There are a slew of big-name titles dropping for interested gamers. Many of them are intriguing, some not so much. Almost all, however, have one thing in common: Season Passes that promise “exciting” content at a later date for some money now. Titanfall 2, out tomorrow, will be one title that will not play that game.
If you head on to Respawn Entertainment’s site and read their “10 Ways Titanfall 2 is a Different Shooter,” the very first point reads like an revelation:
“No Season Pass required: all maps & modes will be free in Titanfall 2 Multiplayer. This means no splitting up the community and it all starts with the legendary Angel City map, remastered from the original Titanfall. This means once you’ve purchased Titanfall 2, your investment includes a full single player campaign, the full multiplayer maps and modes, and long-term support with no hidden costs. You can pre-order the game to play 3 days early, but it will never cost you extra.”
More glorious words were never written in the video game space!
Respawn had been hinting at this since earlier this year, but to see it come to fruition is fabulous. We’ve become almost numb to the money-grabbing techniques many publishers and developers employ to pry more money from customers who bought a full-price game. EA has been particularly seedy with its $50 Season Passes for $60 games.
Meanwhile, here’s Respawn promising a full game out of the box, with extra content offered for free. No paid map packs. No DLC. No “super-exclusive pre-order modes.” When you buy the game, you get the complete game. No Season Pass for promised content later.
The promise of a Season Pass is pretty vague to begin with. “Give us more money,” publishers like EA and WB proclaim, “and we’ll give you MORE stuff for an entire year! We may not know everything you’re gonna get, but, TRUST US, it’s gonna be AWESOME!” It’s an insincere way of conning consumers out of extra money. When the year is up, you may have some good added content. Then again, you may just have a couple of new skins and one new campaign.
By committing to offer all maps and modes for free, Respawn is hoping to build a player base that is not fragmented. There will be no exclusion of players because they didn’t get the DLC maps that required a Season Pass or extra purchase. Preventing that will only strengthen the game, ensuring g plenty of people will log on and play.
Respawn has mentioned that they may look into offering cosmetic items for sale post-launch. For those that enjoy customizing their Titans and themselves, that might be something worthwhile. For those, like me, who don’t care about cosmetic items, it’s a concession that will not be bothersome. The prospect has not been mentioned by Respawn recently.
