"Do Average Gamers Actually Buy MMO Season Passes?" And Other Season Pass Questions I'm Curious About

Totally informal survey incoming! Last night, as I played a few matches of Rocket League after work, I was working my way through the F2P sports game's season pass. While playing, I realized a few things and I wanted to talk about them here. Obviously, most games don't report on the specifics of their monetization methods. Some public companies may give some "overall" revenue totals for F2P MMORPGs, like when Guild Wars 2 data is shown in NCSoft's financials. That is usually the extent of things, though. We never really get a look a whether box fees, season passes, cosmetics, DLC, or any other items on offer are the primary revenue drivers for some of our favorite games.

Season passes are the most interesting aspect I'd like to talk about today. This monetization tool has been widely implemented and we've all been conditioned to see them as "normal" in most games now...even if the game was already something you had to shell out cash to purchase.

Last night, I noticed that I didn't remember the last time I actually paid for Rocket League's season pass. I play a fair amount of Rocket League, so yes, I have purchased a pass or two throughout the years. However, I also gain a great deal of levels most seasons and there's been multiple times  when I earned enough currency in the pass that the next pass was free for me. Granted, not all season passes offer that option. We've recently seen negative feedback for some games when they revealed or tied to convert their season pass to being purchasable only via cash. See Apex Legends' 100% predictable reversal of some of those decisions.

I also noticed that I wasn't even really looking at the rewards I was earning. Most of them, and this isn't exclusive to Rocket League, are just variants of things already available or aren't all that flashy anyway. That means I can't decide if the work that goes into a pass on the devs' side is worth the effort, or if it is so "low effort" (relatively speaking) that the revenue is all gravy anyway.

I do have to make a quick distinction here. When I say "Season Pass," I'm talking about one of those "gain tiers and get rewards" things. I'm NOT talking about a game that calls their DLC "Season Passes." When you're paying for content, sorry devs, that's DLC, stop calling it a "Season Pass." Single-player games, in particular, love to do this. Buy a "Season Pass" and get the first 3 DLCs as part of your pre-order type of things. That's not what we're talking about here.

In lieu of hard data from meaningful sample sizes, let's conduct an informal survey and I'll give you my answers to my own curiosities along the way.

Do You Even Buy Season Passes?

Typically, no, I do not. Rocket League is very much the exception to my rule and that's mainly because of the ability to earn coins towards the next pass in the current pass. I have never bought them in MMORPGs as I think they are absurd in those games. There is an exception occasionally, and that's my next question.

Have You Ever Bought A Season Pass SPECIFICALLY To Just Support The Devs?

Yes. This is actually the main reason I'll even purchase a pass. Usually it's when a new F2P game comes out, I am enjoying it, and I toss them a few bucks for their first pass as a show of support. These are not typically renewed.

Have You Ever Purchased A Season Pass Because Of A Specific Reward Offered That Season?

No. It is exceptionally rare for me to even care about any cosmetics at all in a game. Rarely, usually due to crossovers with an IP I love, do I ever buy a cosmetic offering anyway.

Does Purchasing A Season Pass Make You More Likely Or Less Likely To Make Additional Purchases?

For me it's "less likely." If I'm already giving a game some cash for a season pass, it's less likely that I'll be willing to open my wallet a second time that season for the game. 

If A Game Doesn't Offer A Season Pass, Are You Disappointed?

No. Just because companies want this to feel normal, doesn't mean it has to be normal.

If A Game Doesn't Offer A Season Pass, Are You More Likely Or Less Likely To Buy A Cosmetic Or Other Offering?

Easy. More likely. Without a season pass, that "new game getting my support" we talked about earlier would get my support from a cosmetic purchase or two.

Have Changes To Or The Addition Of A Season Pass Ever Caused You To Stop Playing A Game?

I don't think so, at least not that I can remember. I have certainly stopped playing games and even boycotted some entire companies due to monetization changes or blunders, but I can't remember any that were specifically related to the Season Pass like the recent Apex Legends fiasco.

Have You Ever Avoided Trying A Game Because It Had A Season Pass?

Since they are almost always optional, no.

What's your answer to all of the above and do you have additional Season Pass questions you're wondering about? Let's chat in the comments below!