No Season Pass for Mass Effect: Andromeda

Titanfall 2 was a bit of an ambitious gamble: it goes against industry wisdom and doesn’t offer Season Passes. Given how ubiquitous DLC content has become in big, triple-A titles have become, and how essential getting customer’s money early is, this was certainly a welcome surprise. Titanfall 2 hasn’t sold phenomenally well, however, and it was a fear of mine that not blowing up the sales chart would cause EA to backpedal from their more customer-friendly approach. Fortunately, it seems they’re sticking to their guns, at least for now, and Bioware general manager Aaryn Flynn revealed over Twitter that Mass Effect: Andromeda wouldn’t have any sort of Season Pass, although it would still have DLC if you were so inclined to get it.

…But of course, there will be multiple editions of the game, which come with pre-order bonuses that scale depending on how much you’re willing to shell out. The Standard Edition ($59.99), comes with the Deep Space Explorer Armor, a Nomad skin, and a multiplayer bonus pack that includes five 50 percent XP boosts. If you pre-order the Deluxe Edition ($69.99), however, you get the Pathfinder Casual Outfit, a Pathfinder Elite Weapon Set, Scavenger armor, a pet Pyjak, the game's digital soundtrack, and a multiplayer launch pack of weapons and equipment. If your wallet and interest align enough to grab the Super Deluxe Edition ($99.99) you’ll score a weekly Premium Pack for 20 weeks that is loaded with boosts to speed your progression.

Neat.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is due to release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on March 21, earlier if you have an Origin Access account.

Is this encouraging news? Not as much as Titanfall 2 was, but hey, in today’s world, I’ll take whatever good news I can get, however small. I’m getting desperate over here.