Batman: Arkham Origins season pass draws controversy

WB Montreal's plans for Batman: Arkham Origins have so far been expansive.

WB Montreal's plans for Batman: Arkham Origins have so far been expansive. The studio's trip into Batman's beginnings will include multiplayer, permadeath,and a string of post-release content, including an awful lot of outfit options for the Caped Crusader as part of the season pass. The outfit options have producer Guillaume Voghel on damage control today—IGN reports that the multitude of costumes has some fans perceiving a lack of real value. Voghel defends the pass's contents and teases something else for the game that he thinks will have a large impact.

"There's going to be a lot of value in that Season Pass," Voghel tells IGN. "One of the items we can't talk about yet...we'll just wait for the gamers to really see what the entire package contains. It's going to be a big deal."

Arkham Origins' season pass promises skins, a challenge mode, and an additional side story for $20. The challenge mode, called "Initiation," features a pre-Batman Bruce Wayne fighting his ninja mentor in Asia. Two of the skins coat Batman in costumes from the Gotham by Gaslight and Brightest Day comic storylines, while the New Millennium and Infinite Earths packs contain six additional skins each. So far, there are no details on the “side story” DLC.

Arkham Origins is the prequel to the Arkham franchise started by Rocksteady Studios in 2009. Arkham Asylum and Arkham City put the studio on the map, but Rocksteady has handed the reins to Warner Bros. Montreal for this installment. The franchise is no stranger to DLC controversy—two years ago, Arkham City drew criticism for locking away single-player Catwoman content behind its online pass, and for tying similar cosmetic skins to different retailers. Those issues were more of a console problem, however.

Season Passes and after-release DLC aren't going anywhere, and when done right, can be beneficial to your budget (we're looking at you, Bioshock Infinite), but if WB Montreal ends up relying on new bat-costumes for its post-release plans, we'll be pretty disappointed.