EA Introduces "Online Pass" To Get In On Used Games Market

EA Sports has unveiled a new feature that they hope will help them get a piece of the lucrative used games market: the Online Pass. Each of their new titles will come with a one-time code that allows access to "premium" content and features. Players who buy the games used can get the same content, but will need to pay $10 for the privilege. "According to EA, the content can include anything from title updates and downloads to features like online leagues — and even online gameplay and multiplayer modes. ... EA will offer 10-day trials of Pass content so that users can see what they would be getting. So far, EA seems to be limiting the premium add-on experiment to its sports portfolio. ... The company has apparently gained the support of retailer GameStop, which has been watching with a close eye efforts on the part of publishers to discourage its thriving used games business. According to the retailer, encouraging premium content add-ons still benefits GameStop, since it sells PlayStation Network and Microsoft Points cards. It praised EA's Online Pass as 'forward-thinking.'"

Comments

Project Ten Dollar

[Clovis42]

This is just EA's "Project Ten Dollar" and it is not limited to just he sports games. It has already been featured in Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 2. Both games included content that you got for free with a code that came with the game, but you had to pay $10 to get if you bought it used.

Re:I read this another way....

[Totenglocke]

this is why morons queue at midnight for the latest game release, Harry Potter book or overpriced Apple gadget.

You're right about two of the three, but you're wrong about Harry Potter release parties - people go to those because they want to start reading the book ASAP because they love the story and can't wait to see what comes next (you also typically get a discount if you pre-ordered). I know what their reasoning is because I went to a couple midnight releases of it and talked to the people there - I've yet to ever hear anyone brag about being the first to have a book; I've only heard people who were excited to read a new book and were glad to get it the minute it went on sale so they could stay up all night reading it.

Still, I've more than enough old games to play through again, load mods into or play via an emulator

Me too - that's why I have no problem boycotting games with DRM, because out of all the games I've played, I still have stacks that I never got around to beating.