Steam has changed its policy on DLC content and season passes, so now players are entitled to proper compensation if future plans fall through: 'Customers will be offered a refund for the value of unreleased DLC'
There's been a significant change as to how Steam will require games to advertise expansion packs or DLCs on the platform. The new guidelines clearly spell out what can be classified as new extra content and how publishers and developers should handle this future content to ensure that it actually benefits customers.
"By offering a Season Pass, you are promising future content," the guidelines say. "In the process of launching a Season Pass, you will be asked to commit to a launch time for each content release in the Season Pass. That launch timing is a commitment to both customers and Steam. If you aren't ready to clearly 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."
It also spells out the risks of promising DLCs and the like to players. Devs don't just have to provide a launch time, but they need to work to fulfill that promise and release the game when originally intended. "Selling a Season Pass has risks—since you are promising the release of future content—you have to commit to completing that content on time. If customers don't like the content you're releasing in the Season Pass or the timing of that content release, that will be reflected in sales and reviews."
While it's not too common, there are a few games out there that have stumbled at the hurdle of DLCs. The first DLC that Cities: Skylines 2 released, the Beach Properties packs managed to really rile up players who thought that $10/ £8.49 for some buildings and new trees was a complete ripoff. Then there's Stellaris, which has $200 worth of DLCs. The sheer amount of content here can be tricky for players to untangle, and it's hard to know what is worth buying and what isn't.
"Because a Season Pass is effectively a DLC pre-purchase, creating a Season Pass on Steam has many considerations and restrictions as outlined in the documentation on pre-purchases. For these reasons, we will not offer a Season Pass except in a few rare cases with partners with which we have a well-established relationship and that have a proven track record on Steam."
To protect players further, Steam has also outlined the refund policy that games will have to adhere to if plans for a DLC or expansion end up falling through. "We understand that game development doesn't always go as planned. If you think you aren't going to be able to release a DLC into the Season Pass by the quarter you promised, we allow you to self-reschedule the release date one time only during the Season Pass. You can pick a new date up to 3 months later than you originally selected. If you cancel a DLC in a Season Pass, customers will be offered a refund for the value of unreleased DLC."
There are also new guidelines for games wishing to make a season pass available for purchase on Steam. Now, games must list all the DLCs included in the pass, give a basic description for each DLC explaining to players what they can expect from them, and give a release date, which can be a quarter and year—season and year are also acceptable.
While this may not seem like a massive change and is more of a clerical confirmation for devs and publishers, many players are still incredibly happy to see this change. "Valve puts in a lot of work into making the experience better for their customers because they realize if they do that, customers will respond by giving them money," a player says. "I've been doing it for 20+ years now because they constantly keep getting better and more feature-filled." Between this new update to Steam's guidelines of DLCs and GOG going all in on game preservation, PC gamers are certainly eating well right now.