What is a battle pass? How season passes in games like Fortnite work

If you play Fortnite, Call of Duty or Brawl Stars, you have seen a battle pass. It has become one of the most common ways for free-to-play games to make money.

How it works

• Seasons: each pass lasts a limited time, usually a few months
• Tiers: you earn experience by playing and completing challenges, and each tier unlocks a reward
• Free track: open to everyone, with fewer or less attractive rewards
• Premium track: costs money each season and unlocks the best cosmetics; if you buy it late, you usually get the rewards you already reached
• Tier skips: many games let you pay to advance faster

When the season ends, most of its items can no longer be obtained, although some games, such as Halo Infinite and Helldivers 2, let you keep progressing on passes you bought.

Where it came from

Valve’s Dota 2 Compendium, linked to The International 2013, is considered one of the first examples. Fortnite Battle Royale made the model popular in 2018; its season three launch reportedly sold more than five million passes in one day.

Battle pass or loot box?

The big difference is transparency: in a battle pass you can see every reward before paying, while a loot box gives you something random. That is why battle passes were seen as an alternative when loot boxes drew criticism for resembling gambling.

The criticism

Critics say battle passes rely on fear of missing out on limited cosmetics, and that players end up either grinding for long hours or paying to skip tiers.

Related: loot boxes and PEGI 16 and gacha games.