After online play became a standard feature in multiplayers games, it didn’t take long for developers and publishers to come up with new strategies for monetization, For a long time, we saw paid DLC (downloadable content) as the standard way developers pushed new content into their game. The formula was simple, your game comes out, and several times before that game’s time was up (typically due to a new installment in the same franchise releasing) you’d release new content such as maps or characters that would be available to purchase. This doesn’t seem all that bad, but it can get pretty anti-consumer.
For starters, “I already paid for the game, why should I pay again?” is the most common question asked when it comes to this system. Secondly, it splits the player base. Say a new map or mode comes out for your favorite game, but you have to pay for it. “No biggie” you say since you get so much entertainment value from the game and you’re excited for more content. That’s all fine and dandy, but your friend who doesn’t want to pay an extra $15 on a game they already spend $60 on now can’t play anything that involves the new map, or mode. This gets especially bad when, for example, one console gets access to the content an entire month before another console. If you played older Call of Duty titles on Play Station, it was no fun to have to wait a whole month after new maps came out to be able to play them. After a month, a lot of the hype already settled in and it didn’t feel good to buy the content when you know you were getting scammed a bit. This happened because Xbox paid the publishers of Call of Duty extra money so they’d release the content early on Xbox, incentivizing people to purchase an Xbox instead of a Play Station. This issue still occurs, but it’s not as bad as it used to be.
Through innovations such as the “Battle Pass” system, players get more content, developers and publishers make more profits, and it’s more consumer friendly. This is under a battle pass system compared to a paid DLC system, there’s no splitting of the player base and players still get new content. People who wouldn’t have spent the $15 in the paid DLC example don’t have to buy the battle pass but they don’t miss out on things as crucial as maps or modes, because with a battle pass, new content of that importance is put out for free. The more diehard fans often still purchase the battle pass because it typically comes out to be very worth the money if done correctly and if you play the game often. This is especially true because some games like Fortnight are entirely free to play but still make money by having battle passes. Some games, like the newest Call of Duty Call, of Duty: Cold War are priced at $60 but instead of using a paid DLC system they use a battle pass. In both scenario’s, your more casual player doesn’t feel alienated, and the more diehard fans get more for their money’s worth than they would with the paid DLC system.
Call of Duty: Cold War is the first Call of Duty game to make use of a battle pass, read more on how it works in the game on their blog!
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