Single-Player Game with a Season Pass!?!
As if paying 70 dollars USD wasn't enough for them & potential consequences moving forward
|This post has a voiceover version for those who prefer to listen or if reading isn’t an option. Please enjoy!|
|Please watch the video above to have a better understanding of the context|
June 8th, 2024, is when I first saw the video of the expansion pass for a childhood game, which got remade earlier this year. I’m referring to the Persona 3 remake called with the moniker, Reload. It’s an RPG I enjoyed playing on my PlayStation Portable when I was young. Initially, the $70 price tag put me off, and I figured I’d hold off purchasing the game at a later date until I saw that it had DLC at its launch. I later looked at their season pass and asked myself, “Why is there a season pass for a single-player game?” I had to write about it right then and there, for this was absurd. I waited over two months to get to it to gather evidence to make my case. It’s been worth the wait, and now I can properly discuss what’s going on for those reading/listening to this.
Let’s Get Started!
Some History
Unfortunately, this whole season pass attached to a single-player game isn’t new. Before I get into that, a little history for some context for how Persona 3 Reload came to be. The Persona series is a spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei line of games, all of which are part of the overarching Megami Tensei franchise.
This gigantic video game franchise was created by Altus, who is now currently owned by Sega.
Despite being a spin-off of the main series, Persona is more recognizable to the general JRPG audience even though they share many elements.
This is mainly due to being more accessible to a broader audience regarding difficulty, setting (high school), relatable characters, etc. The Shin Megami Tensei line of games is also known for being very challenging despite its turn-based nature, so I'm not surprised there.
Thankfully, there’s no need to go deep into this rabbit hole, for I only want to give an overview for those who are not in the know. Getting back to Persona, specifically Persona 3, it was originally released on the PlayStation 2 on July 13th, 2006 for Japan, August 14th for North America one year later, February 29th both in Europe and later Australia on March 6th the year after. All for the retail price of $49.99 or your country's currency equivalent, an industry standard at the time.
Here’s where I think the |topic| of this post originally started.
Rereleases
After the initial release, Atlus release an enhanced port of Persona 3 with the added moniker FES (Festival) one year later in all available territories. This rendition of the game came with additional content called The Answer, which we’ll get to later. This port, however, was $20 cheaper than the original. ($29.99)
Keep that word [enhance] in mind as it correlates with the issue at hand. Looking back on that with the Persona series’ current standing… I never thought something like this could turn out for the worse. After Persona 3, Atlus made it a tradition to make enhanced ports of their previous titles and rerelease them. Thus, the customer buys their games twice, which persists to this very day. I personally got into the Persona series with Persona 3 Portable (yes… they rerelease the game a third time), and this version lets you play as a female and experience the game from a different point of view.
Granted, this version was a downgrade to the PS2 game, but it made up for it in other ways. However, this method paved the way for more “interesting” practices after this with their next game, Persona 4.
Taking it to the Extreme
Four years later, the next entry, Persona 4, received the same treatment, with an enhanced port to the discontinued PlayStation Vita.
After that, however, is where Atlus milked this particular title as much as they could. Going down the list, Persona 4 has a fighting game duology, dancing game, and collaboration game (got a sequel later), which spans from 2012 through 2015.
All of this happened throughout my entire high school tenure! (How ironic) This continued in Persona 5, pushing the series to new heights with other JRPG giants (Final Fantasy, Tales of, etc.). If you thought the milking of Persona 4 was bad, then Persona 5 takes it up a notch!
Persona 5, when it first came out in 2016/2017 on PS4/PS3, had DLC (excluding the ones you get for free) released two weeks after launch.
Yes, it's “optional” and “doesn’t really affect the game.” If you exclude the additional Persona, you can get, which does affect which does affect gameplay. The question I have to ask is: “Why isn’t this in the game in the first place?” Granted, The enhance port of Persona 5 i.e. Royal has all the DLC from the vanilla version. If you wait three years after all the spin off titles (except one) Altus came out with this game.
Don’t get me started on the number of collaborations Persona 5 had with many other IPs in Japan during its run. It even has a mobile game on top of it!
Turns out, I’m not the only one that’s felt this way for there’s a couple videos on Youtube that does have people bringing up these growing problems.
Persona isn’t the only franchise going through this, as other IPs Atlus holds are getting the same treatment.
So, the whole release of a game with enhancements into the current year isn’t new and is stuck around.
Now that I have you up to speed, I will go over the results of this problem in the current game in the franchise: Persona 3 Reload.
Content Overview
As the name implies, the PS2 title Persona 3 got a remake fifteen years later. It is very nice for those who played the original now, with updated graphics. It is a gorgeous game, and I can’t deny that.
Wish I can say the same about the pricing…
Reload, compared to previous titles, has day-one DLC. Again, while optional but with a $70 price tag now? (or your countries currency equivalent) It has started to become ridiculous.
I recalled people complaining about DLC practices when games were at $60 not long ago.
It’s almost as if things didn’t change at all...
Looking at the Steam reviews for the expansion pass it came with it? At the time of this writing/recording? Mostly negative. So… What are you actually getting when purchasing this?
Like the other season pass I’ve seen over the years from multiplayer games. You’re preordering content that has yet to arrive. The Answer, which was included in the original PS2 version, was repackaged to sell again because, of course, it would be the case. It doesn’t come until September this year, and there is no exact day. So, the thing that everyone who bought P3R cares about the most will have to wait.
An “attempt” to hold people over is from March and May, which include soundtracks from previous titles (P4 & P5 mostly) and costumes. That is what Atlus & Sega thought this was worth for $35…
You cannot get The Answer expansion separately without paying for the entire thing. Can’t even get it included if you pay beyond the base price. So, if I were to buy the base game with the expansion pass right now, I would be paying $104.98 after taxes!
The reviews when the pass became available came to a resounding conclusion that this expansion pass is a no-go. However, many still bought it despite knowing it was a bad deal. A shame…
Future Implications
I concluded that the Episode Aigis Expansion Pass is terrible value for the money. This sets an already bad precedent in both game development and consumer perceptions. With no signs of stopping anytime soon, Altus/Sega is not the only one doing this.
It is very unfortunate that single-player games are adopting practices online games have been doing. It's working out for Atlus/Sega since their latest for the entry mainline series, which Persona had branched off to, Shin Megami Tensei V(5), also got an enhanced port.
To much success, since this practice is working why not keep doing it? I don’t have an answer to this ongoing problem, but the best I can do is provide an alternative where both the developers and consumers benefit. Of course, no solution works for everybody but still willing to try.
Closing Thoughts
Even though I gave Persona 3 Reload season pass a wide berth. I cannot tell people what they do with their hard-earned money. If people want to go through with purchasing Persona 3 Reload & the expansion pass despite all this? Or really, anything that has these practices?
Let em!
I can only inform those of what they’re getting into and decide for themselves. What happen afterwards is frankly none of my business. That’s really all I, or anybody can do during this time.
One can hope for those to at least understand what their getting into…
Sources
Persona 3 Reload Season Pass Section on SEGA Website
The Persona Series: Where to Start? From RPG Gamer
PlayStation Store for Persona 5 (vanilla)
Atlus Pulls The Trigger On Persona 3 FES(R) For North America
I hope this is not a trend in other games. Publishers are trying to do whatever they can to monetize their titles but this goes beyond excessive.