Tech Desk 
Nov 22, 2024
Steam is set to build support for season passes into its platform and set up new rules to help protect buyers from buying ones with unclear promises. Steam disclosed new guidelines urging developers to “think about whether there’s a customer benefit” for purchasing season passes.
Season passes are significantly used in free-to-play or other multiplayer video games that promise digital updates like special costumes and weapons for a fee.
According to the new rules for season passes, developers must share a list of items with descriptions customers can expect to receive with the pass. If a DLC drop gets delayed, Steam will allow developers to reschedule it up to 3 months later. Moreover, the new rules need refunds for any cancelled DLC.
What is a season pass?
A Season Pass is a downloadable content (DLC) pre-purchase, creating a Season Pass on Steam has many of the considerations and restrictions as outlined in the documentation on pre-purchases.
Providing a disclaimer for developers, Steam stated: “If you aren’t ready to communicate about the content included in each DLC AND when each DLC will be ready for launch, you shouldn’t offer a Season Pass on Steam.
The new rules might be more challenging for indie developers who don’t have many games under their belts to pass Steam’s requirements.
