Why are season passes and DLC in general getting more expensive?

[JohnnyMagnet]

Seriously, this is getting a bit out of hand, full versions of games now cost nearly £100 if the release is "big" enough. Just now I viewed Fallout 4 on the Bethesda sale and saw that the season pass was ON SALE for £31.99...I wouldn't pay that much for it off sale nevermind that as the discount!
Only a few years back I was buying the season passes for the Borderlands games for something like £17.99 and Borderlands 2 I think was £19.99 and I remember thinking that was a really good deal. I think everyone who got into Borderlands can agree that despite the enormous amounts of DLC the game had that it all had quality, it wasn't half a*sed or rushed and you got your money's worth.
Then Destiny came out for the consoles and their DLC prices were just obscene, on launch day you could walk away with the game for PS4 for about £49.99 and have 2 batches of upcoming DLC paid for at £34.99...let that sink in.

On Origin, EA felt it was okay for them to charge £40 for the Star Wars season pass. Extortionate giving that it's only an online game. I can go on Origin right now and see Battlefield 4 Premium Membership for £39.99...IT'S THREE YEARS OLD! What the hell does P.Membership mean anyway? The Sims 4 DLC packs are still full price despite many being well over a year old. Disgusting.
Off topic of DLC slightly but Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 is still £49.99, PsvZs started out as a cool cheap game you could sink your teeth into for about £12 or maybe a little more, now it's a full price game?

Just as some perspective, it's not DLC, but i bought Minecraft back in 2012 for £17.99, all future updates were of course free and I had probably 300 hours of sheer fun on a game that literally ruled my life for about a year. Now I have to pay premium for every slice of gaming fun that I want that isn't already in the main package.

What gives?


UPDATE: This thread is not focusing on micro-transactions, but rather proper DLC expansions for example: The Shivering Isles for TES4 or the content packs for The Sims 4, those are the DLC I'm talking about, not skin packs or really minor stuff like that.

[Zubenelgenubi]

Because people will pay it.

[Eludium]

Simple: companies getting greedier and greedier.

[B l u e b e r r y P o p t a r t]

They see that people pay for them, so they raise them higher and higher till people stop paying for them.

[JohnnyMagnet]

But it shouldn'tr be this way, your customers are your bread and butter. The idea is keep them happy not piss them off!

[ErickaUnlimited]

引用自 WingsOfHorus：

But it shouldn'tr be this way, your customers are your bread and butter. The idea is keep them happy not piss them off!

Not really...the idea is how to maximize your profit. If customers keep buying overpriced and often pointless "season passes" to games, then companies will keep churning them out.

If you don't want to see them, then customers need to stop buying them.

[B l u e b e r r y P o p t a r t]

引用自 WingsOfHorus：

But it shouldn'tr be this way, your customers are your bread and butter. The idea is keep them happy not piss them off!

Yea...... that kinda thinking is only done by the customer, companies more or less couldn't care, well they cate about their paying customers somewhat.

[JohnnyMagnet]

引用自 ErickaUnlimited：

引用自 WingsOfHorus：

But it shouldn'tr be this way, your customers are your bread and butter. The idea is keep them happy not piss them off!

Not really...the idea is how to maximize your profit. If customers keep buying overpriced and often pointless "season passes" to games, then companies will keep churning them out.

If you don't want to see them, then customers need to stop buying them.

But you can't just flip that back at the customer...

[ErickaUnlimited]

引用自 WingsOfHorus：

引用自 ErickaUnlimited：

Not really...the idea is how to maximize your profit. If customers keep buying overpriced and often pointless "season passes" to games, then companies will keep churning them out.

If you don't want to see them, then customers need to stop buying them.

But you can't just flip that back at the customer...

Well, the only way businesses change is either A) Because they want to do better // B) They lose so much business and revenue from bad business practices that they're forced to fold and work with the consumer.

I'm not saying it is right or I even agree with it. That's just how it's been.

[Spawn of Totoro]

DLC is becoming more complex and cost more to make, so the cost would increase.

There is also the costs of the game. At times, $60 isn't enough to cover costs, so they use DLC to fill the void instead of charging $90 for the game.

[JohnnyMagnet]

I mean I'm no economics expert but I don't feel publishers like EA or Bethesda are always 100% honest with us...queue Gaming Wildlife.

[😼Studio Cat😼]

引用自 WingsOfHorus：

I mean I'm no economics expert but I don't feel publishers like EA or Bethesda are always 100% honest with us...queue Gaming Wildlife.

Bethesda isn't so bad, but EA constantly outright lies. Like the BF1943 fiasco.

The prices rise as the games cost more, the global dollar continues to inflate, and people keep buying this crap.

引用自 WingsOfHorus：

But you can't just flip that back at the customer...

Actually, you can and you should. From a moral standpoint, sure, in a perfect world, companies would act in the best interest of the consumer. But this is far from a perfect world. ANd why shouldn't a company charge you $30.00 for on disk day one content? We buy it. Season passes for $40 with 2 content drops, and a stack of excluded DLC you have to buy? We buy it.

See, a company can claim to act ethically. What company wouldn't claim that? But they are not mom and pop game designers any more. They are big business. And big businesses have to make money. And they are making it hand over fist, with two extended middle fingers to all the people who cry about how they are crooks, yet keep pre-ordering games (especially digitally. What is wrong with people?), dropping bucks for vague promises, and dumping whatever they manage to half-way finish a year before it should be done.

We made the monster. Not big companies. Not shady devs. Not the stores we buy them in, or the retailers we shop online. We told them to treat us like idiots and take our money. And we get mad when they do just that. BUT WE KEEP GIVING THEM THE MONEY!!!

We did this to ourselves. We just don't like to admit it.

[The Rock God]

The irony of seeing a thread complaining about overpriced DLC from someone who owns the game that gave us Horse Armor.

[Bob]

引用自 WingsOfHorus：

Why are season passes and DLC in general getting more expensive?

Because the government keeps printing money.

[Beaker]

You can either pay almost $100 for a AAA game to enjoy all the content from Day 1...

Or wait for a year or two and get the GOTY Edition for $20, you get to save money but, that's a whole year or two that you have to wait to enjoy the game

Your call, like they said, if you continue purchasing the Passes, they will keep on making them...

[Killroy]

It is the consumer's fault. If the consumers didn't buy it, they wouldn't sell it.

Pre-order culture is out of control, and DLC is a secondary effect of that, consumers need to put their foot down and stop buying unfinished and uninteresting games.