Steam will force developers to be transparent about their season pass plans

Season passes are one of the most common ways to generate revenue for games such as Fortnite or Call of Duty that want players to keep returning day after day, month after month. This week, PC game platform Steam has rolled out support for this monetization approach. The Valve-owned platform clarified its policy about what it considers a season pass, as well as implementing rules for how developers should communicate with players about pass content.

Steam documentation now states that when a season pass is made available for a game, it must list all of the downloadable content (DLC) included within that purchase. Developers will also need to provide an expected release date for each DLC. Delays are common in game development, but Valve will only allow a studio to reschedule a season pass' release date once; if more changes are needed, Valve has to get involved with making that change. In cases where a season pass is canceled, customers must receive a refund for any unreleased content that they have paid for.

"By offering a Season Pass, you are promising future content," the documentation reads. "In the process of launching a Season Pass you will be asked to commit to a launch timing 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."

Steam recently revised its language around a few key topics this fall. The platform now clarifies that the hundreds or thousands of games in players' libraries are licenses to those titles rather than outright ownership. Valve has also removed points about binding arbitration from its Steam Subscriber Agreement.