GameStop announced last year that it would offer exclusive preorder DLC for Batman: Arkham Knight in the form of the Red Hood Story Pack, which will let players become a somewhat more murderous vigilante in the game. But Warner said yesterday that the "exclusive" is actually timed, and that everyone who owns either the Premium Edition or the Season Pass will eventually get all the retailer-specific DLC, regardless of where they bought it.
"Throughout the 6 months of additional Batman: Arkham Knight content, Premium and Season Pass owners will receive all in-game content that is offered through various retail pre-order incentives," Warner wrote in the Arkham forum. "This includes the Harley Quinn and Red Hood Story Packs, as well as any Batmobile or Booster Pack that was available as early bonuses for pre-order of the game. For those who did not receive the content with their game, these items will become available when their respective exclusivity windows expire in August/September."
"The tl;dr version of this is: Premium Edition & Season Pass owners will receive all retail exclusive DLC after their respective early access periods expire," it added.
Retailer-specific preorder DLC is nothing new, and GameStop isn't the only one doing it: Walmart is offering a "prototype Batmobile" with Arkham Knight preorders, Best Buy has a "WayneTech Booster Pack," and Steam has a "Gotham's Future Skin Pack." But it's still irritating, especially since it's so fundamentally ridiculous: It's not like you have to bring this stuff home from the store, after all. At least Warner has ensured that everyone will eventually have access to all of it. It's not as good as eliminating the practice altogether, but it's a step in the right direction.
We've reached out to Warner to ask if the same deal will eventually apply to the Scarecrow Nightmare Pack DLC, which was announced yesterday as a PS4 exclusive. We'll let you know.
