The online pass (Thanks a lot, EA!) has become a bit of a vicious trend in gaming these days, with far too many distributors jumping on the bandwagon of charging 2nd hand users extra for the stuff that new buyers get for free. Naughty dog’s confirmed Uncharted 3 will have such an online pass, using greedy, corporate doo-doo as the reason for its existence. There’s another new scourge, as far as trends in online games go – and that, courtesy of Rockstar and L.A Noire, is the Season Pass – which allows publishers to pre-sell DLC to gamers before it’s even made. It was most recently used in Gears of War 3 and Forza 4, giving dedicated gamers a significant saving, at the cost of paying for digital things that don’t exist yet.
Guess what? Uncharted 3 wants a slice of that pie too.
Detailed by the PlayStation Blog, the Fortune Hunter’s Club, a fancy name for a the Season Pass will be available on the PlayStation Store later today for $24.99, giving you first four multiplayer map packs, and the first three skin packs for $20 less than it would cost if you bought them all individually. The first release will be available for download soon after the game ships in November.
Naughty Dog’s confirmed it won’t be making any single-player DLC for Uncharted 3 – so you can count me out of this particular pricing party. I love Uncharted, and I’m pretty fond of its co-op, but the multiplayer’s never really struck a chord with me. What do you think? Do you think the DLC model’s gone too far, or o you think Season Passes are a sweet deal?
Last Updated: October 19, 2011
