Gears of War: Judgment Season Pass Announced

Gears of War: Judgment owners will be able to purchase a season pass on downloadable content for the game, Epic Games announced.

The Gears of War: Judgment VIP Season Pass will be available when the game launches on March 19 at a price of 1600 Microsoft Points ($19.99 in real money). The price represents a 20 percent discount to players if they were to purchase all bonus content packs separately.

Epic expects to launch a wide range of DLC for the upcoming prequel to the extremely popular Gears of War trilogy. Planned DLC includes six additional multiplayer maps, two new game modes, nine exclusive unlocks and new weapon and armor skins.

Players who purchase the VIP Season Pass for the third-person sci-fi shooter will also get a permanent double XP boost while playing multiplayer. In addition, season pass holders will be able to download and play multiplayer maps from the game add-on packs before they release to the general public.

The Gears of War: Judgment VIP Season Pass also comes with five exclusive weapon skins and four exclusive armor skins.

Epic also released a season pass for Gears of War 3, which released in 2011. The Gears of War 3 Season Pass was priced at $30, or $10 higher than the Gears of War: Judgment VIP Season Pass. However, Gears of War 3 players also received access to single-player DLC. Unless Epic is not planning to release bonus content for the solo campaign, the cheaper price comes at the expense of single-player DLC.

Gears of War: Judgment is the fourth installment of the Gears of War franchise. The prequel follows the younger versions of COG soldiers Damon Baird and Augustus “Cole Train” Cole, who played second fiddle to Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago in the first three Gears of War games.