Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Battle pass
In the video game industry, a battle pass or rewards track is a type of monetization approach that provides additional content for a game usually through a tiered system, rewarding the player with in-game items for playing the game and completing specific challenges. Inspired by the season pass ticketing system and originating with Dota 2 in 2013, the battle pass model gained more use as an alternative to subscription fees and loot boxes beginning in the late 2010s. Battle passes tend to offer free passes, which are available to all users, and premium passes that require annual or seasonal charges in exchange for enhanced items and cosmetics.
Battle passes may be given different terms depending on the game. For example, Rocket League and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds offer a "Rocket Pass" and "Survivor Pass" respectively.
A battle pass may be offered free to a player, or may require the player to purchase it through microtransactions. Once obtained, the battle pass presents the player with a number of reward tiers; by earning enough experience to complete the tier, the player gains the rewards offered at that tier. These rewards are typically cosmetic in nature, such as character and weapon customization options (also known as "skins"), emotes, and other non-gameplay affecting elements. More desirable rewards are provided at higher levels, which offer a way for players to show off these unique customization options to other players as a status symbol. Experience is gained through normal gameplay, and often through in-game challenges, while some games offer a way to accelerate progression through a battle pass by using microtransactions. In games that offer both free and paid-for battle passes, the free pass may have a very limited number of tiers or offer fewer or less-desirable rewards, but will track player's progression through the paid-for battle pass, allowing them to buy that battle pass at any time to collect the rewards.
Other battle passes, such as in Helldivers 2, Call of Duty, or Marvel Rivals, use block sets of rewards instead of a direct linear progression. In these cases, a player earned some type of in game currency to unlock one of a page or subset of rewards on the pass; once all the rewards on that page have been earned, the player moves onto the next page, and may be given a bonus reward for completing the page. This approach gives the play some freedom in selecting the order of rewards they want.
In addition to monetization, the battle pass helps with player retention. The battle pass employs multiple psychological tricks in how it is made and presented to ensure its success.[citation needed] The first is the principle of progression or achievement, where unlocking each level of the battle pass feels like a success and the players can see how far away they are from each tier.[citation needed] Additionally, the quests that are used to unlock the battle pass are often simple things that the player might not realize they are doing, and once progress is made towards the goal, the player is incentivized to just complete the quest.[citation needed] Another psychological effect used is the fear of missing out (FOMO) generated by creating artificial scarcity.[citation needed] Each battle pass has rewards that can only be unlocked during that season of the battle pass before it is replaced by another battle pass, which makes players feel like they need to play in order to obtain those rewards.[citation needed] The sunk cost fallacy is also present in the battle pass system, where the players feel that in order to gain the most value from the time they have already spent, they need to complete the battle pass, even if their enjoyment of the game decreases over time.[citation needed]
Battle passes and the rewards contained are only available for a limited time, most commonly a few months, after which a new season battle pass, with a new set of rewards, is available to be acquired. This approach follows the model of season passes used in other business areas. Most battle pass items are unobtainable after the season ends. To this end, a battle pass's progression towards rewards has to be balanced against expected gameplay time and what gameplay elements contribute towards this to avoid making the progression feel like grinding. For example, Halo Infinite's multiplayer debuted with a battle pass that was criticized for being too slow in progression, which developer 343 Industries stated they would observe and balance in the future. In contrast, Helldivers 2, Halo Infinite and Marvel Rivals allow players to continue to work towards rewards on battle passes they have purchased, even beyond the bounds of the season that the pass was offered for.
There are various types of battle passes that differ from the common battle pass, which is defined by linear progression through a set of rewards made accessible by completing challenges. For example, some games may offer different tiers based on payment. For a greater price than the common battle pass, luxury passes offer additional rewards, such as exclusive cosmetics or extra premium currency, as seen in games like Apex Legends, Brawl Stars, Clash of Clans and Clash Royale. There are also passes that deviate from linear progression. Rather than earning experience points through challenges, players instead earn a special currency they can spend, such as Chrono-Tokens in Marvel Rivals and, formerly, Battle Stars in Fortnite Battle Royale. These currency-based battle passes have multi-leveled rewards where players progress through levels upon meeting spending requirements.
One of the first known examples of a battle pass concept was seen in Valve's Dota 2 during an event that surrounded The International 2013, the annual e-sports tournament for the game. Called the "Compendium", it provided unique in-game content and other features for those players that purchased it, with 25% of all revenue made from it going towards the prize pool for the event. In 2016, Valve included the Compendium into the larger International Battle Pass, and later introduced a monthly form of one with their Dota Plus subscription feature in 2018. Valve also added "campaign passes" to Team Fortress 2 with special events in 2015. The campaign pass gave the player that purchased it a number of goals to complete during the event to receive unique customization options.
Hub AI
Battle pass AI simulator
(@Battle pass_simulator)
Battle pass
In the video game industry, a battle pass or rewards track is a type of monetization approach that provides additional content for a game usually through a tiered system, rewarding the player with in-game items for playing the game and completing specific challenges. Inspired by the season pass ticketing system and originating with Dota 2 in 2013, the battle pass model gained more use as an alternative to subscription fees and loot boxes beginning in the late 2010s. Battle passes tend to offer free passes, which are available to all users, and premium passes that require annual or seasonal charges in exchange for enhanced items and cosmetics.
Battle passes may be given different terms depending on the game. For example, Rocket League and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds offer a "Rocket Pass" and "Survivor Pass" respectively.
A battle pass may be offered free to a player, or may require the player to purchase it through microtransactions. Once obtained, the battle pass presents the player with a number of reward tiers; by earning enough experience to complete the tier, the player gains the rewards offered at that tier. These rewards are typically cosmetic in nature, such as character and weapon customization options (also known as "skins"), emotes, and other non-gameplay affecting elements. More desirable rewards are provided at higher levels, which offer a way for players to show off these unique customization options to other players as a status symbol. Experience is gained through normal gameplay, and often through in-game challenges, while some games offer a way to accelerate progression through a battle pass by using microtransactions. In games that offer both free and paid-for battle passes, the free pass may have a very limited number of tiers or offer fewer or less-desirable rewards, but will track player's progression through the paid-for battle pass, allowing them to buy that battle pass at any time to collect the rewards.
Other battle passes, such as in Helldivers 2, Call of Duty, or Marvel Rivals, use block sets of rewards instead of a direct linear progression. In these cases, a player earned some type of in game currency to unlock one of a page or subset of rewards on the pass; once all the rewards on that page have been earned, the player moves onto the next page, and may be given a bonus reward for completing the page. This approach gives the play some freedom in selecting the order of rewards they want.
In addition to monetization, the battle pass helps with player retention. The battle pass employs multiple psychological tricks in how it is made and presented to ensure its success.[citation needed] The first is the principle of progression or achievement, where unlocking each level of the battle pass feels like a success and the players can see how far away they are from each tier.[citation needed] Additionally, the quests that are used to unlock the battle pass are often simple things that the player might not realize they are doing, and once progress is made towards the goal, the player is incentivized to just complete the quest.[citation needed] Another psychological effect used is the fear of missing out (FOMO) generated by creating artificial scarcity.[citation needed] Each battle pass has rewards that can only be unlocked during that season of the battle pass before it is replaced by another battle pass, which makes players feel like they need to play in order to obtain those rewards.[citation needed] The sunk cost fallacy is also present in the battle pass system, where the players feel that in order to gain the most value from the time they have already spent, they need to complete the battle pass, even if their enjoyment of the game decreases over time.[citation needed]
Battle passes and the rewards contained are only available for a limited time, most commonly a few months, after which a new season battle pass, with a new set of rewards, is available to be acquired. This approach follows the model of season passes used in other business areas. Most battle pass items are unobtainable after the season ends. To this end, a battle pass's progression towards rewards has to be balanced against expected gameplay time and what gameplay elements contribute towards this to avoid making the progression feel like grinding. For example, Halo Infinite's multiplayer debuted with a battle pass that was criticized for being too slow in progression, which developer 343 Industries stated they would observe and balance in the future. In contrast, Helldivers 2, Halo Infinite and Marvel Rivals allow players to continue to work towards rewards on battle passes they have purchased, even beyond the bounds of the season that the pass was offered for.
There are various types of battle passes that differ from the common battle pass, which is defined by linear progression through a set of rewards made accessible by completing challenges. For example, some games may offer different tiers based on payment. For a greater price than the common battle pass, luxury passes offer additional rewards, such as exclusive cosmetics or extra premium currency, as seen in games like Apex Legends, Brawl Stars, Clash of Clans and Clash Royale. There are also passes that deviate from linear progression. Rather than earning experience points through challenges, players instead earn a special currency they can spend, such as Chrono-Tokens in Marvel Rivals and, formerly, Battle Stars in Fortnite Battle Royale. These currency-based battle passes have multi-leveled rewards where players progress through levels upon meeting spending requirements.
One of the first known examples of a battle pass concept was seen in Valve's Dota 2 during an event that surrounded The International 2013, the annual e-sports tournament for the game. Called the "Compendium", it provided unique in-game content and other features for those players that purchased it, with 25% of all revenue made from it going towards the prize pool for the event. In 2016, Valve included the Compendium into the larger International Battle Pass, and later introduced a monthly form of one with their Dota Plus subscription feature in 2018. Valve also added "campaign passes" to Team Fortress 2 with special events in 2015. The campaign pass gave the player that purchased it a number of goals to complete during the event to receive unique customization options.