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EA killing Online Passes for existing games

Publisher confirms it is retroactively eliminating online passes for all EA titles beginning with EA Sports games.

446 Comments

In response to consumer feedback, Electronic Arts has announced it is doing away with its controversial Online Pass scheme altogether. Previously, the company said only that future titles would not include Online Passes. Now, the move will be applied retroactively, beginning with EA Sports titles.

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"As we discontinue Online Pass for our new EA titles, we are also in the process of eliminating it from all our existing EA titles as well," EA corporate communications representative John Reseburg told Game Informer. "We heard the feedback from players and decided to do away with Online Pass altogether."

"Players will see it first with some EA Sports titles, where a prompt to enter an Online Pass code will no longer appear in-game; with other titles we are simply making Online Passes available free of charge online," he continued. "These are rolling updates that are taking effect over the next several weeks. We hope players continue to enjoy our games and online services for a long time to come."

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.

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Avatar image for Justforvisit
Justforvisit

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Hm, well...at least used games become more attractive now again....

..used games from EA....

....aaahhh forget it...

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Avatar image for drodriguesaar
drodriguesaar

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Its a trap! Loled

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supermarioooooo

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i dont need ea s shitty games.

tell me is there any of ea games like OKAMÄ° , LOZ , SHADOW OF COLOSSUS , BÄ°OSHOCK (1), BATMAN AA , MORTAL KOMBAT 9 , GRAN TURÄ°SMO 4 , GOD OF WAR (not clone dante shit) , DARK SOULS , SKYRÄ°M , HALF LÄ°FE 2 ???????????????????????

BE CLEVER. WE DONT SHÄ°TS AND WE WONT PAY FOR SHÄ°TS

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zauxst

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@supermarioooooo BattleField 3 is the only game worth mentioning. But I get your point and I totally agree with you. BF is the only game I bought and will buy from EA. (Even so... Dice has more to do with it, but it's still good to mention)

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Avatar image for CincoToes
CincoToes

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@supermarioooooo Take your pills.

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supermarioooooo

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@CincoToes @supermarioooooo OH YESSSS


FALLOUT 3 OF CORSE!!!!

2 • 
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XboxGuy1537

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Edited By XboxGuy1537

@supermarioooooo @CincoToes Damn it, get the boy his ADHD pills. He's losing it!

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Avatar image for drodriguesaar
drodriguesaar

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End this and charge a fee on used games...So they think we are dumb? Yes they do...

3 • 
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Norm01

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Edited By Norm01

@drodriguesaar So I don't quite get it then. Are they requiring us to register each game before we can use it. And the code expires after it's first use? Not sure how they'll be able to know if the game has been in another system. Call me ignorant. Please educate me. :)

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Avatar image for Redsyrup
Redsyrup

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Edited By Redsyrup

@Norm01 @drodriguesaar MS and Publishers must have found a way to give each pressed disc a unique S/N.

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kami_amaya

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Yay, cause gamefly sent me DS3 this week. I was just going to skip the stupid co-op

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j_thompson_007

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And I just bought the Battlefield 3 one yesterday. Should have held out a couple more weeks :p

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Avatar image for supermarioooooo
supermarioooooo

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companies are playing with fire

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monson21502

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woohoo now i can play bf3 and go buy madden 13 cheap

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demon-returns

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I don't understand a lot of you ungrateful cats out here... finally EA does something out of the goodness and kindness of their heart because they want to connect with us gamers and this the thanks we give!!?? Shame on us..... what's next huh? We'll complain if EA gives us games for free and charges us for guns, ammo, and lives??

/ end sarcasm

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Avatar image for Norm01
Norm01

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@demon-returns Damn bro, stop giving them ideas!! Could you imagine 4.99 for 100 lives in a FPS? Terrible!! LOL

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Avatar image for kakotan
kakotan

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Edited By kakotan

@demon-returns EA through Bioware has given us free game, Mass Effect 2 was given away free not long before ME3 came out ?


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Avatar image for demon-returns
demon-returns

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@kakotan

Ummmm what? I have no idea what you just said. And i'm not even trying to be funny

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Master_Turismo

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Edited By Master_Turismo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piVnArp9ZE0

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kakotan

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Edited By kakotan

everyone now go buy every CD Project RED Games cause they are the ones who started this push for no DRMs, it just dont sell good and makes companys looks negative ! Witcher 1 and 2 and upcoming 3 and the upcoming cyberpunk game, go get them and go preorder them. Good start EA, now when you make a game , make sure you dont over hype in game stuff that you never put in it like Superman Returns lol :p


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kakotan

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Edited By kakotan

Now they need to do away with Origin and make partnership with Steam or at least give fans a choice where to buy their games. Origin or Steam :D and Steam , Origin , and other programs like it need to come to the next gen systems so we can get sells on there :D

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dirtdog10304

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@kakotan

YES

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Gallowhand

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Edited By Gallowhand

@kakotan I already support CDPR in every way I can, including buying games from GOG.com. :)

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kakotan

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@Gallowhand @kakotan YES everyone should play witcher 1 and 2 at least once to see how awesome Poland gamers and writers can be :p and not all Polish ppl are Meat Heads lol :D

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Shango4

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http://www.gamespot.com/news/sony-rules-out-always-online-for-ps4-report-6408071

read it jackasses

2 • 
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mischiefmeerkat

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So what happens to all the people who only recently paid for these season passes, only to have them ripped away?

will they get refunds? or just shat on again?

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dlCHIEF58

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@mischiefmeerkat

Season passes are not online passes which is what they are talking about.

Season Pass = bulk DLC at a discount

Online Pass = $10 fee to access online multiplayer or additional bonus DLC on used games.


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Axile11

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Ehhh somethin dont smell right, where is the poo EA?

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Martyr77

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I seriously hope PS4 saves us. All it has to do is....not do what Microsoft is doing. EA may think they are fooling us but we know better.

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Ipsylos

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@Martyr77 So do what Nintendo is doing already?

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Shango4

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@Martyr77 it will

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KingSardine

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Personally, DRM doesn't affect me, because I don't buy used. However, I absolutely hate the fact that these companies are doing anything possible to get our money. Therefore I am extremely appalled by all of this DRM.

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Homerj

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Edited By Homerj

If you never buy used games, never re-sell your games, never rent games, always buy within 8 weeks of release, have no other gamers in your household besides yourself, and have no real-life friends that are gamers.....then you're right, this wont affect you.

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KingSardine

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@Homerj i was just referring to the used game fee part. i hate the fact that i cant share games and all the other stuff you mentioned.

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StickyJr1

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Edited By StickyJr1

Looks like EA is trying to avoid earning a threepeat.

http://consumerist.com/2013/04/09/ea-makes-worst-company-in-america-history-wins-title-for-second-year-in-a-row/

No matter the reason, kudos to EA for listening to customers. Perhaps this might be the beginning of a new trend now that they are out from under the influence of John Riccitello.

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Homerj

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They arent listening....those servers will be shut down within 8 months, so any 'free ride" is an illusion....and the fix is already in for the next gen, so even if somebody is fool enough to trade in a game for 10-20% less than they currently get (constraining supply), EA-Ubi-Activision gets an automatic cut of the sale, making online passes chump-change in comparison.

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StickyJr1

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Edited By StickyJr1

@Homerj All the discussion of what is going to happen with the next console generation in regard to used games is purely speculation. The publishers, retailers, and console makers will all have their roles to play and we are ultimately at the mercy of whatever they decide.

What I do see here is a customer focused decision for existing products and a company that might just be starting to listen to it's customers. If a trend of such behavior does continue from EA or at any other publisher, that will have far greater impact on used game policies and pricing than customers have had in the current generation.

Servers shutting down can't really be considered a downside either, as publishers have taken down servers for older games well before this announcement.

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supermarioooooo

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ok my BROTHERS. as you see alotof people dont like this new drm shit.


these companies are playing with fire. if we dont buy new consoles that would be a great lesson for them.

2 • 
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Hairygrim

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People are talking about this being due to the future consoles having DRM, used game fees & the like. What relevance does anything in next gen have to do with the online passes of the current one? Sure, EA'll be killing the servers off as soon as they can, but that doesn't make this move profitable for them. This genuinely seems like an - albeit small - bit of good will.

Which of course only makes the cynic in me more suspicious.

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dlCHIEF58

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@Hairygrim

I think you are wrong about EA and shutting off servers as soon as they can. Peter Moore in a recent interview acknowledged many issues that customers have had with EA recently, and one of the points he specifically called out was the early shut down of servers. Also EA has committed to support the 360 as a platform until at least 2017. I believe EA is starting to get the message and are going to demonstrate some of this when they select a new CEO. I don't expect a full turnaround, but they do seem to be reconsidering some of their controversial practices.

I don't expect them to give up their stranglehold on the NFL license (though they do have to give up their other football exclusive deals), give up on micro transactions, yearly rehashes of Madden, or adding DLC to games.

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Hairygrim

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Edited By Hairygrim

@dlCHIEF58 Going to have to find this interview now. Didn't even know about it, let alone about anything that was said in it. It would be so nice to think that the worst company in America poll actually achieved something (which would make it completely worth the outright lying), but obviously we can't know for sure if that had anything to do with it, & I still can't really bring myself to accept that this change might just be happening.

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Avatar image for ElofValantor
ElofValantor

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I see a lot of people raging about this used game fee that Microsoft and probably Sony are putting in place. But why so much rage? It's not going to push used game prices up any higher. The games stores sell used games for only a bit less than new ones. If they push the price up then the used games will cost the same as new, and then no one would buy the used games. So they won't do it.

Well they might push up the price of new games... but that would hurt sales. New console games are pretty pricey already. It'd be a brave store that pushed them even higher.


You should buy new anyway from almost a moral point of view. When you buy a new game the developers - the people that made the game you're enjoying - get a bit of the money. When you buy used all the profit goes to the games store. Got a conscience have you?

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starcrafthenry

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@ElofValantor And what about those of us that buy used games from friends, family members, ebay, or craigslist?

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Jebril

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@ElofValantor Not everyone buys overpriced used games from Gamestop though. Price is also only one factor in this issue.

2 • 
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tracyllrkn

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Doesn't even matter. If everybody can make a profit, these companies don't care about you.

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supermarioooooo

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i hope sony wont make stupid mistake. no gamer likes this system.


that is dictatorism

2 • 
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volc-123

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@supermarioooooo Dictatorship*

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