"We've listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward," says EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg. "None of our new EA titles will include that feature."
First introduced in 2010 as a counter-piracy measure and means by which to draw revenue from used game sales, EA's Online Passes were required for online features on a number of the publisher's titles, including multiplayer. Several major publishers including Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft have introduced similar systems to their games, many of which remain in place.
While EA claims it has done away with Online Passes in part based on player feedback, it is likely also the result of larger-scale market realities -- such as the oncoming console transition and EA's recent end-year fiscal statements noting consumers' trend toward digital sales.
Thank goodness. It completely ruined my experience with Need For Speed (2011). I did not have my xbox hooked up to the internet to activate the pass so the autosave feature would not work. Worst buyer's remorse.
The online pass is different from the season pass.
The online pass was to discourage second hand sales. Basically they were charging customers a fee to gain access to the multiplayer features on games that were they were not the original owner.
The season pass is for some of the additional DLC content released after the games initial release.
Has EA actually realized that by hurting the used games market; they were hurting themselves? By artificially forcing used copies to drop in price faster, they were hurting the amount of currency in the market. I highly question if they even understand that's the reason it was a terrible idea, but the damage has already been done. I can't imagine we'll actually see a return of used games as a viable currency in the short term, and possibly not in the long term, that is as long as there are still other publishers using online passes.
Ha! I knew this program was a dead end when it was introduced. I am actually surprised that it survived this long. Good riddance to bad business. I hope their next boondoggle is another spectacular failure.
EA still has a long way to go if they are doing this to repair their broken, battered, stained, soured, foul image in the eyes and minds of investors and gamers alike.
I didn't mind it too much, what I hate is Origin honestly. If they can get rid of that annoying login in procedure I'd be happy. Though I'm glad that the "online pass" is going away because that kept me from wanting to play certain games over after my gamertag was hacked, forcing me to start anew.
I mean who really wants to spend $x on a game and then spend $x on a replacement to play online? Not I, so good riddance!
The online pass was to discourage second hand sales. Basically they were charging customers a fee to gain access to the multiplayer features on games that were they were not the original owner.
The season pass is for some of the additional DLC content released after the games initial release.
Well, hopefully more good news from EA to follow.
I mean who really wants to spend $x on a game and then spend $x on a replacement to play online? Not I, so good riddance!