Did NetherRealm Studios Falsely Advertise Injustice's Season Pass?

Christopher Jones of Continue/End examines the fan backlash regarding the content of the season pass for Injustice: Gods Among Us to determine what, if any, merit there is to the argument of false advertising.

[Kalowest]

That's why I just get GOTY/Complete Editions.

[Jonesy_859]

That's really the best way to go. Just wait a little longer and save.

[yugovega]

if you do that then you aren't cool. wiiu got goty editions and they were called old ports. get it late and you're just behind and they aren't any good anymore/s said every xbot,playstation fanboy ever

[Conan-O-Brady]

There's a difference.

[yugovega]

no difference at all. a game with all the extra content on the disc released at a later date is a good thing rather it be on a new system or not.

[xamtheking]

It's not Aliens: Colonial Marines-esque advertising

[yugovega]

there wasn't anything wrong with aliens advertising. just like most movies they show in the trailers parts that will be left out in the final product.

[aLucidMind]

Except for the fact that it actually was falsely advertised. Many movies are merely misleading, many games are merely misleading; but that does not mean those who flat out falsely advertise should be let off the hook.

[maniacmayhem]

What is the point of the Season Pass if you don't get ALL of the DLC that will come for a game. The one NetherRealm offered was a huge rip off and it's a shame that a consumer would have to read the very fine print in order to catch what a rip off this season pass was.

[ceedubya9]

That's the part that bothered me. When I see a season pass, then I'm thinking that I'm paying for everything that will be released as DLC. I understand that upon buying this season pass, it tells you exactly what you are paying for, but in the past a season pass has usually meant that everything is coming your way and not just most of it.

[maniacmayhem]

Exactly, I understand that a consumer should always read the fine print. But in this case where we are accustomed to getting all future DLC when purchasing a season pass seems to have become the norm with every other game. Why is it different for this game?

Why they would pull this stunt is beyond me. Was this the case for MK9?

It just smells of greed straight up.

[Larry L]

I personally think you're being unfair, and in fact lying just a little bit. Because it doesn't tell you that it's only for characters "UPON BUYING IT", it tells you clearly BEFORE you buy it, you don't even have to click on the full description to see it's for characters only (on PSN, I don't know about on Live). So since you're lying about that little fact to try and make a point, you're being unfair, and for me, totally discrediting your opinion.

Now, I'm a HUGE fan of NetherRealm. They're in my personaly top 3 all-time developers (MK4 and MKSF are really their only games I thought were bad). And @maniac, yes MK9 was the same way.....kinda.....it was $15 for 4 characters in a bundle or $5 a piece, it just wasn't called a "season pass" then, that buzz-word hadn't really started then.......and the only costume DLC for MK9 was the pre-order bonuses which they released as a paid DLC pack later. So it kinda was the same. It just sounds different now because of the label "season pass". And I was fine with the MK9 DLC pricing then.

BUT.....all that said, digital content offers have gotten better since then. Just 4 characters for $15 in a season pass for a fighting game seems very "thin" to me when costumes will be coming out at the same time. For $15 costumes should be included imo, and I hope NetherRealm decides to throw the costumes in with the season pass. At least until the 4 promised characters in the DLC come out. And stuff they make for the game after that, then OK, charge more.

It may boost some sales too. Especially when the main game drops in price a bit. I wanted the game, I'm just SO broke this year it sucks, can't afford much aside from my Plus account. But the more that's in the Season Pass, the more chances I'll buy it once I can afford the main game. Because aside from LOBO, none of the DLC characters have me that excited.

[SnakeCQC]

the game was a bit of a let down for me the gameplay staled out quite quickly but the story mode was nice. New characters wont really fix it and no one really exciting to me is coming

[DTxx]

I brought the season pass. I feel conned not because it doesn't cover the skin packs I mean the season pass only cost 1200 maps. I feel conned because they couldn't be arsed to add in icons,portraits,backgrounds and a alt skin.

[DTxx]

For the new character i mean icons,portraits etc.

[Robotronfiend]

The pass clearly indicated we were getting 4 characters for the price of 3. If they were going to give us extra items, then I trust they would list those, so that prospective buyers would be enticed to purchase.

Assuming players were going to receive unannounced items at an unannounced future date is a bad idea.

Borderlands 2 did the same thing. B2 season pass gave you four DLC expansions for the price of three, but not the mechromancer and I'm assuming not the new bandit character.

Anyone else know of season passes that didn't include every bit of DLC for a game?

[ceedubya9]

That is a good question. I'm trying to think of others, but can't think of any off the top of my head (doesn't mean more don't exist). But, I definitely don't feel like advertising was false here. Its just that many of us have expectations of what a season pass should be, and unfortunately those expectations aren't being met. Personally, I'm not upset about it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed.

[gamegenieny]

Forza 4 did that. After the 6 car packs came out every month after there was a new car pack that was not included in the "season pass". They did say the season pass was for exactly the 6 packs but still.

[Larry L]

One I know of is Guardians of Middle-Earth. The $15 season pass includes the first set of DLC characters, but characters are still coming out that aren't included which have to be bought seperately.

Didn't it also happen with one of the big shooters? Like CoD or BF3? I thought there was a season pass or premium pass deal on one of them that included a certain number of DLCs, then when another pack came out beyond those included packs, people got pissed because they had to pay for it. I seem to remember that in the last year or two. I don't play those games so I don't remember exactly what I'm remembering because it didn't affect me at all.

On a personal note, Injustice's DLC bundle is the same as MK9's, so I'm not MAD at NetherRealm. Though I do wish they would throw the costumes in with the season pass anyway, just to give their fans the excelent value Team MK has always brought their fans. It would be a nice gesture for sure, which would gain alot of good-will from gamers even if they aren't interested in this particular game, in this day of social media.

[TuxedoMoon]

This type of DLC in general is bullcrap. Why do fighting game makers insist on selling people characters? All the characters are needed on the roster to complete the game. Costumes is something that isn't needed as much as a character in a fighting game. Characters are like chess pieces. This isn't as bad as what Capcom did with SFxTK, but it's still pretty stupid imo.

This is sadly the way of the future. What was once free unlockable stuff is now DLC. Releasing incomplete games and selling its parts to drag the games longevity.

[Larry L]

As a fighting game fan I LOVE DLC characters. Deadlines HAVE to be met for games....which limits roster size, especially in these days with all the work and countless hours that has to go into getting games "right". So DLC lets developers continue adding characters (or any content for any other kind of game) to let players expend the games they already know they love for a few bucks here and there.

The only other option is the games just come out as-is and never get any more content. If people like you got their way and there was no more DLC.....it's not as if all that DLC that could have been added later would end up in the game all of a sudden. The dates STILL have to be met, and thanks to YOU, we would never get that extra content. We'd just all have to wait 2 years for a $60 sequel (or different game) to get more content, a sequel (or game) which may or may not be as good as the first game you already knew you loved.

Think things through before you go complaining to companies about something. You ever hear the saying "Be carefull what you wish for.........you just may get it."? Reminds me of the people complaining there's no hardware b/c in PS4 and demanding SOny put it in or "you no buy". Really....so you're telling Sony you want another $600+ console, when you said that was too much for PS3? Think things through.

DLC is great for gaming. The only issue I have with DLC is the amount of value you get for your $0-$20 worth of content varies GREATLY from game to game and developer to developer. It's up to the consumer to decide if the content is worth the asking price. If your brain says "yes, it's worth it", buy it. If your brain says "that's not worth it", don't buy it. But to just say DLC sucks, or has ruined gaming or anything like that, is just rediculous.

[TuxedoMoon]

As seen with SFxTK, a lot of DLC was already made alongside the game and was already on the disc (Disc Locked content). A lot of content these days aren't made after the game is released, but during its development. Like you said, deadlines have to be met and money has to be made. DLC charges people for things that were suppose to be in the game. In this case, DLC characters for fighter, the content isn't extra. It's been ripped out of the game or locked off to be sold later. Does injustice have disc locked content? As of this post, Nether Realm seemed smart enough not to include all the data on the disc. Someone would've hacked the game by now and revealed everything.

To this day, a lot of popular fighters still release yearly updates or "super" versions.
I don't like getting ripped off with DLC. It's not just in fighters, but in any game. The things that were once unlockables now have to be purchased from their store. I wouldn't mind DLC if it was a choice.

Want Lobo or Batgirl in Injustice? Beat the game on hardmode to unlock them OR buy them from the store. Want certain costumes? Either beat the arcade mode OR buy them from the store. This is something I'd prefer happen rather than just being forced to buy characters and costumes. Will this ever happen? I doubt it. The only game I saw that did something like this was SC4 with its armor pieces. these extras are patched in for everyone anyway, so why not have that sort of system instead of forcing people to buy game content?

There is good DLC out there, I liked the EXTRA episodes for GTA4, Skyrim (Dragon born) and Red Dead Redemption. Bad DLC, imo, are things that are locked on the disc such as characters or costumes or something stupid like SELLING THE REAL ENDING OF YOUR GAME (Asura's Wrath). DLC can be good if done right and I don't think that DLC characters for a fighter is good DLC.

Harada from Tekken put it best when he said that a fighter NEEDS all the characters so people can play a complete game. In order to play chess, you need all the pieces, and competitive gamers, I'm sure, would like to have all the pieces of their game when they buy it.

I'm not blaming the developers for DLC, no no no. It's whoever is the publisher. It's all about money at the end of the day and DLC is the new cash cow in ripping people off.

[Larry L]

Well fair enough, but did you notice the link between all the examples of bad DLC you pointed out? CAPCOM. Everyone KNOWS that they're pulling the con game of ripping out and selling content developed durring the main game's dev cycle. And once they got caught, did they change? No.....they're still doing it, but now they're trying to be more carefull to pull as much of the content off the disc as possible so they can't get called out for it anymore......and they're STILL not doing a good job of hiding their milking of their loyal fans.

The majority of DLC is genuine new content developed after the main game's dev cycle. The previous MK DLC wasn't on the disc just to be unlocked, and neither is this game's.

And as to your other point about we should be just able to unlock stuff, not have to pay for new content.....when it comes specifically to NetherRealm, they DO give us unlockable stuff for beating the game with each character. In the last 12 years or so, every game they've made has had unlockable costumes for every character, and that didn't change in this age of DLC. MK9 had unlockable costumes, though I don't have Injustice yet to know if that does.....but I can't imagine it doesn't have at least one unlockable skin for each character.

NetherRealm is the LAST fighting game developer you could accuse of skimping when it comes to unlockable on-disc content. Don't project the sins of Capcom onto TeamMK.

[zpoc]

first of all - netherealm makes the content, not marketing/sales decisions like this. people shouldn't be upset at them because it's out of their hands.

and it's not technically false advertising - just an unsurprisingly greedy move by their publisher. the videogame market is "underperforming" (ie - it's not growing exponentially year over year) so nickle and dime type shit like this is becoming more and more prevalent in a desperate attempt to scrape more profit out of releases.

[Xklaw]

I learned my lesson with MK9. Not gonna buy the game until they release the complete edition.

[ironfist92]

I knew there was gonna be a completed edition of MK9 when extra character were announced. No doubt the same thing will happen with Injustice, just takes a bit of waiting.

[E2S]

These bastards are lucky I love DC Comics.