Would You Buy a Season Pass for SF5?

Sairus

So we've probably all heard the news by now of SF5's new DLC model, but just in case you haven't, here's the jist.

The base game will launch with 16 characters. After launch, DLC characters will be added to the roster one at a time like Killer Instinct.
A slight twist is that all DLC characters will be unlockable using currency you earn in game, OR you can pay real money for them.

Pricing has not been confirmed, but theoretically this means you can have a full roster in the game without paying an extra cent after the core game purchase.

A season pass (pay a larger sum of real money up front and automatically unlock the characters as they are released) has not been confirmed either, but will presumably be offered.

I know there's a whole SF5 thread, but I was curious to see people's opinions on this particular point. Going only on the limited knowledge we have right now, how would you see yourself investing in SF5?

Rob2D

Obviously I think we'll all be trying the grinding route, assuming it doesn't require ridiculous amounts of time or wins. Although I'm sure like everyone else here I've easily put 1000+ hrs into SF4 so this should be doable.

But if not, then I don't mind paying either. F**k it, we've given Capcom so much money at this point, what's another few quid? :pac:

Tombi!

If it's like the old tekken games then I'd enjoy unlocking them.

Yreval

This is a pleasant surprise - although the fact that this is a pleasant surprise is a pretty damning indictment of the state of the gaming industry.

Sairus

I'm guessing it will be so expensive to unlock characters that it'll be realistically impossible to unlock all the characters without pumping a 1000 hours into the game. While most of us probably will get that much time out of the game, I'd like to have the characters when they release, not years afterwards :P
I also figure this game will be going for a long time with multiple Season Passes like in in Killer Instinct, so my plan of attack will be buying a season pass at launch, then saving all my Fight Money for whatever is released after that season pass.

Obviously this is all heavily dependent on the specific prices they announce for everything, but whatever.

K.O.Kiki

I'm worried for tournaments without an online connection to authenticate DLC content.

Doctor DooM

I too share Kiki's fears.

I'll prob end up buying them tbh. I'd like to say I'll grind them but I'll want the characters when they're released, so I either have enough fight money, or will pay.

Rob2D

Doctor DooM wrote: »

I'll prob end up buying them tbh. I'd like to say I'll grind them but I'll want the characters when they're released, so I either have enough fight money, or will pay.

Yeah, I'm sure we'll all cave and just pay at some point.

Which is fine; I'm quite happy to support Capcom and the game.

Robert ninja

This is the free to play business model... except it's not free. Bloody hell, CAPCOM. I'd probably grind it out myself.

Rob2D

Robert ninja wrote: »

This is the free to play business model... except it's not free. Bloody hell, CAPCOM. I'd probably grind it out myself.

Well it's better than we get from most companies I guess. Plus we haven't even seen pricing yet. It mightn't be too bad.

Owwmykneecap

The one thing I don't want is a drip feed of characters.

Releasing one a month would not be good for a tournament scene, as there would be no time for the game to settle.

Maybe if they released say, 3 per season (spring summer autumn winter) and released all three at once it could negate that.

Sairus

That would actually be kinda interesting. Release the characters in batches, but still allow them to be bought singularly.

I doubt it will happen, but it'd be a nice balance between Disk Updates keeping tournament standard for a while and variable DLC.

ayjayirl

Owwmykneecap wrote: »

The one thing I don't want is a drip feed of characters.

Releasing one a month would not be good for a tournament scene, as there would be no time for the game to settle.

Maybe if they released say, 3 per season (spring summer autumn winter) and released all three at once it could negate that.

I think they will have to release all chars early in the year due to CPT. other DLC content can be released during the year but if Capcom are positioning SF5 as the e-sports standard for fighting games - then for CPT integrity - the cast cannot be vastly different each tournament. For this reason, I would guess we will not be seeing new characters every month

Sairus

League of Legends has no problem with regular released characters and regular season tournaments.

Orim

Sairus wrote: »

League of Legends has no problem with regular released characters and regular season tournaments.

It works but I don't think it allows for a great metagame or depth of knowledge. LOL is also fairly item dependant so they can be a steadying influence on fluctuations.

Misty Chaos

One way I could see the model working is if they release new character(s) twice a year, once at the start of the year and again shortly after Evo.

Even if the schedule is quicker than that, I don't imagine Capcom would release new characters say too close to Evo for example. There is also nothing to prevent TOs from banning characters at events if they are released too close to them.

As for the whole season pass idea, I wouldn't have any issue buying one - I picked up the expensive one for Arkham Knight but I generally don't buy many games and the ones I do I'll make the most of them.

Edit: I'm aware that updates to SF4 have come out close to Evo ( vanilla AE been the worst offender - It was out in arcades for 6+ months before it got it's console release barely 3 weeks before Evo! ) I think Capcom might shy away from doing that again but who knows.