Perhaps clocking the overwhelmingly negative response to Batman: Arkham Knight's steep Season Pass, developer Rocksteady Studios has released a full rundown of the kind of content that you can expect to scoop as part of the £32.99/$39.99 six month subscription. Top of the billing is an all-new prequel story starring Batgirl, which will take place in a fresh location. The first artwork of the character – embedded to the right – is pretty cool; quit twisting our arms, Warner Bros.
This, of course, is not all, though. You'll also get access to new story missions starring the Batman, which will involve new narrative arcs, gadgets, and villains. There'll be additional events where you'll play as the Dark Knight's allies as well, in addition to race courses where you'll be able to drive various iconic Batmobiles from the comic book character's storied 75 year history. Finally, you'll land a bunch of challenge maps and character skins. Hnngh.
Much like Natalie Imbruglia, we're feeling torn. On the one hand, assuming that this content is actually well made, we're undeniably tempted by this roster of extras. On the flipside, though, we've finally arrived at the point where publishers are attempting to justify $100 games, and that doesn't sit well with us at all. Where do you stand on this contentious issue? Take a stance in the comments section below.
[source facebook.com]
Comments 30
Bat Girl and Batmobile racing????? man I know I shouldn't at that price but I'm going to have to get that season pass
DAMN YOU WBGAMES!!!!!
@FullbringIchigo This was more or less my reaction, too.
I'm definitely going to buy the season pass. I hope the new story missions and areas will bring some neat boss fights.
Wasn't Barbara Oracle in the Arkham Universe? Guess she somehow returns or is someone else behind the mask. As for the season pass I guess I want it but I won't buy it. May even cancel the preorder and wait for the complete game of the year edition.
Slightly torn on this myself, Bat Girl does look awesome. But I'm edging towards getting the vanilla game with no dlc gubbins, and then maybe buying discounted dlc further down the line if I feel I need to play more.
This cutting off bits of a game's content and then selling them back to customers for more money is really getting out of hand now though. It stopped me buying both Mortal Kombat and Alien Isolation to name a couple of games off the top of my head. Don't even get me started on Destiny, I didn't touch that total rip off with a barge pole. Batman is a hard game to miss out on though. You know with Rocksteady at the helm it will be excellent.
Just read the description of the season pass
for its price, it looks to be one of the most awful season pass ive ever seen, completely worthless.
$40 dollars for Season Pass is robbery, armed robbery
@Faruko If you think that's robbery, imagine buying a season pass, then hear that you're system won't get the dlc you paid for and WB won't even reimburse you. That's why I've sworn off WB dlc from now on
Batgirl mission? Yes please.
Extra Batman missions? Yes please.
Challenge maps? No thanks.
Skins? Definitely not.
Race courses? Considering the Batmobile sections look utter gash and are making me worried about this game, that's a no from me.
Call it a tenner. £15 if the Batman missions are numerous.
@Faruko I disagree. If the quality of the content is actually good, then you're getting a lot of stuff here. The jury's still out on the former, of course.
@ASonic3582 let me guess, you bought the batman arkham origins season pass on wiiU? I got my money back but not from WB, nintendo gave me a refund. I'm getting really frustated by WB, they are ruining the DC cinametic universe and they are ruining their games through over expansive dlc and microtransanction.
@FullbringIchigo @get2sammyb Im in the same boat. To buy all that content after release will probably cost $55-$60 plus if you preorder from PSN ( which I was going to do anyway to save importing fees) you get the season pass for $30.
@3Above Things like skins will be ready at launch so could be in the game. Same with a lot of the challenge maps, Batmobiles and race courses. Nothing other than greed is stopping them being in game. So it shouldn't cost near $60 or even $30.
The missions are a different kettle of fish. Although would anybody be genuinely surprised to know they're already at least 70% done? I doubt it. Post launch DLC is fine. But don't start it til the game is done otherwise you look like a bunch of greedy ****s. Look at Mario Kart 8, for example, taking six months-a year for the two DLC packs. Supporting a game after launch, not fleecing their customers instantly before they move on. Have some faith in your game Rocksteady/WB.
@LieutenantFatman Well said
@darkswabber Yeah. Nintendo refunded me too, bit it should've been WB refunding us since they were the ones who failed to keep their promise because of "low demand" despite the fact the PC still got everything while the game and season pass sold less on PC than Wii U
@rastamadeus Im not too surprised given the long delay, this was probably planned as post launch dlc before the 8 month delay.
I agree about the skins challenge maps race tracks ect. But the story dlc will probably be priced at $15 each so paying $30 for them now makes sense.
The Season Pass itself may seem expensive because of our experience of DLC on previous Batman games. £33 is cheaper than Destiny's and also CoD and Battlefields too. I place no value in 'skins' as they are nothing more than 'cosmetic' and really make no difference to the game. Racing the Batmobile around Gotham and more challenge maps also has limited appeal but more Story missions are of interest. I enjoyed Harley Quinns Revenge and like the sound of the Batgirl mission too.
As with all Season Passes though, they are optional. I don't have to buy it at all and can wait until all the contents are revealed and/or released before assessing its 'value' to me. I also have the option to buy individual DLC if the majority is of no interest. Therefore if the only DLC I have any interest in is the Batgirl one, it would be much cheaper to just buy that.
I bet the majority of the game was 'finished' by October - the original release date. We had already seen a lot of videos showcasing the game, environments, character models, the Batmobile etc etc. These studios also have a lot of employees, many of whom may not be required in the polishing phase - at least not every working hour and therefore can spend that time working on DLC. No doubt the main game takes priority and DLC gets put to one side if they are required to amend/polish aspects. A team of developers has different deadlines for their part. You can't animate the faces until they have the speech and maybe even the environments finished for example.Those involved in Character modelling have probably finished their part for the main game so could be working on the characters for DLC whilst others are making sure that everything looks and runs smoothly.
It appears to be all new story missions and arcs outside the main campaign (not to mention it's not all they have in store according to their Facebook) so this particular Pass seems well worth the money, considering Rocksteady's track record with this franchise. You know the main game will be an awesome, complete story.
Concerning DLC as a whole, the price of games haven't really changed in almost the whole time the industry has been alive, as a matter of fact, it's gone down in some instances (I remember paying $70 for Street Fighter II) considering that game development costs has ballooned, if the DLC is worth it, we're getting a bargain, even at 60 if the game is quality.
That said, only get the DLC that's you think is valuable to you, skip the rest. Afterall it's an option, not a requirement.
The game isn't out yet and they're talking plans for what they put out, I'll wait for a deep discount.
For that kind of price I'd expect another full games worth of dlc, honestly the best example in the last year of how to do dlc right would be Mario Kart 8.
At least WB is offering real content that seems meaningful for your money. At the same time $100 for a game is crazy......hard to say will wait to hear peoples opinions on the season pass first
A season pass is of value to gamers who are likely or want to buy all the DLC. If not then you can still buy the individual packs that are of interest. If none of the DLC is of interest, you can just play the game and it will not be impacted by the lack of DLC - its not like you will need to buy these 'extras' to finish the game. You don't have to buy the Season Pass at lauch either but could wait until ALL of the DLC has been released to asses its value to you then. I never felt that Harley Quinns Revenge was taken from the plot or on-disc content but rather added to the overall experence and expect the Batgirl story to be of a similar thing. I would rather know there is a Season Pass option than spend more money on buying all the DLC separately.
Perhaps the alternative to DLC is introduce variable pricing again for games up-front. Instead of the standard 59.99, charge a higher up-front price (old enough to remember buying a "Chrono Trigger" for $70 on SNES, higher than the typical cart). Not sure if that'll fly with the typical consumer used to seeing $60. Personally I wouldn't mind paying the up-front costs if it means getting "free" updates and content post-release.
I'll wait to see if the main game is good first. It's exactly a given.
I'm Batman through and through and will get the game day 1 but it doesn't matter how much of a fan I am I can't justify the season pass price.
I'm excited about Bat girl but will wait until GOTY edition because I'm cheap
Hmmm now after reading some of these comments it makes sense why ea and wb are charging $100 a game. Get a grip everyone why are you paying this? And just for the record games pricing has not remained static, you could buy games for next to nothing In the 80s and 90s. Everyone seems to think that Donkey Kong country is the barometer of pricing (the biggest cart and most expensive release game on snes). And even if it was Nintendo was taken to court in the 90s and LOST about price fixing.
Seriously guys if we were only willing to pay £50 a game the industry would have to fall in line. £32 for a season pass is daylight robbery when the asserts are already in place. I really want to know how much this game has cost the studio to make in comparison to say final fantasy 8 for the ps1. (£30 if I remember correctly at release) As I think you and I would be surprised.
And one final point, I bought sensible world of soccer at release for £17.99 I remember it well, by far the best footy game back in 1994. I had change out of £20 and went to McDonalds. So no we shouldn't be expected to pay £100 for a game, release the game and if its a success make an expansion.
So in summary the people who supported the industry when it was unfashionable to do so, the people who have supported Rocksteady and bought Arkham Asylum in droves, the people who have watched all the films and made wb a fortune, guess what that will be another £100 thank you.
@rastamadeus
It's probably not going to happen but I hope the Batgirl and Batman story DLC get individual releases like Harley Quinn's Revenge. That was before Season Passes had proven to be worthwhile ventures though. Can't blame WB for wanting to make money and if people are willing to pay $40 it is what it is. But it's very disappointing. I also hope this extra content doesn't feel something that was ripped out of the game only to be sold later.
@belmont Yes Barbara is Oracle in the Batman: Arkham series.
The Batgirl prequel story will take place before she got paralyzed and became Oracle.
Just hold out until next year when they'll release the inevitable GOTY version with everything included for $60.
You people keep buying this crap - they're gonna keep on doing it.
It seems as though this is the 'gonna wait for the GOTY edition' generation...
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