Friend’s Pass Is the Best Thing to Happen to Co-op Gaming in Years

Being able to play games with your friends has always been one of the best aspects of this medium, and with online multiplayer, it has never been easier. Still, there was always something special about sitting together and enjoying a game when only one of you had paid for it.

With so many games releasing every other week and the rising costs, it can be hard to convince friends to try something new. The price of entry is often high, and trailers alone are not always enough to sell someone on the experience.

That is why I think Friend’s Pass is such a brilliant idea. It does wonders for a game’s marketing and makes it far easier to convince friends to either split the cost or simply join in for a shared adventure.

Hazelight Set the Standard

The implementation of a Friend’s Pass was introduced with Hazelight Studios’ breakout co-op title, A Way Out, and it has featured in every game since, including It Takes Two and Split Fiction. Buy one copy, and your friend can play the entire experience with you for free.

It is not even restricted to a single friend, either, as you can technically keep playing the campaign with different people as long as you are the host. Since then, multiple other studios have started to include a Friend’s Pass in their co-op games, including recent releases like LEGO Voyagers, Little Nightmares 3, Lords of the Fallen, and more.

Marketing your game with a Friend’s Pass automatically earns you a lot of goodwill, and for players, it makes it much easier to convince their friends to play ahead of launch with the promise of a free ticket.

Lowering the Cost of Convincing Friends

This eliminates the need to badger your friends with testimonies and assurances, because downloading a Friend’s Pass version of a game should be the bare minimum of any healthy friendship. The consideration is what matters, and in my experience, most games, even ones that are not great, can be fun when played together.

Despite the inclusion of a Friend’s Pass, you might assume that sales would be lower since it is one person buying instead of two, but in Hazelight’s case, the opposite has been true. It Takes Two has sold over 23 million copies since launch, which means that up to 46 million people may have played it together. That is a ridiculously impressive number for any game, let alone one with an entire campaign that can only be played in co-op.

Hazelight has also gone the extra mile with its design priorities, as every game it releases can only be played in co-op. It is a big ask, and one they answered with Friend’s Pass.

Notable Games with Friend’s Pass Support

Here are a few games worth checking out that include a Friend’s Pass:

• A Way Out
• It Takes Two
• Split Fiction
• Little Nightmares 3
• Operation: Tango
• LEGO Voyagers
• REANIMAL (Upcoming)

Does every game with co-op need a Friend’s Pass? No, obviously not. Some games treat co-op as an optional feature, but I would be far more inclined to check out a co-op-focused game if it came with a Friend’s Pass.