Marvel Snap's Interleaved Season Pass
Innovation in Battle Pass Design
(Okay this is my third post about Marvel Snap in just over a month. I’ll change the record next time. Maybe I’ll look at Vampire Survivors? I like that game. Anyway…)
How about that Marvel Snap?
It has a monthly Battle Season Pass! But Jak, loads of games have one of those, why are you singling out Marvel Snap for having this monetisation system? I’ll tell you! It’s a good example of a Season Pass being implemented in a specific way.
Behold the INTERLEAVED SEASON PASS!
It might be useful to compare the Interleaved Season Pass (above: Marvel Snap) with the more traditional Parallel Battle Pass (below: Fortnite)*
As a brief reminder, one of the key features of a Season Pass is the existence of a Free Track and a Premium Track. The Premium Track usually contains a greater quality and quantity of loot than the Free Track.
The Free Track serves as an ongoing advertisement for the Premium Track. Free Track players have to come to the screen several times a season to claim their inferior (or absent!) rewards and are then served yet another impression of cool stuff they aren’t entitled to, and a link to a purchase flow that can rectify the situation. At least for this season anyway!
Marvel Snap makes a subtle change to this formula by smooshing the Free and Premium Tracks into a single Track. This visual sleight of hand achieves a few things:
Minimised Screen Real Estate:
Marvel Snap is a mobile game, so having only one Track instead of two Tracks allows the devs to do more with the screen. In this case, they can show the chase card, a Premium Track exclusive Black Panther variant card. It also leaves room for a big £8.99 sales button.
Each Stage of the Pass is strictly Free or Premium now:
It’s easy to miss, but there are now no stages of Snap’s Season Pass that award both Free and Premium rewards. This is a somewhat cleaner design but it also further reinforces the feeling of having the “less good Pass” experience to those who haven’t bought premium for this Season.
Creates “Disappointment” Moments:
I’ve highlighted the ‘Free’ items in the image above. It’s sort of clear, but it isn’t immediately clear which items are available to all, and which are locked behind Premium. It’s entirely possible in the mild visual confusion for a Free Pass player to attempt to “claim” something only to find out that they aren’t entitled to it. This creates a moment of disappointment that can again be rectified for £8.99…