Star Wars: Battlefront
Kicking things up a notch, the folks over at Electronic Arts allowed the Season Pass for Star Wars: Battlefront to be a steep $50. At this point, the problem isn’t so much whether or not the pass would include a small amount of content; the lack of content in the core game is the true crime, as players are implored to pay $110, almost twice the amount of the standard game, for what many would say only then equals a full game.
Star Wars: Battlefront had the misfortune of being released with minimal content on the disc, with the exclusion of a single-player campaign and many classic characters, especially compared to its predecessor, 2005’s Star Wars: Battlefront II. To put things in perspective, the number of playable Star Wars characters was whittled down from 23 to 6.
Oh, yes, the new Battlefront is absolutely marvelous to look at, but beauty is only skin deep. No matter how lovely a game is, there are so many more facets of a form of interactive media than how nice it looks. That’s what makes it interactive.
Perhaps this fiasco meant development was just rushed and that the rest of the game would be released in patches, even if players had to pay a fee. The reality was, though, that the Season Pass would cost that $50, with which people could buy another game entirely.
Season Passes are not always all bad, but these are some examples of the biggest perpetrators insulting the video gaming population. As the video game industry is a business, one would expect that the product would be worth the price tag. The scariest part here is that these are some of the most high-profile games to release this generation. Buying these Season Passes only gives companies the greenlight to make more.
Just a couple of years ago, Season Passes were merely $10, and that was already a strange practice then. Of course, it is your money, and you’re free to do whatever you want with it. The reality is, though, that many people would like to enjoy their hobby without needing to dole out so much for scant returns. Not many of us can afford to spend over $100 for our favorite games.
