Valve has issued some new rules for games sold on Steam that feature a Season Pass to ensure consumers know what they’re paying for and when it should arrive.
Saying that “a Season Pass is effectively a DLC pre-purchase” they come under the pre-purchase rules as well. For passes specifically, they will have to list every bit of the DLC included in the pass purchase and have descriptions of everything that you will get with the pass for its duration. They don’t have to be explicit or risk offering spoilers. Something like “three new weapons and two new enemies” would work under the rules.
Companies would also have to have an expected release date for each DLC under the pass. If this is a pass for 90 days, they would have to have an estimate on when they expect each new update and new features or additions. If you need to delay any of the content within the pass, you can reschedule once within 90 days. If a longer delay winds up necessary, developers will have to work with Valve to handle that. Ultimately, these new guidelines are intended to give customers a better idea of what they are buying, when they can expect it, and to minimize disruptions to the original purchase timeline.
“If you're considering offering a Season Pass for your game, it's a good idea to think about whether there's a customer benefit to buying the Season Pass. In exchange for buying the Season Pass upfront, a customer might benefit from a lower overall price on all the content, or extra content thrown in for free. Without a benefit, customers won't have much incentive to purchase a Season Pass,” the documentation, intended for studios that sell on Steam, says.
There must also be one released DLC when the pass is put on sale. There are some exceptions that cover pre-order game deluxe or premium edition purchases where a pass is included.
We’ll see how these guidelines play out, but it could help offer some more certainty in a world of long development cycles and disruptions.
