Xbox: Life is Strange Season 2 Episode 2 will launch simultaneously on Game Pass on the same day of release (update: actually 90 days after release)

xrnzaaas · Jan 23, 2019

Megatron said:
I think it going to game pass this early is a pretty clear sign there won't be a LiS3.

It's way too early to make these predictions. We don't know how many people will purchase the game after the entire season is out and besides they can always do the same as the Hitman guys and release a new sequel without the episodic release schedule.

Handsome James · Jan 23, 2019

Wilson said:
The amount of false equivalency in this thread is unbelievable. I particularly enjoy the idiotic "it's like a show coming to Netflix" nonsense. None of these arguments hold any water when (at best) the people who have paid for the game have only received 15-20% of what they were promised, and have had months of nothing.

I have it on PS4 so I'm not directly affected by this but it will absolutely burn a sizeable amount of loyal fans who bought in early. I'm still moderately happy to support them going forward but there's not a chance in hell I'll spend any money before at least 50% of the content is delivered in future.

But those people knew that the game wasn't releasing all at once? I'm sorry but "having to wait months" for the other episodes should not be a surprise to anyone.

xrnzaaas said:
It's not a certainty, but they would have to add new purchase options to buy eps 3-5 separately.

It's confirmed that episodes 2-5 will release into the service. Not so much on whether they're all day 1 or not. But it appears to be that way

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/01/02/xbox-game-pass-january-2019/

Budi · Jan 23, 2019

Precious Tritium said:
But what they really should have done was announce it would be on game pass before episode 1 launched, and not take money from their biggest fans / early adopters.

Yeah this was something I was thinking, how early should Gamepass games be announced. What would be appropriate timeframe. Especially for 3rd party games (aren't first party day one anyway?), as publishers don't necessarily like losing sales (on any possible platforms) because people would wait out to get it for "free". Are such announcements something that only MS has a say in, or also the publisher who made the deal with MS. Just like games going on sale aren't usually announced before it actually goes on sale. So selling the game wouldn't stop for two weeks or something. I'm not super familiar with these console services, how much in advance does Sony announce their "free" PS+ games?

Edit: By quick googling seems like usually few days at max (3)

MazeHaze · Jan 23, 2019

Cool, so now I know to never buy a Don't Nod episodic game day one.

only_fools_&_horses · Jan 23, 2019

Bradbatross said:
Millions of subscribers that have to support the current library of games. In Game Pass. We have no clue how many subscribers would make getting a AAA 3rd party game viable. And you clearly misunderstood my post. More and more 3rd party games are currently launching on the service, that's just a fact. No one but you brought up 5 AAA games.

Then also you misunderstood what i'm trying to say the whole time. Since page 3.
I'd never claimed 3rd party games won't launch on GP. LOL Smaller ones ( like LIS 2 ), yes. But i'd claimed that big games won't launch on GP day 1 along with its release date as some people are saying.

Mr Moot · Jan 23, 2019

Mr Moot said:
DISCLAIMER : Square Enix stated it will be on XGP in 90 days, not day one

Hella said:
Sorry, source?

My uncle at Squenix.

A french website had to change its news about it. You're right, I'm waiting for source too, but I think it's accurate. It's the biggest french videogame website. Had to change my post too, the guy who run the website I post in is waiting for evidence. Will link my post later if I'm allowed to.

GamerDude · Jan 23, 2019

BronsonLee said:
I paid 30 bucks for the whole season on PC AND NOW IT'S ON GAME PASS and I'm ok with it cause now more people will play it and become wolves

Welp, looks like I managed to keep this season's power a surprise until this post. Damnit, man :(

MazeHaze · Jan 23, 2019

This shit is super dirty. I forked over $40 on day one, they take 4 months in between episodes, and before the second episode is even out they announce the rest will be coming day and date to a subscription service I'm already a member of. What the fuck man.

Bedameister · Jan 23, 2019

VanCityGamer said:
Welp, looks like I managed to keep this season's power a surprise until this post. Damnit, man :(

You're not becoming a wolf in this game lol

Hella · Jan 23, 2019

BronsonLee speaks the purest form of truth. There's no need to doubt him.

Mr Moot said:
My uncle at Squenix.

A french website had to change its news about it. You're right, I'm waiting for source too, but I think it's accurate. It's the biggest french videogame website. Had to change my post too, the guy who run the website I post in is waiting for evidence. Will link my post later if I'm allowed to.

Alright, thanks for the clarification.

Natiko · Jan 23, 2019

Wow, is it all future episodes or is it just episode 2 joining the first?

Mr Moot · Jan 23, 2019

Megatron said:
I think it going to game pass this early is a pretty clear sign there won't be a LiS3.

The fact there's 2 million people Following LiS 2 on twitter seems a pretty good Indicator of the popularity of that game.

Deleted member 42 · Jan 23, 2019

VanCityGamer said:
Welp, looks like I managed to keep this season's power a surprise until this post. Damnit, man :(

That is not a spoiler at all

The big brother tells the little brother they're like wolves on a trip

that's it

Hella said:
BronsonLee speaks the purest form of truth. There's no need to doubt him.

Framing this post so I can use it at all times

Megatron · Jan 23, 2019

only_fools_&_horses said:
OK, i'm delusional. Will contact you at the end of the 2019. I'm willing to bet that by the end of this year neither 5 new big 3rd party games won't appear on Gamepass Day 1 along with launch date.

Bookmarked!

Where on Earth are you getting 5 games from? Strawman arguments are against the rules here.

Bradbatross · Jan 23, 2019

only_fools_&_horses said:
Then also you misunderstood what i'm trying to say the whole time. Since page 3.
I'd never claimed 3rd party games won't launch on GP. LOL Smaller ones ( like LIS 2 ), yes. But i'd claimed that big games won't launch on GP day 1 along with its release date as some people are saying.

Your're not going to see a lot of them, but it's not unreasonable to expect 1 AAA game to launch on Game Pass this year. It all depends on how much Game Pass is growing and if it's viable for MS to make that deal with a 3rd party.

Kage Maru · Jan 23, 2019

Static said:
Yeah but it turns out they could've just not paid for it instead. The fact that people regret their purchase of a thing they have had zero access to because they would've got it for free anyways is evidence enough to me at least that people feel ripped off. Like, those aren't feelings had in bad faith. Those aren't feelings because it was discounted after the whole season came out, because games getting discounted post release is a given. The comparisons of "this is just like a discount after release" are weird. It's not quite like that. People who paid for it are getting at at the exact same time as they would have if they'd paid nothing at all. That's a pretty big difference than "a discount down the road, after it's all released."

I'm not trying to paint the two scenarios as exactly the same thing. My point is that early adopters should be well aware of the risks of Pre-ordering or just jumping in early. If they aren't aware, that's pretty ignorant on their part, so I can't really feel sorry for these people. If I pre-order a game but then find it on CD Keys for $20 before release, I'm not going to get mad about it since no one forced me to pre-order the game.

only_fools_&_horses · Jan 23, 2019

Megatron said:
Where on Earth are you getting 5 games from? Strawman arguments are against the rules here.

I could say 3. I mentioned 5 games just because, nothing more.

Somnia · Jan 23, 2019

I'll just jump in since I'm reading this thread... I bought this game day 1 on xbox, the full season and I do not regret my purchase at all despite it now being on Gamepass. If I had known, yes I would have waited, but I'm not regretting my purchase at all. I'm actually happy more people get to experience this universe (the whole universe actually since it's now ALL on gamepass).

Still a Gray Area · Jan 23, 2019

hob982 said:
If a game releases on GP on day 1, you know beforehand and buying or not is your choice.
This is not "day 1" per sè, but people paid 40$ for a 3 months-long early access to episode 1, with no way of knowing it would pass on GP.
Having the full game on GP after Ep5 would have been ok imho. People who bought it day 1 would have had their money's worth.
That's poor value, and that's basically a slap in the face of people who wanted to support the franchise.
It's not on MS, thou. This is all on Squarenix imho. This doesn't bode well from the franchise.

To me, the game failing commercially doesn't bode well for the franchise so I'd much rather it get out to a wider audience and hopefully enjoyed by more people.
Pre-ordering any game, but a digital-only title especially comes with its own set of risks, least of which is "Oh it may end up on Gamepass too early".

I"m guessing that this deal wasn't made before the game launched and I'm also guessing that something about the market realities caused Square Enix to look for new partnerships. Could it have been done in a cleaner fashion? Sure.

Let's not kid ourselves, Gamepass is not ubiquitous so the venn diagram of Gamepass users who also preordered on Xbox is probably pretty small and of that group, those who are upset at its inclusion in Gamepass would be smaller still.
Looking at the first page of this thread, the posters with the most concern have: bought the game on a different platform, are not subscribed to Gamepass, or a combination of the preceding.

Kage Maru said:
I think it's reasonable for someone to wish they have waited but ripped off? Nah. They are still getting what they originally paid for. That's like saying it's justifiable for someone to feel ripped off if there is a big discount for the season once all the episodes are released. No one put a gun to anyone's head to buy these episodes early. To be legitimately ripped off, the product would have to come up short in a major way or the sale was done on the basis of a lie. Neither has happened in this instance. So it looks more like typical gamer outrage instead of people just realizing that jumping in early in any product carries inherent risks and owning up to that fact.

Agree with the bolded.

Hadok · Jan 23, 2019

there is obviously a deal between Microsoft and Square Enix with this IP,most of the new LiS trailers were shown first in an xbox conference.

Deleted member 3038 · Jan 23, 2019

TheKeyPit said:
I pre-ordered the game Day 1 to support Dontnod.

and you supported them. There's no reason this announcement should piss you off if the point of you buying it Day 1 was "to support the dev"

Brotherhood93 · Jan 23, 2019

Kage Maru said:
I'm not trying to paint the two scenarios as exactly the same thing. My point is that early adopters should be well aware of the risks of Pre-ordering or just jumping in early. If they aren't aware, that's pretty ignorant on their part, so I can't really feel sorry for these people. If I pre-order a game but then find it on CD Keys for $20 before release, I'm not going to get mad about it since no one forced me to pre-order the game.

While I agree with you to an extent about early adopters needing to be aware of the risks it doesn't mean that they are also fair game to publishers, in my opinion. I think Square taking money from their biggest fans and most eager customers for the season pass then bringing episodes 2-5 day one to gamepass is a bad look without announcing this before the launch of episode 1. It robs consumers of the choice between playing it through gamepass, essentially for free if they are already subscribers, or buying the game. If they want to own the game or just support the developer despite having gamepass then that is also their choice.

Talking about it like a pre-order is also a little murky in this scenario because most people will have just bought the season pass instead of buying each episode individually (often there is a discount doing it this way too although I'm not sure in this case). While that means they have technically pre-ordered episodes 2-5 it is not the same as a standard pre-order because it was bought to play episode 1. By the way, I also think games that are discounted very quickly after release is a poor way to treat early adopters too, albeit it's a step above the increasingly popular move of charging more for early access.

I would just suggest that had people known the remaining episodes of LiS2 were coming to gamepass on day one before the first episode released this wouldn't be an issue at all but the way it has worked out it's understandable for people to feel disappointed. Perhaps those who don't budget for games or are generous enough to look past this don't see an issue with it but it is still not ideal. I will say again though, because I am getting sense of veiled console warring in this thread, that I don't think the mishandling of this is on Xbox or gamepass. As far as they are concerned they're just offering another game on their service and it seems it's not entirely clear from the last few posts if this is happening at all anyway.

Keikaku · Jan 23, 2019

Nice. Once all episodes are out I'll subscribe for a month if it's $1.

jorgejjvr · Jan 23, 2019

Keikaku said:
Nice. Once all episodes are out I'll subscribe for a month if it's $1.

Even if it's $10, still a steal

Man Called Aerodynamics · Jan 23, 2019

This is a great get for Game Pass. However, I totally understand why people who paid $40 and now don't even get to play the other episodes early feel like they got played. That can't feel good.

Kage Maru · Jan 23, 2019

Brotherhood93 said:
While I agree with you to an extent about early adopters needing to be aware of the risks it doesn't mean that they are also fair game to publishers, in my opinion. I think Square taking money from their biggest fans and most eager customers for the season pass then bringing episodes 2-5 day one to gamepass is a bad look without announcing this before the launch of episode 1. It robs consumers of the choice between playing it through gamepass, essentially for free if they are already subscribers, or buying the game. If they want to own the game or just support the developer despite having gamepass then that is also their choice.

Talking about it like a pre-order is also a little murky in this scenario because most people will have just bought the season pass instead of buying each episode individually (often there is a discount doing it this way too although I'm not sure in this case). While that means they have technically pre-ordered episodes 2-5 it is not the same as a standard pre-order because it was bought to play episode 1. By the way, I also think games that are discounted very quickly after release is a poor way to treat early adopters too, albeit it's a step above the increasingly popular move of charging more for early access.

I would just suggest that had people known the remaining episodes of LiS2 were coming to gamepass on day one before the first episode released this wouldn't be an issue at all but the way it has worked out it's understandable for people to feel disappointed. Perhaps those who don't budget for games or are generous enough to look past this don't see an issue with it but it is still not ideal. I will say again though, because I am getting sense of veiled console warring in this thread, that I don't think the mishandling of this is on Xbox or gamepass. As far as they are concerned they're just offering another game on their service and it seems it's not entirely clear from the last few posts if this is happening at all anyway.

I agree with pretty much everything you said. In no way am I advocating for publishers to take advantage of early adopters. I also agree that knowing about deals or additions to GP would be preferred to give consumers a choice.

I understand why people would be disappointed. It's the outrage or claims of being ripped off that I can't agree with. My comments have largely been directed towards these notions.

OneBadMutha · Jan 23, 2019

Just can't relate to the people who feel screwed or cheated. The IP you liked enough to preorder and pay in full is now going to be played by a lot more people and has a better likelihood of getting sequels. If it works out, maybe future games from Dontnod are placed in the service. You lost nothing. There's a chance to gain something. Others will gain.

I've owned almost every major release that I had slight interest in that came to Game Pass outside of the Day 1 stuff. Still getting more than my money's worth with the day 1 stuff. Not going to complain that others get a shot at enjoying those games and that there's more opportunity for the developers to succeed.

SE Toby · Jan 23, 2019

Mr Moot said:
My uncle at Squenix.

A french website had to change its news about it. You're right, I'm waiting for source too, but I think it's accurate. It's the biggest french videogame website. Had to change my post too, the guy who run the website I post in is waiting for evidence. Will link my post later if I'm allowed to.

I can confirm your information to be accurate. For the removal of all doubt:

Future "Life is Strange 2" episodes (incl. Ep 2) will be available in Xbox Game Pass 90 days following their original release.

The Xbox Tweet mentioned in the OP answered that LiS2 Ep2 would be coming to gamepass, not that it would be available on launch day, though I can understand where the confusion arose.

Mr Moot · Jan 23, 2019

SE Toby said:
I can confirm your information to be accurate. For the removal of all doubt:

Future "Life is Strange 2" episodes (incl. Ep 2) will be available in Xbox Game Pass 90 days following their original release.

The Xbox Tweet mentioned in the OP answered that LiS2 Ep2 would be coming to gamepass, not that it would be available on launch day, though I can understand where the confusion arose.

Thank you for the clarification. The Xbox tweet was misleading in the way the question asked was clearly about launch day.

BDS · Jan 23, 2019

Dontnod is going to end up going under and getting bought out by Square Enix or another studio.

jakomocha · Jan 23, 2019

I don't have an Xbox, so I'm not gonna weigh in on this whole fiasco, but I just wanna say don't sleep on LiS 2 guys!! First episode is fantastic.

BDS said:
Dontnod is going to end up going under and getting bought out by Square Enix or another studio.

No no no don't say that :(. Vampyr and LiS 1 were both very successful afaik so I think they're in a good place right now

Mr Moot · Jan 23, 2019

jakomocha said:
I don't have an Xbox, so I'm not gonna weigh in on this whole fiasco, but I just wanna say don't sleep on LiS 2 guys!! First episode is fantastic.

No no no don't say that :(. Vampyr and LiS 1 were both very successful afaik so I think they're in a good place right now

I'm gonna wait for the full season, can't suffer waiting weeks or months bertween episodes!

Man Called Aerodynamics · Jan 23, 2019

OneBadMutha said:
Just can't relate to the people who feel screwed or cheated. The IP you liked enough to preorder and pay in full is now going to be played by a lot more people and has a better likelihood of getting sequels. If it works out, maybe future games from Dontnod are placed in the service. You lost nothing. There's a chance to gain something. Others will gain. You got something extra for your money.

I've owned almost every major release that I had slight interest in that came to Game Pass outside of the Day 1 stuff. Still getting more than my money's worth with the day 1 stuff.

Well, yeah, but in probably all those cases, you had already gotten months of enjoyment out of those games you bought vs. having to wait for it to come to Game Pass.

80% of Life is Strange 2 isn't even out yet. This situation is more akin to a day 1 Game Pass game being a surprise. If Forza Horizon 4 came to Game Pass day 1 but subscribers had already spent $60 on the game because they didn't know about it, they'd rightly feel shortchanged. They paid extra but didn't get any bonus.

hob982 · Jan 23, 2019

SE Toby said:
I can confirm your information to be accurate. For the removal of all doubt:
Future "Life is Strange 2" episodes (incl. Ep 2) will be available in Xbox Game Pass 90 days following their original release.

That's reasonable. Much ado for nothing then.

Barneystuta · Jan 23, 2019

SE Toby said:
I can confirm your information to be accurate. For the removal of all doubt:

Future "Life is Strange 2" episodes (incl. Ep 2) will be available in Xbox Game Pass 90 days following their original release.

The Xbox Tweet mentioned in the OP answered that LiS2 Ep2 would be coming to gamepass, not that it would be available on launch day, though I can understand where the confusion arose.

Thanks for clarifying. As a gamepass subscriber I am looking forward to playing episode 2 in a fee months.

This should be added to the OP - may clear a few things up.

bsigg · Jan 23, 2019

SE Toby said:
I can confirm your information to be accurate. For the removal of all doubt:

Future "Life is Strange 2" episodes (incl. Ep 2) will be available in Xbox Game Pass 90 days following their original release.

The Xbox Tweet mentioned in the OP answered that LiS2 Ep2 would be coming to gamepass, not that it would be available on launch day, though I can understand where the confusion arose.

Thank you for the update!

GamerDude · Jan 23, 2019

SE Toby said:
I can confirm your information to be accurate. For the removal of all doubt:

Future "Life is Strange 2" episodes (incl. Ep 2) will be available in Xbox Game Pass 90 days following their original release.

The Xbox Tweet mentioned in the OP answered that LiS2 Ep2 would be coming to gamepass, not that it would be available on launch day, though I can understand where the confusion arose.

I can understand why that's the case, but still a bummer for Game Pass subscribers. Oh well.

Hope · Jan 23, 2019

Cool for gamepass users but it is kinda worrying for life is strange.

Shark · Jan 23, 2019

Episodic is dead next gen. I'm personally a huge fan of it, but it is very clearly not what people want.

pswii60 · Jan 23, 2019

A mod needs to update the thread title.

GamerDude · Jan 23, 2019

Shark said:
Episodic is dead next gen. I'm personally a huge fan of it, but it is very clearly not what people want.

I'm a huge fan of the bite-sized episode structure, but think the wait between episodes is simply too long. So I just end up waiting until they are all released, and get a much cheaper price while I'm at it. Definitely a problematic trend for the developers and publishers.

Shark · Jan 23, 2019

VanCityGamer said:
I'm a huge fan of the bite-sized episode structure, but think the wait between episodes is simply too long. So I just end up waiting until they are all released, and get a much cheaper price while I'm at it. Definitely a problematic trend for the developers and publishers.

Agreed that the wait between episode 1 and 2 of LiS 2 has been pretty egregious and in an era of Netflix and getting everything all at once, its not surprising most people don't want to experience it with large gaps in between.

I actually think the best use of episodic is for games that have broken up content (different areas/zones) and are made to be 'mastered' by playing them repeatedly. Hitman was better for it and I think Resident Evil Revelations 2 fit well with the format too. I doubt we ever see it again next gen, especially for games like that.

Rygar1126 · Jan 23, 2019

90 days post-release seems pretty okay to me. Hopefully the window between episode 2 and 3 is shorter than the one between 2 and 1, though.

As for the future of episodic gaming, I'm not sure it survives into the next-gen, but i hope it does. If there is another LiS after 2, though, I'd be okay with it being released in full at launch

waffleboy · Jan 23, 2019

I wonder how much Microsoft pays for this

Rodhull · Jan 23, 2019

Been an odd one for me as I loved the first two games and was pretty excited for the sequel as well but the substantial price hike put me off getting 2 when I had expected to pre-order it as usual. Ended up buying episode 1 a couple of days before it was announced for Gamepass. Didn't feel too bad as it was on sale.

90 days still seems like a long time to wait especially as the episodes are so far apart so I'm guessing when the season pass eventually goes on sale I'll get it then. Guessing a lot of people are doing that now if the game hasn't sold well.

Edge · Jan 24, 2019

90 days later now? Oh well. :/

Guess I will wait until summer 2020 or so until the whole season released on GamePass.

Falchion · Jan 24, 2019

Fucking awesome, I love this service.

Godzilla24 · Jan 24, 2019

Game pass is a game changer for the industry. Without this service never would have played lis season 1. Very grateful.

GamerDude · Jan 24, 2019

Any way we can update the thread title, which is no longer accurate? Episode 2 will come to Game Pass 90 days after release.

BDS · Jan 24, 2019

VanCityGamer said:
Any way we can update the thread title, which is no longer accurate? Episode 2 will come to Game Pass 90 days after release.

I reported the title so a mod should change it.

Xbox: Life is Strange Season 2 Episode 2 will launch simultaneously on Game Pass on the same day of release (update: actually 90 days after release)

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