Steam has changed their policy on DLC and season passes. Now players can get a refund if future plans fail: 'Customers are offered a full refund for the value unreleased DLC.'

Steam has made a major change to the way games will be required to advertise DLCs or expansion packs on its platform. The new guidelines spell out exactly what is considered new extra content, and how publishers and developers can handle it to ensure that customers benefit from it.

The guidelines state that "by offering a Season Pass you are promising future contents." "When launching a Season Pass you will be required to commit to a specific launch time for every content release included in the Season Pass. This launch time is a commitment made to both Steam and customers. If you're not ready to clearly communicate the content in each DLC and when each DLC is ready for launch, then you shouldn't offer Season Passes on Steam."

It also explains the risks associated with promising DLCs to players. The developers must not only provide a launch date, but also work to keep that promise and release their game on time. "Selling Season Passes has risks. Since you are promising future content, you have to commit to finishing that content on time. If your customers don't like what you're releasing or the timing, it will reflect in sales and reviews.

It's not very common, but there are some games that have failed at the hurdle of DLCs. The Beach Properties packs, the first DLC released by Cities: Skylines 2, riled up players who felt that $10/PS8.49 was a rip-off for a few buildings and trees. Stellaris has DLCs worth $200. It can be difficult for players to sort through the sheer amount of content, and to decide what's worth buying.

"Because the Season Pass is a pre-purchase of DLC, there are many considerations and limitations as described in the documentation for pre-purchases." We will not offer Season Passes except in rare cases and with partners who have a good track record on Steam.

Steam has also laid out the refund policy for games that fail to meet their plans. "We understand that development of games doesn't always proceed as planned. If you don't think you will be able release a DLC in the Season Pass within the quarter that you promised, you can self-reschedule it once only during the Season Pass. You can choose a date up to three months later than the original one. If you cancel DLCs in a Season Pass customers will receive a refund of the value of DLCs that have not been released."

There are new guidelines for games that want to sell a season pass on Steam. Now, games are required to list all DLCs that are included in the season pass, provide a basic description of each DLC, explaining what players can expect, and give a date for release, which can be either a quarter or a year.

Many players are happy to see the change, even though it may not seem like much of a change. It is more a clerical clarification for developers and publishers. "Valve works hard to improve the experience for their customers, because they know that if they do this, customers will respond with money," says a player. "I've done it for over 20 years because they keep getting better and have more features." PC gamers are eating well these days, thanks to the new Steam guidelines for DLCs as well as GOG's commitment to game preservation.