Paradox Interactive may be gaming the Season Pass rules with Stellaris Season 09 Expansion Pass

[Tag365]

Paradox Interactive seems to be gaming Steam's Season Pass rules by initializing the Stellaris Season 09 Expansion Pass with a DLC that only adds one cosmetic portrait into the game.

According to this Steam Games page: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/seasonpass
"A Season Pass must include at least one released DLC when it is made available for purchase*
*with the exception of Season Passes included in a Pre-Purchase of a deluxe edition."

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3417870/Stellaris_Season_09__Expansion_Pass/
This Expansion Pass contains a cosmetic DLC "Stargazer Species Portrait (Day 1 Unlock)" which contains only one cosmetic portrait with a few color variations which already released. Stellaris: BioGenesis, the first major DLC in the expansion pass, however, releases on May 5, 2025.

Technically this is a DLC released at the time the season pass was released. This kind of minimal cosmetic DLC being used to start a season pass that won't release substantial DLC until months later, however, seems to be a cheap workaround against that rule. I think they also did a similar tactic with Age of Wonders 4's Expansion Pass 2, but I don't think the new season pass system quite existed when that launched in 2024.

Should the rule be amended to state that only non-cosmetic only DLC is valid for this rule for season passes that are not wholly comprised of cosmetic only DLC, to avoid potential abuse of this rule?

I first learned about that rule from this Steam discussions forum post.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/281990/discussions/0/596270305199032859/

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Tag365:

Paradox Interactive may be gaming the Season Pass rules with Stellaris Season 09 Expansion Pass

Paradox Interactive seems to be gaming Steam's Season Pass rules by initializing the Stellaris Season 09 Expansion Pass with a DLC that only adds one cosmetic portrait into the game.

According to this Steam Games page: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/seasonpass
"A Season Pass must include at least one released DLC when it is made available for purchase*
*with the exception of Season Passes included in a Pre-Purchase of a deluxe edition."

Technically this is a DLC released at the time the season pass was released. This kind of minimal cosmetic DLC being used to start a season pass that won't release substantial DLC until months later, however, seems to be a cheap workaround against that rule. I think they also did a similar tactic with Age of Wonders 4's Expansion Pass 2, but I don't think the new season pass system quite existed when that launched in 2024.

Should the rule be amended to state that only non-cosmetic only DLC is valid for this rule for season passes that are not wholly comprised of cosmetic only DLC, to avoid potential abuse of this rule?

I first learned about that rule from this Steam discussions forum post.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/281990/discussions/0/596270305199032859/

"May"

If you feel a game is breaking the Steamworks partner agreement, report it via the store page.

[Tag365]

Unfortunately I see no option in the report options list specifically stating "Steamworks partner agreement violation", so I don't think I can report it properly on the store page.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Tag365:

Unfortunately I see no option in the report options list specifically stating "Steamworks partner agreement violation", so I don't think I can report it properly on the store page.

That would be under legal.

[Mad Scientist]

Its a decent game, but, $45? Paradox really going the nickel and dime route these days huh? Bad enough when their launcher became a thing for some games.

Yeah, don't think this will go well for them but we shall see.

[habiBee]

Paradox is a plague

[Jazz]

Originally posted by T9:

Paradox is a plague

i will never forgive them for what they did to prison architect. thank the lord i bought it literally right before they acquired it and was able to get a refund

[Princess Luna]

45 USD for exclusive portrait? Why not 80?

[Bllasae]

Ok

[Heraclius Caesar]

Originally posted by T9:

Paradox is a plague

I have a weird hate/love relationship with Paradox myself.

[Sol4rSky]

Looks like a loophole abuse. Can you blame them?

[RPG Gamer Man]

Well there doing same thing now with Cities Skylines, so it does not suprise me very much. At least for that they include DLC's.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/255710/view/517455541724775689

[steven1mac]

I imagine the loophole will be exploited by a lot of developers in the the future. I am more or less done buying paradox games at this point, I got tired of being drip fed DLC's at a high price, but considering I have been playing them since EU3/HOI2, at least I saw the way the company was heading for a while. IT is always a hit or miss with the company, when they make a good game it is good, but bare-boned, and when the make a crappy one, it is abandoned relatively quickly.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Originally posted by steven1mac:

I imagine the loophole will be exploited by a lot of developers in the the future. I am more or less done buying paradox games at this point, I got tired of being drip fed DLC's at a high price, but considering I have been playing them since EU3/HOI2, at least I saw the way the company was heading for a while. IT is always a hit or miss with the company, when they make a good game it is good, but bare-boned, and when the make a crappy one, it is abandoned relatively quickly.

I think they did it with the Crusader Kings series too. I also call it the EA method too. EA has done this to the Sims games too, like Sims 4. Make the base game free, but all the dlc's over priced. They also use a subscription service too. I believe it is called EA PLAY.