menu. It isn't constantly advertising to you what you're missing.
PeskyToaster
Member
Do you also work for free?
The Witcher season pass is how it should be done. It was like 25 bucks for basically two other Games of the Year.