Disney Speestorm community up in arms as premium pass can no longer be earned through gameplay: Starting with the next season, if you want it you'll have to pay for it

The Disney Speedstorm community is in a bit of an uproar following a change to the pricing of the game's battle pass. The Golden Pass, as it's formally called, could previously be acquired using Tokens that can be earned via gameplay, but beginning with the upcoming season 7, that option is out, and it will only be available for a real-money purchase of $10.

The new pricing scheme was revealed in a recent community update that announced «significant structural changes» to the Golden Pass, which Gameloft said aims to make them «more engaging and faster to complete.» 83% of Disney Speedstorm players don't reach tier 50 of the Golden Pass, the studio said, and among players who start later in the season, the percentage is even higher. 

To help address that issue and ensure more players are able to access the Golden Pass content, the amount of XP required to access each tier, up to tier 49, is being halved, «so players should be able to complete the pass in half the time.» The repeatable tier of the Golden Pass «will increase incrementally.»

The bigger issue, though, is the change in pricing. Beginning with season 7, the Golden Pass will have free and premium tracks, and the only way to get the premium is to drop $10/€10, or your local equivalent, or $20/€20 for a Golden Pass Bundle that comes with a skip for the first 15 tiers. Each season will also be split into two halves of roughly one month each, and each with its own Golden Pass, so players who want all the premium content in a season will have to buy two Golden Passes.

The change has not gone over well with players.

«My 'favorite' part is where they say the Golden Pass will have its requirements cut in half, but now we'll have double the Golden Passes each season,» redditor Latter-Mention-5881 wrote. «And we only have a single month to complete each one. Make it make sense.»

«I guess the Golden Pass wasn't making enough money, so now you have to buy to two and you can't save your hard earned tokens for 'free'