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

Posted by Soulskill on from the gee-thanks dept.

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.'"

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  1. Gamestop: Worse Than Piracy by mykos · · Score: 0, Troll

    If anyone should make money off of a game, it should be the copyright holders. They did all the work and took all the risks creating the game. Gamestop created nothing and deserves nothing. With piracy, the person pirating may or may not have paid for the game so you don't know if the game makers are losing money or not. With used game sales, it's clear that the game makers are losing money because someone is willing to pay for it. Good on EA for finding a legal and effective way to keep Gamestop from siphoning money away from the creators and publishers.