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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.'"
I hope this doesn't end up like those "free-to-play" online games where players can buy "premium content" for in-game advantage
Yay... a yet another attempt to work around the First Sale rules. All they're doing is relabeling part of the package, so instead it's an "add-on" now.
By "title updates" they really mean bug-fix patches. In other words, this "Online Pass" thingy is strictly negative.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
EA already uses "Service Updates" as an excuse to stop supporting online play after a certain period of time for many of its titles. http://www.ea.com/2/service-updates Now, it's going to restrict the ability to even update the game? FTA, "According to EA, the content can include anything from title updates and downloads . . . ." So, to paraphrase, if I want to play my game on another console, or my console croaks and I replace it, I might not be able to download the updates (and there will be updates because the title shipped will be buggy) without paying again?
Make love, not reality television.
To bring the book industry into the 21st century I propose a system whereby printed books be changed such that instead of the second half of the book you get a code which will allow you to access the end of the story through the publishers website.
The ending shall be a free add-on which you may only access through our online service.
You will be prohibited from transfering access to the ending to anyone since it's a service rather than an item.
If you want to know the ending after you've bought a book second hand you'll have to pay a 10 dollar fee to us.
With online distribution (like steam) they could stop second hand sales altogether, and as a bonus you don't need a silo for your discs. Pretty awesome in my opinion.
I don't get it when people say that EA "has changed" and that Activision is "more evil than EA". They're both just as evil as the other one is. They don't care about you, the consumer. Well they do care about gouging the consumer for all the cash that they can. We need to show them that we will not tolerate this. We have to stop playing games from these publishers. That means don't purchase it. That means don't play it at a friends house. And that means don't pirate it. Tell your friends about this and tell them to tell their friends. If word gets around, maybe they'll act less evil than they are now (not likely, but you never know).
and give it to independent studios and offers like that of wolfire's "humble bundle indie" . As if awful DRM and little re-play value wasn't enough for today's games, now this. Pass..
"Please enter word 15 paragraph 2 line 4 page 23 of the game manual in order to proceed"
This article should be titled:
EA games does yet another thing to piss me off...
We should start a new Slashdot and return control to the geeks. It actually wouldn't be that hard to get some users to
Is all about fight the First Sale doctrine. Make games a "not transferable account", so you can't re-sell the game you have buy (only part of it, here).
I wonder we will see the ones like General Motors, fighting the user car industry.
-Woof woof woof!
It's interesting that they're trying this experiment out with their sports video games. Sports video games released on an annual basis go down in price faster than any other genre. You can find a full boxed copy of a sports title from just a few years ago for under 5 USD. So by the time really cheap used copies hit the market, the sports season for that particular title is already over and EA is prepping for the release of the next year's edition.
Freedom is drinking a beer in the park when you're supposed to be at work.
Yes, this is exactly like saying that if you sell a book to somebody, then they're not allowed to read the last chapter until they pay the publisher $10. Its COMPLETELY LUDICROUS, and I hope people realize it.
Ugh, I'm already boycotting Ubisoft for its draconian DRM, now I've gotta boycott EA for its content locking out and violation of property rights? The way video game studios are going, soon everything's going to be owned by either one of those two, or Activision. At least they aren't doing anything terrible right now, right? (*reads about lawsuits with infinity ward*) Agh!
GCS/MU/P d- s:- a-- C++++$ UL++ P+ L++ E+ W++ N o K- w--- O M+ V- PS+++ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5- X R++ tv+ b++ DI++ D++ G+ e++ h-
When I bought Bad Company 2 it came with a VIP code. A one time only VIP code. What ran through my mind is what if I have to format my PS3, or a firmware update requires "servicing" (see former), etc. What happens then? What about going over to a friends house to play? Etc.
This is nothing but a money grab without any consideration for the needs and *rights* of the legal purchaser.
A book is a terrible thing to use this approach on. It takes me all of 30minutes at most to read a chapter assuming its a long one. Then your gonna make me wait a month or so for another one. Theres no way im gonna bother reading a book like that in such a stop start manner. It does work for games though as there have been a few successful episodic games.
From what I've heard regarding this, you'll need to pay the $10-15 just to be able to play the title online.
What's really crappy is that people still sell used games to GameStop and people still buy their used games. Granted, sometimes you will find a decent deal on an older game. Example, found a copy of Guitar Hero III for PS3 yesterday for $10. That's not bad if you've not dipped into the music games. But most newer games are only going to be $5-10 lower than retail. Glyde http://www.glyde.com/ or even Ebay are much better options than selling to GameStop. The seller will get more money for the game and in most cases the buyer will get the game at a better price.
Something I think is fishy about this is that GameStop may use this to justify giving less credit/money for titles that use this system while still charging out the wazoo for the resale of the same title. Either way, there are better options for buying used. Hopefully the public will vote with their wallet and choose not to purchase these titles.
umm, he released The Green Mile serialized, and serialized novels have been around for a few hundred years. The book you're referring to is The Plant, but the experiment there was not serialization, it was some weird bastardization of the honor system where 75% of readers had to pay for him to keep writing.
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.
Clovis
^ Clovis, look! It's that guy you are!
I, for one, am grateful for all these DRM systems and DLC schemes and such as they helped me make the decision of stop buying games and the money I’m saving with that!
One of the comments on the site with TFA is from someone that keeps his sports games for a long time because of the replayability that online playing gives.
Consider for a moment that with the "Online Pass" at any point EA can drop (or sneakilly slow down to a crawl) all multiplayer, user created content and online community features on a game "we don't support anymore" so as to pump-up sales of the new version. What EA is doing here is to try and control the lifecycle of a game after the sale way beyond just second-hand sales.
Basically they're doing the same as Ubisoft but with a bit of carrot, not just the stick.
The $10 voucher allows you access to stuff that 5 years ago, before DLC existed, would have been included on the original game CD.
Sorry, but as an old man in my mid-40s with a quarter century of gaming history, modern gaming and most modern games are *CRAP*!!!
Games used to be about entertainment that lasted a lot longer than 6 hours, was actually challenging and was fun when you got a few friends round to LAN party with you.
Now it's all about leeching more money out of parents by encouraging kids to always buy some piece of DLC that they can brag about to their friends because they're the first "on the block" to get it - this is why morons queue at midnight for the latest game release, Harry Potter book or overpriced Apple gadget.
Still, I've more than enough old games to play through again, load mods into or play via an emulator, as well as few nice free/Open Source games... the rest of you rabid fanbois have brought this on yourselves by buying the crap in the first place, and you're all welcome to it.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
They are offering extra content for the $10, not requiring it to buy the used game.
Does it not strike you as slightly suspicious that a major complaint of many modern games is that you only get 6 hours of play for a £35/$50 game but can *PAY MORE* to extend the life of that game?
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Those are crosses they choose of their own free will to bear.
They include DRM to stop you from passing on the patches along with the game when you re-sell it.
They tie multiplayer to their own servers rather than allow players to host their own.
They shoot themselves in the foot and then charge their customers and the owners of second hand games for the medical bills.
1. Make a fridge that lasts 30 years
2. Expand company on sales of superior product
3. Reduce costs and add features
4. Eliminate remaining competition
5. The 3 remaining fridge brands can now last 5 years
6. Further reduce costs and trim features and quality
7. Massive profits!
This is how EA would like the video game industry to progress. Just as fridges that last 30 years eventually hurt sales rather than boost sales, so do used video games. Small companies compete with other companies for sales. Large companies compete with themselves.
Then it sounds like you need to be shopping at Good Old Games where they treat you like an actual customer, instead of a wallet with feet. NO DRM, NO charging extra for expansion packs (in fact they are already installed and included) NO limits to how many times you can re-download something you've paid for, plus lots of extras like strategy guides and soundtracks INCLUDED. Everything "just works", no hassles with paying, or backing up installers, and new games are added almost daily.
I'm a firm believer in voting with your wallet, and if the game companies see that enough of us are fed up with the bullshit maybe they will grow the tiniest of brains, if for no other reason than to keep their bank accounts from shrinking. So far Good Old Games is the ONLY online game store I've found where I don't have to worry about DRM or bullshit, just pay, download, and play. So support those that don't treat you like shit, and vote with your wallet. Oh and to the poster above with the "EA Kill List" it is nice to know that MoH:PA, which BTW they are STILL SELLING as part of the MoH:10th anniversary pack, has already had the online killed before I even got to install it. Nice.
As for TFA, call me nutty, but it is like the PHBs at these game companies want piracy to be the better deal! Crazy prices, shitty alpha quality code that often needs everal large patches just to be usable as intended, and now the STD known as DLC, or what we PC gamers formally called "free mods and maps" only they bend you over and don't even bother with a reach around. Meanwhile the pirate version won't phone home, will have ALL the content, and won't make you jump through flaming hoops just to use the damned thing. Oh and thanks to having the DRM stripped out you are actually LESS likely to get a virus than with the retail code! Man is this a fucked up situation or what?
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
This sure beats the Steam method where buyers of used games are totally locked out, in the case of modern warfare can only be activated by one steam account and only one. They wont even unlock it even if you have the physical copy and a receipt from Amazon marketplace.
Not to worry, textures and sound effects will always be a free download if you bought the game new.
I also like how Mass Effect 2 has a character who sells videogames, used mostly, and laughs about how the developers don't get a cent for their hard work, and he makes a killing! He then offers to sell you a "member card" good for discounts on all your game purchases, "Used only, of course, hahahah!" That's why I vowed to stay clear of Bioware games. If they want to be petty douches, I can be petty too...
ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
The Sims is such an excellent example of corporate greed at work. The amount of money one could potentially spend on the series is staggering. Let's say someone buys the Sims 1 and all 7 expansion packs, you're looking at $300-$400. Then the Sims 2 comes out and stripped back to its base game so they can release another 8 expansion packs (we're at around $800 at this point). They realize that there is a huge demand for extra objects such as furniture and clothing and people are willing to pay for them without the added content an expansion pack normally provides so they end up releasing 'stuff packs', 10 in total (Priced cheaper, but still raising our total to around $1000). During the process of releasing stuff packs they realize they can make even MORE money by licencing out the packs and the H&M and Ikea packs are born.
That brings us to the Sims 3. Again, stripped back to its most basic elements. Hell, some elements that have been around since the very first game have even been REMOVED, such as the hot tub. Realizing that objects that are made by third parties are incredibly popular (and that some people are even willing to pay for them), they take advantage by 1) Making it difficult for third parties to create their own objects and 2) Introducing their own library of downloadable objects (for a fee of course).
That library was up and online at least a month prior to the game being released, selling extra objects for a game that hadn't even been completed yet. It's one thing to release updates after a game is released, but to purposely leave things out with the intention of selling them as 'extras' is the definition of greed.
Already we have an expansion pack released with another on its way plus one 'stuff pack'. Add that to the total, plus add on some pay per download objects and you are easily over $1000.
To date, the Sims 3 has sold over 5.9 Million copies. If you add up all the expansion packs, they have sold over 100 million copies. They have made billions on this franchise and yet they still are trying to nickel and dime people.
Umm, the console market was once open. From Atari up until the Genesis and the SNES, third party developers could make games without paying a license fee if they wanted, they just didn't get the API manuals ;) Sega and Nintendo tried to lock them out unsuccessfully, and when they sued, they got thrown out of court. The Sega v. Accolade judge even threatened them with penalties over their abuse of the legal system. Until the DMCA, third-party compatibility was a right! Under the DMCA it's still technically legal to crack an iPad or a Wii or a 360 to run home-brew applications. However, it's highly illegal to describe how to do so. (We're talking you'd get less jail time for stealing an iPad than you'd get for installing your own software on an iPad you bought legally!) What needs to happen is that Nintendo and Apple and Microsoft and Sony need to be totally brutalized legally, they need to be bankrupt over this travesty. Because while not strictly-speaking illegal, they are bundling schemes, and those are anti-trust violations. The quintessential example of an illegal bundling scheme is if Ford tells you you can only put Rand maps in your car, and no other brand of maps. Nintendo is telling you you can only play Nintendo-branded games, Microsoft is telling you you can only play Microsoft-branded games, etc. It's no different. They try to say it's different because it's a technical restriction, not a legal restriction. You're legally free to try to play an unlicensed game, there's no contract they made you agree to. It's just that technically their DRM will not allow it, so "technically" it's a problem with the game, not a restriction they've placed on you. That's bullshit.
ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
I see more and more that the commercial side wants to tighten the grip, and intentionally hobble software for all but the highest bidders.
Meanwhile my software budget decreases out of continued disappointment and frustration.
The bad thing is EA is now releasing DLC that require you to use MS Points regardless if you have the Network Pass card or not - (See Alternative appearance/Weapons packs, which dubious value to the game compared to the network pass content anyway).
Also: Forza 3 came with a card good for one (1) track pack download. EA is behind the times. They're not looking forward, they're looking at Microsoft, and Xbox Live. They want to bring all that to PC gaming. Yuck.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"