Fallout 4 is arguably the most anticipated release of 2015. Ever since the official announcement of its existence during Bethesda's first-ever E3 2015 press conference, fans of the post-apocalyptic RPG franchise have continued to clamor for any new information regarding the game on a daily basis. Recently, the Maryland-based studio revealed that Fallout 4 will indeed have a Season Pass and DLC sometime post-launch, but perhaps the most welcome news came from Bethesda's later confirmation that the DLC will not be platform exclusive.

The actual materials that will make up the expansions for Fallout 4 were not initially established due to Bethesda focusing all of its efforts on ensuring the base game's launch is successful. Nevertheless, fans ought to expect some spectacular add-ons, with Fallout 3's Broken Steel and Fallout: New Vegas' Dead Money campaigns both being great examples of the studio's ability to make solid DLC for the retro-futuristic series. Now, for those willing to put faith in Bethesda's post-launch development abilities for Fallout 4, it's been confirmed that Xbox One owners can officially start pre-ordering the Season Pass on the Xbox Marketplace.

While the Season Pass will cost gamers $30, there's also a $90 Fallout 4 Digital Deluxe Bundle which comes with a copy of the title and its DLC all in one package. Descriptions for both items do not clarify what kind of content will be included, but it's safe to assume that multiple expansions will come at a later date. At any rate, should fans opt to purchase the bundle, it's crucial to not buy the Season Pass, for they will be charged twice.

[HTML1]

Bethesda's VP of Marketing and PR, Pete Hines, let his Twitter followers know about the Xbox One pre-orders for Fallout 4's DLC, and acknowledged that even though the content hasn't made its way to the PlayStation Network or Steam, they should "stay tuned" for more details. Further down in the thread of responses, one fan laments the Season Pass pre-order's current unavailability for PlayStation 4, to which Hines replies, "I know they're working on it...". The executive's rejoinder is probably a reference to his verification of choosing to play Fallout 4 on the PS4 while responding to fans graphics complaints about a month ago.

After the reveal of plans for Fallout 4's Season Pass and DLC were almost immediately criticized by fans, Bethesda defended the decision to do so, with Hines saying that it was a good idea to let people in on the studio's strategy for the future. What's weird about such knee-jerk criticism is that everyone already expected add-ons in the first place, especially considering that the company's previous games  including Skyrim and Oblivion  got expansion packs, so in the end, fans panning the declaration is utterly baffling.

The most important thing to take away from this is that no one is forcing gamers to buy Fallout 4's Season Pass and DLC. From a financial perspective, making the content available for early purchases is just a smart business move that's done in order to assist in sales projections. However, it might have been best for Bethesda to have waited to let the pre-orders go live simultaneously for all platforms so as to avoid fans' potential cries that the company is playing favoritism.

Fallout 4 is set to release on November 10, 2015 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: Xbox Marketplace (via GameSpot, Pete Hines on Twitter)