What was the first Battle Pass?

As an avid gamer and content creator, I‘m often asked what video game first introduced the now exceedingly popular battle pass system. While a few precursors existed, Valve‘s Dota 2 is credited with pioneering the modern incarnation of battle passes back in 2013. This first occurred during a special event surrounding The International 2013 tournament.

The History of The International Dota 2 Championships

For context, The International is an annual world championship esports tournament for the game Dota 2. First held in 2011 in Cologne, Germany, The International featured a $1.6 million prize pool – unheard of in esports at the time. This tournament along with its prize pool has grown into the most prestigious event in all of esports, with recent iterations topping over $30 million in prizes.

Dota 2 Introduces Interactive Compendiums

In 2013, Valve took the ambitious step of crowd-funding The International‘s prize pool. They did this by releasing an in-game "Interactive Compendium" for $10 – this would be considered the first-ever battle pass.

The compendium let players make predictions on the tournament‘s outcomes while earning rewards as they leveled up the pass. Twenty-five percent of all compendium sales went directly towards The International‘s total prize pool. This innovative system brought in an astounding $2.8 million.

Key Features of Valve‘s 2013 Dota 2 Battle Pass

• In-game predictions and brackets on tournament outcome
• Ability to level up pass to earn cosmetic rewards
• Direct crowdfunding of The International 2013‘s prize pool
• Limited time duration tied to event

This interactive compendium set the standard for what would define battle passes moving forward. Players were more invested in the tournament itself while getting rewarded with exclusive content. And Valve partially crowdsourced their prize pools.

The Gaming Landscape Before Battle Passes

Prior to 2013, free-to-play games primarily relied on systems like loot boxes and seasonal content subscriptions to drive revenue. These systems were often criticized for randomness and providing less direct value to players for their money. Players had been conditioned to be distrustful of most in-game purchases.

Valve‘s 2013 Dota 2 Interactive Compendium offered transparency around purchases going directly towards tournament prize pools and known content rewards. This helped shifts perspective around the value proposition of in-game monetization.

Fortnite Takes Battle Passes Mainstream

While pioneered in Dota 2, the battle pass system didn‘t truly go mainstream until Fortnite adopted the model in 2018 with the game‘s Season 2 Battle Pass. By this time Fortnite had pivoted from a PVE zombie shooter to riding the growing success of their standalone free-to-play battle royale mode.

Fortnite built on Dota‘s concept but with some added innovations:

• Free and premium paid tiers
• Chapetred seasonal content with themed cosmetics
• Challenges to boost player engagement and progression

Additionally, Fortnite itself had an outsized impact thanks to exploding into a cultural phenomenon in 2017/2018. Due to the game‘s young demographic and record popularity, battle passes became synonymous with modern gaming progression systems.

Adoption of Battle Passes Post-Fortnite

Nearly every major multiplayer game has adopted seasonal battle passes following Fortnite‘s success:

The numbers speak for themselves – Fortnite reportedly made over $5 billion in revenue from battle pass sales alone by 2021. Entire games now center seasons and development roadmaps around their battle passes.

The Impact of the Battle Pass Model

Love them or hate them, battle passes have undoubtedly transformed game monetization, engagement methods, and even development priorities:

• Predictable revenue allowing expanded dev teams and post-launch content
• Focus on limited-time cosmetics over gameplay-altering purchases
• Seasonal model encouraging player retention and regular check-ins

However some downsides exist too:

• Fear of missing out driving compulsive playing habits
• Battle pass fatigue setting in for players maintaining multiple games

What‘s Next for Battle Passes?

I expect the battle pass model to continue dominating for the short-term future. But concerns around burnout may see some games experiment with different seasonal structures. We could also see battle passes expanded in creative ways – offering subscriptions across entire publishers‘ catalogs of games rather than just individual titles.

Third-party services selling levels and rewards also continue to thrive. Ultimately if the value prop stays there for players, battle passes will remain fixture of gaming.

The First Battle Pass Cast a Long Shadow

While other precursors existed, Dota 2‘s Interactive Compendium in 2013 really pioneered what defines the modern battle pass system. Fortnite then catapulted the model into ubiquity just a few years later in 2018. Nearly all major multiplayer games now rely on similar seasonal passes driving high engagement and predictable revenue.

For better or worse, Valve‘s initial 2013 experiment dramatically reshaped both player expectations and developer monetization models thereafter. The platform continues evolving but shows no signs of relinquishing its hold over multiplayer gaming any time soon.