EA Getting Rid of Online Passes

by **S7 Sticky** Wed May 15, 2013 11:20 pm

but if the rumors are true about no used game xbox and ps4 then either way this is gone....

Online Passes – the controversial attempt by many publishers to encourage new game sales by locking online-centric content for used copies – has become engrained in gaming culture over the last several years. But according to a report on VentureBeat, one major company is doing away with them.

Electronic Arts – the mega-publisher behind a litany of games including Madden, FIFA, Battlefield, Dead Space, Mass Effect and more – will be “discontinuing” its Online Pass initiative. In a statement provided to VentureBeat, EA’s John Reseburg said that “none of our new EA titles will include that feature.”

Reseburg admitted that Online Passes just don’t seem to be working. “Initially launched as an effort to package a full menu of online content and services, many players didn’t respond to the format. We’ve listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward.”

Many major publishers – including Sony and Ubisoft – continue to use Online Passes, though interestingly, Microsoft never seemed to go down that road. Will EA’s abolishment of this system coerce other publishers to follow suit?

by **DeadSockPuppet** Thu May 16, 2013 4:07 am

Like Sticky said, with the possible inability of the new systems to play used games, EA is trying to look good by discontinuing something that's a nonissue. Way to be reactive EA and try to com out looking like a good guy. Still a garbage company.

by **S7 DROOPY** Thu May 16, 2013 10:28 am

They maybe getting away from the online pass issue, but I bet they are amping up all their in game dlc purchases/shops. With Microsoft points going away this fall. I bet more games will have ingame real $ dlc stuff, like mass effect, dead space and such, hell almost all the newest games have some kind of dlc that cost more $, and u can almost always but the free dlc bonus stuff that u get when u preorder the game. If u bought me3 then u got free dlc that if u bought after the fact was about $15 . I see less content in new games, so you have to shell out more $ for more maps, better weapons, extra charcters and prologe levels. It just gonna cost more to game and its really about time. We've been paying $50 to $60 bucks a game for over 10 years. Everything in life has gone up in price so why not gaming especially since more people game now then ever

by S7 Coolhand Fri May 17, 2013 7:15 pm

With the requirement to always be online those passes would be mandatory just to play single player. I imagine a lot of companies business models will be changing with this next gen console - gonna have to wait a week or so for the the announcement before I can speculate too much.

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