On Tuesday, Bethesda revealed some more details about the upcoming downloadable content coming for Fallout 4 included in its Season Pass. Alongside these details, Bethesda also revealed its plans to increase the price of the Season Pass from $29.99 to $49.99, which led to quite a bit of negativity from fans. On the face of it, the price hike for the Season Pass may seem like Bethesda is ‘ripping players off’, but taking a closer look at what the statement from Bethesda actually said, reveals the news isn’t so bad after all.
Going way back to when Fallout 4’s Season Pass was first revealed, no details were ever set in stone with regards to the content that would be included in the Season Pass. In fact, a post on Bethesda’s blog back in September last year that revealed the content stated:
“We love making them and you always ask us for more. To reward our most loyal fans, this time we’ll be offering a Season Pass that will get you all of the Fallout 4 DLC we ever do for just $30. Since we’re still hard at work on the game, we don’t know what the actual DLC will be yet, but it will start coming early next year. Based on what we did for Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Skyrim, we know that it will be worth at least $40, and if we do more, you’ll get it all with the Season Pass.”
As you can see from the quote above, Bethesda never really nailed down its intentions for the content that would come as part of the Season Pass. It didn’t state the number of content drops, individual prices or any other details. With this in mind, the fact that Bethesda has made the decision to release more content for an incredibly popular game seems like more of a good thing for fans, not something to be upset about or angry about.
It’s also got to be noted that the total cost of the revealed DLC so far adds up to a total of about $40. From just these three drops of content alone, Bethesda has already created more than enough content to warrant the original $30 price tag of the Season Pass. The fact that Bethesda’s latest statement says that these are “the first DLC drops of many” suggests that these are just the beginning of a much larger content plan for Fallout 4.
Both the Automatron and Wasteland Workshop expansions look set to bring some more laid back fun in the form of smaller expansions at a cheaper price, while the Far Harbor expansion seems to be the more substantial content drop, featuring the largest landmass ever created by Bethesda for an additional piece of content. This new area will include new faction quests, settlements, creatures, dungeons and weapons. Whichever kind of content appeals to you the most can always be picked up individually outside of the Season Pass for those who are dubious about the digital add-on’s value.
@Kisdra it's not a one to one comparison. but you'll certainly be getting as much or more content than you get in $60 games
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) February 17, 2016
While solid details on the rest of the downloadable content won’t be coming for a while, Pete Hines stated on Twitter that there is at least $60 worth of content coming in the Season Pass, as well as mentioning there is as much, if not more content than you get in some $60 games. Therefore, even with the step-up in price, the Season Pass will offer great value for fans and most importantly, give those who loved Fallout 4 more of a reason to head back out into the wasteland.
For those of you who are interested in picking up any extra content coming to Fallout 4, you do still have until March 1 to pick up the Season Pass at the original $30 price tag. By giving players almost two weeks of notice on the planned price hike, Bethesda has been fair to players and their most hardcore fans who initially held off on the Season Pass. We mentioned before that even at the upcoming higher price point the Season Pass is going to offer players a saving, so the original price becomes an incredibly compelling entry fee for what looks set to bring many, many more hours of fun in the wasteland.
On a slightly smaller passing note for those still curious about what we could see at Bethesda’s E3 conference, the statement may have given us a good idea of at least one inclusion. In the blog post, Bethesda mentioned that even more DLC is coming in 2016. Based on Hines’ tweet above that Bethesda has about another $20 of content, at least, coming to Fallout 4’s Season Pass, means that we could potentially see at least one more larger expansion like Far Harbor revealed at E3, and maybe more smaller bits as part of the ‘second wave.’ Of course, Bethesda may end up revealing details prior to E3 or even through another blog post, but with gamers questioning just what Bethesda has to show, it fits that the next DLC would be detailed the month following Far Harbor’s release.
Ultimately, the value of the Season Pass is in the eye of the beholder. For those fans out there who enjoyed Fallout 4, receiving more content, additional extras, lands to explore, and quests to take on is an exciting prospect. Even more so is the case when $60 of content can be obtained for $30 if bought in the next couple of weeks.
On the other hand, if you were somewhat disappointed with Fallout 4, there’s nothing making you pick up the Season Pass whatsoever. At the end of the day, the rise in the price of the Season Pass merely reflects a much larger plan for Fallout 4’s post-launch support than Bethesda had originally planned, and for those who have been wanting a reason to head back out into the wasteland, this should be an exciting prospect.
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Published: Feb 18, 2016 01:47 pm