EA dropping Online Passes - Report
By
Dan Chiappini, Editor of GameSpot AU
Future EA games won't require Online Passes; the service is being scrapped after tepid player response.
EA will be dropping Online Passes from all of its future games, citing lacklustre player support, according to a report by Venture Beat.
EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg revealed the news. “Yes, we’re discontinuing Online Pass,” he said “None of our new EA titles will include that feature.”
EA is not the only game publisher that elects to bundle an Online Pass with new copies of its games. The one-time codes are designed to restrict access to key features, such as online multiplayer. Players who buy a second-hand version of the game are given the option to purchase an Online Pass for a fee, prior to being able to play with others.
“Initially launched as an effort to package a full menu of online content and services, many players didn’t respond to the format,” Reseburg said. “We’ve listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it, moving forward.”
“We’re still committed to creating content and services that enhance the game experience well beyond the day you first start playing,” Reseburg said.
Online Passes have often been viewed as ways for developers and publishers to offset the financial shortfall of not seeing revenue when games are traded in and resold through retailers. Last November, Square Enix revealed that it would make the Contracts mode in Hitman: Absolution accessible to all players. The trend continued in March with the Tomb Raider reboot providing unfettered access to online play without a key, while Insomniac Games’ upcoming shooter Fuse--which is published through the EA Partners program, and built around four-player cooperative play--will also ship without the need for an Online Pass.
By
Dan Chiappini, Editor of GameSpot AU
Raised by the warm glow of arcade machine monitors and TV screens, Dan's lifelong passion has always been games. PC, console, mobile, handheld, you name it, he'll play it. He also enjoys photography, long walks on the beach, and clichés.
571 comments
5 Like Now we all know why.
To think, GAMERS were ridiculed on Feedbackula, for being cynical about EA's decision to abolish the Online Passes?
They were/are CORRECT, to be cynical after all!
It was a slimie, pathetic and dirty move of a political nature! Give us something small now, then only a few days later... they take even more away!
Disgusting behaviour by both companies!
Sad news for the Gaming community.
2 Like Predictions for the future...
EA is "In the movies"!!
Thanks to micro-transactions, enjoying a flick has never been easier!! For an extra $4.99 after movie purchase, you can unlock bonus features!! Like behind the scenes and alternate endings!! Don't want to watch alone? For only $2.99 per friend or family member, (and a quick retinal scan so unregistered eyes do not prevent movie from playing) , you can enjoy your favorite movies with your favorite people!
EA: It's in our pockets
14 Like Now look at this news in light of MS revealing the Xbox One
Full article: http://uk.gamespot.com/news/xbox-one-has-preowned-fee-6408671
Microsoft today confirmed with Wired that all Xbox One game discs must be installed to the HDD to play and that while installs to other hard drives are allowed, users will need to pay an unspecified fee to do so.
This fee was not specified.
.
So EA are quite happy to announce in advance that they will be dropping Online Pass...
...because MS is building it in to the platform.
yeah thanks for that
Well said. I just said a similar thing above.
They give with one hand, only to take away with another!
The online passes have always annoyed me, good to see it's going away, although used games are going to be completely scrapped soon enough anyway
How is this EA doing something NICE?? They still have hundreds of thousands of dollars from people forced to pay these fees? Give all that money back and than you will JUST BE EQUAL to every other game company who didn't pull this crap.. Let alone nice
@spindie EA's not going to give money back. The only reason they're stopping this is that they didn't make enough money off it. My guess, they're going to push microtransactions to the point where a major game breaks.
Either that, or the Online Pass was Riccitello's baby, and the new administration is just looking to return to the days when they had a higher stock price.
The only reason they are doing it is because used games will not even be able to be played online on next gen. Yes this includes the PS4, if you do your homework you'll find out Sony is leaving it up to the publisher. And eventually they will cutoff servers for old current gen games.
@DaWarthog Hey, since you can see the future I'm guessing you probably won the $600M lottery this past weekend! Congratulations! :)
1 Like @CodingGenius Lol, you have two moderator badges? What's the difference and why can you have two?
3 Like @iHarlequin @Hurvl @CodingGenius Oh, I see, it's like the question "Who watches the Watchmen?" and he's the answer, lol.
2 Like Ahh, sleight of hand, a neat trick and any 3 card monte dealer can show you if he chooses.
Look away from always on DRM, we took away a charge that really only applied to used games, that was a dumb restrictive sales move to begin with, while we shuffle these cards..
No really, you CAN win at this game, I promise..
2 Like "the service is being scrapped after tepid player response" I rarely see this, but I'm always gald when it happens - companies actually listening to their customers. I've never been bothered by online passes, since I don't play multiplayer or even games with multiplayer, but I'm still happy to see them go. Let's focus on something better instead, something that gamers want.
4 Like @Hurvl Best solution i found was to stop buying EA games full stop... and i did so 3years now i have and will not buy anything made by EA even if EA is the last remaining Developer on this planet.
@Gamernametaken @Hurvl I never really boycotted the publisher. If they make something I'd like, of course I'll go for it. However, EA publishes so little that I care about that it's a de facto boycott anyway.
@DaWarthog @Gamernametaken @Hurvl EA doesn't really have any awesome companies besides Crytek and Bioware, so it's not that hard to not buy EA games!
@Gamernametaken @Hurvl i did the same things ... you 're following great idea i doing this for 6 years now
@ALI4451 @Gamernametaken @Hurvl Yeah, EA publishes horrible games like Bulletstorm, Battlefield, Burnout, Crysis, Deadspace, Dragon Age, FIFA, Fight Night, Madden, Mass Effect, Mirrors Edge, Need For Speed, Sims, SSX etc. There is no way, as a true gamer, you missed out a decent gaming experience by boycotting them.
3 Like So charging a fee to play a non-new game online didn't go over well with the consumer base? WHAT?! How could this BE?!?!?! I was SURE you were on to something EA. Why wouldn't people jump at the chance to shell out another $10 for the privilege to play your game online for a year or so. You know, until the next iteration of the game comes out the next year when you shut down the older game's servers? I mean, a measly $10 for a year of online gaming on that one game is a steal! In fact, I bought all my games used just so I could pay you that $10. Support what you love. Now how am I supposed to get all this extra cash I have laying around into your pockets?
Hmm, let's see... OH I KNOW! I'll buy a brand new game of yours at full price! Let's look through your catalog for a good game to shell out that cash for... Hmm, well.... OK, so I uh, can't really find anything... HAHA JUST KIDDING!! I'm going to buy this year's Madden and FIFA and NHL, just in time to get a new one in a few months! Oh, and Mass Effect 3 was in the news a lot. I don't read, so I have no idea why, but any publicity is good publicity, right? I'll get that Army of Two Three too. I hear you guys went all out on making the characters feel real and relatable. I can get Sims3 so I will then have a reason to buy the myriad expansions for it. Oh, and then there's SimCity (great online-only model BTW.) I'll take advantage of all the advertisements you send my way after I install Origin! Thanks for thinking of me. How else would I know what to buy? And since I have Origin, I might as well buy Graphics3 and BattleOnline3 (just in time to also get 4) and whatever else pops up every time I log in and out of your service.
I really have no idea how that model failed. You're doing EVERYTHING right, EA. Everything right. Everything. Right.
Everything. ?_?
3 Like EA is doing this? Huh, well, I'm not getting my hopes up. Could be another one of the many lies :P
1 Like @RavageCobra and what they forgot to mention is that they are probably ending this because they are starting something else...
1 Like It's very trendy to hate a large company that has a history of screwing the most out of people. But it's odds on those moaning about EA being up to something and.. being the devil are exactly the same people moaning about the online passes. Take a side- stick to it!
Well done for dropping online passes EA, worst idea since reversible underpants.
@Broodwin i think this is bad news. they should've dropped the price to $5 for the online pass. I mean, you are buying it used for cheaper, so theres no harm in paying $5 for them to maintain servers and (idk if this happens) pass a percentage of that to the devs. if you are buying it second hand for little money, don't be stupid greedy.
Now that they cancelled this, I bet anything that their next big thing will be their DRM and will fuck everyone rather than used game buyers
@Peter_Desert @Broodwin If they MAINTAINED their servers, I'd agree. However, they shut them down in 18 months like CLOCKWORK. Activision hasn't shut off Call of Duty 2, and that's an XBOX 360 launch game! A LAUNCH GAME. Microsoft still has online play for Halo 3 and Halo Wars, albiet without tracking, and those games came out early as well. EA doesn't keep their servers on long enough to justify the online pass.
@Peter_Desert @Broodwin charge 5 bucks to maintain their servers ? they were charging 9 before, and i dont know if you know about some games called Fifa 12, Fifa 13, and before that as well, but those servers were crap and still are, dropping the connection all the time. i log into Ultimate Team and while playing a single player match guess what half way "good bye!" boom ! Disconnected! wtf is that???? if they cant have amazing servers for what they charge for the Fifa games new, then they dont have a right to charge more to activate an online pass for people who buy them used. Fifa might not sell an insane amount of copies in the U.S. but im damn sure its the number 1 selling game in the UK plus the rest of Europe, so they are banking on this franchise just by selling the new copies, and they still cant have good servers for the players to enjoy. I guess they rather save all they can, for their annual bonuses.
P.S. and they also charge a lot for "fifa points" which is a micro-transaction thing they put to allow players to buy card packs with actual money, which a bunch of users spend money on these packs. and you still cant have decent servers ? come on, really !?!?!
2 Like The day I'll believe anything from EA will be the day I'll shoot my self in the ear.
@smurfa1 @shermenz1 gonna be pretty hard to post those pics, and you must do it all on your own. you better start thinking hard, and thinking fast !
Everyone keeps complaining about next-gen needing a constant internet connection when these are just rumors that currently have no hard evidence to support them. How about we all just wait and see if this is true come December and then if it is, I'll be the first to raise hell!
1 Like @Mondrath Why spoil the kneejerk, uninformed, dogmatic reactions?! Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant!
@MrMan2000 @Mondrath True. The tears of enraged gossipers are so salty and delicious. Like pretzels dripping down from human eyes...
5 Like they will be telling us at a later date that the online pass is just being discontinued on current gen and that a new one will be launched for games by EA on Xbox 720 and PS4 or theyll just make us use origin on next gen. dont let the sheilds down yet people. EA are the Devil.
2 Like Reseburg, we all know that your money grab attempt failed harder then a toddler trying to walk for the first time but still admit failure and we will forgive you...
2 Like lol citing "lackluster player support".
Right, and what about the lackluster performance? Dont blame us, blame your own damn selves,EA
2 Like ?We?re still committed to creating content and services that enhance the game experience well beyond the day you first start playing,? Reseburg said.
I dont like the sound of that :S
@CJ_ofCamelot Haha...exactly. Any time EA discusses "enhancing" things it really means their bottom line.
@CJ_ofCamelot LOL in other words we will find another way to f*** you hahaha mark my words watch what they come up with next.
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