Are season passes a bad sign in games?

[sXeth]

I don't think they're inherently bad. Essentially a Kickstarter (sort of) for an expansion pack delivered in installments.

That's not generally the form they've taken though. Even worse, there's been a trend of the Season Pass not covering all DLC, or even all DLC inside a time-period, causing confusion and devaluing the concept further.

I see a Kickstarter like a charity for a project that I wish to have success. That certainly doesn't applies to season passes.

Its the same basic logic. You're paying for future content based on an initial premise or idea (the original game in this case, or trailers if you buy it before playing the game like a rube ). That future content may or may not meet expectations. I did state that it was the ideal situation, and not necessarily the model that's often employed. Although as Kickstarters are starting to actually come out, we're seeing a similar level of flops and sometimes mishandling.

The primary distinction being that the Kickstarter won't (generally) be made if its not bought into, whereas the Season Pass DLC probably will come out regardless. The ideal I speak of would be that if they sell a season pass, it would continue to cover DLC for the game past the original planned DLC, so if 500,000 people buy into the season pass, they'd keep adding extra DLC on.

 

[CaitSeith]

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I see a Kickstarter like a charity for a project that I wish to have success. That certainly doesn't applies to season passes.

Its the same basic logic. You're paying for future content based on an initial premise or idea (the original game in this case, or trailers if you buy it before playing the game like a rube ).

No, it isn't. In Kickstarter I count my money as good as gone (that's why I see it as a charity), and the project having success is the best case scenario, not the expected one. Season Pass is just pre-ordering DLCs for a game that you don't even own yet.

That future content may or may not meet expectations.

Isn't that the same with the main game content too? In Season Pass you are risking twice: first with the main game and second with the DLCs. It's quite rare that DLCs make a bad game good (unless it's designed on purpose to be bad). Of course if someone keeps paying to those who always fail in meeting the expectations, they just encourage them to not meet them ever.

The ideal I speak of would be that if they sell a season pass, it would continue to cover DLC for the game past the original planned DLC, so if 500,000 people buy into the season pass, they'd keep adding extra DLC on.

Unfortunately that ideal is really rare lately (the last one I heard of happening like that was with Hyrule Warriors). It also depends on the company policies, and Warner Brothers' MO doesn't seem to work that way.

At the end of the day, the decision depends on trust and hope (and for $100 a lot it's required).