Online Pass Is a Success, Says EA

Logan Westbrook

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Feb 21, 2008
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Online Pass Is a Success, Says EA



The more controversial of EA's efforts to generate revenue from pre-owned sales has apparently met with a very positive response.

EA didn't make many friends when it announced [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100582-EA-Sports-Unveils-Launch-Day-DLC-Program-Online-Pass] that consumers who bought an EA Sports game pre-owned would have to pay $10 for an "Online Pass" if they wanted to play online, but according to Eric Brown, the company's CFO, it didn't lose very many either.

Speaking at the Deutsche Bank 2010 Technology Conference in San Francisco last night, Brown said that there had been no consumer backlash to the program, and in fact, the reception had been very positive. Brown thought that retail customers understood that bandwidth wasn't free, so they didn't think that EA's move to "diffuse or cover" the cost of online play was unreasonable.

Brown's explanation will likely raise a few eyebrows, as buying a game pre-owned doesn't increase the pool of possible online players, it just swaps one out for another. Moreover, for every pre-owned game that exists, someone has paid the full retail price, which would presumably cover the bandwidth costs. Regardless, this success means that the Online Pass, and similar schemes [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100797-THQ-Joins-the-Used-Game-Fight] from publishers like THQ, is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-09-15-ea-no-consumer-backlash-to-online-pass]


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Wicky_42

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Sep 15, 2008
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Lol, that is such a bullshit excuse - he could at least have been honest and said he's wanting to get a share of the used games market, and that getting paid more than once for a single unit is always a bonus...
 

viranimus

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Nov 20, 2009
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FAIL

Seriously... EA knows its a fail. I suspect they are "announcing" its a success in order to dupe the more gullible into thinking "this is acceptable... other people are doing it, so you should too" in order to gain a public conception of legitimacy.
 

LunarCircle

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AxCx said:
Just a company that wants to make even more money. Nothing new to see here folks, dont get your knickers in a bunch.
In my opinion, most of the blame here goes to the people supporting Online Pass by purchasing it. A company's first and foremost task is to make money. EA isn't doing anything that any other company doesn't do.

If gamers/consumers wanted EA to get rid of Online Pass, all they had to do is not support it. Companies will listen in a heartbeat if their latest attempt to generate revenue isn't working. Unfortunately, I've seen lots of gamers complain about game companies' tactics yet still purchase their games anyways.
 

Delusibeta

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viranimus said:
Seriously... EA knows its a fail. I suspect they are "announcing" its a success in order to dupe the more gullible into thinking "this is acceptable... other people are doing it, so you should too" in order to gain a public conception of legitimacy.
I can't help but feel that it's already accepted by the general gaming public, frankly.
 

Rack

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If we accept P2P bandwidth does cost anything the relative increase in usage caused by extra 2nd hand sales should be obvious to even the meanest intelligence.
 

viranimus

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Delusibeta said:
viranimus said:
Seriously... EA knows its a fail. I suspect they are "announcing" its a success in order to dupe the more gullible into thinking "this is acceptable... other people are doing it, so you should too" in order to gain a public conception of legitimacy.
I can't help but feel that it's already accepted by the general gaming public, frankly.
Alas, I am afraid you might be right. However, its EA.. and those results are likely skewn considering the type of player in question is referring to their sports platform, which has been overfunded by people who buy the same game every year for full price. So to the type of market who has shown they are willing to do that, is fairly likely to show approval to something like this.

I really worry about how people want to screw themselves and their kind, simply by buying the bullshit fed to them instead of standing up and saying HELL NO!
 

Kukakkau

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It probably didn't lose any money because it only relates to sports games and the Madden heads will just buy regardless.

Also it's only preowned sales and I don't see many people buying these games preowned - if you're a fan of the sport game you're likely to have preordered it, if you're not it is highly unlikely you'll buy it
 

Keava

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viranimus said:
Delusibeta said:
*snip*

I really worry about how people want to screw themselves and their kind, simply by buying the bullshit fed to them instead of standing up and saying HELL NO!
Problem is why, me as a customer who never even considers buying a second-hand game when there is a fresh copy available on shelf should even be bothered? It's you, after all, who decides to buy a used game for lower price so don't expect to get a full service -you- haven't paid for in the first place.

The funny thing is, when you buy used game you are pretty much getting scammed. You only buy a physical disc with the game on it, but the previous owner of the game still retains their right to use the online service. You must treat those two as separate products. For all you know he might have a pirated copy in his house and still be able to play because he still has right to it while all you get is a piece of plastic with digital data on it.
 

boholikeu

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Maybe it's just me, but I think EA will see a lot more resistance if they try this with another video game genre...
 

fix-the-spade

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Funnily enough, I don't think online pass is a bad idea, provided it extends the life span of online on consoles.

Most games on console are managing 2-3 years before getting cut off, behemoths like Halo 2 only managed 5 and a bit. If a game is still getting a reasonable number of used sales and gamers stumping up their $10, it means the game will still be generating a revenue stream. Certainly a much more secure one than the slightly nebulous player number/advertising calculations.

However, if it means players are just going to be paying an extra ten bucks to get shanked anyway (or worse, pay the money to find the game has already been shanked) it's little more than a money grab.
 

Uber Waddles

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May 13, 2010
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Wait, its a success?

Isn't it a little early to see ANY profits from this feature, considering its fairly new?

I mean, I would expect to hear this a year or so down the line, when people would be able to buy EA Sports games used for less then $55. But whatever.

Its not new for EA to screw over its fanbase. Exclude content that we can then sell as a DLC? Check. Fuck over people who want to enjoy our older titles we wont make a profit over? Check. Lose all credibility...

BIG CHECK.
 

Something Amyss

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Wicky_42 said:
Lol, that is such a bullshit excuse - he could at least have been honest and said he's wanting to get a share of the used games market, and that getting paid more than once for a single unit is always a bonus...
But why be honest when marketing is so much more effective?

Anyway, I'll buy it only when I see actually results. EA's a public company, let's see how well things look in their reports.
 

Riobux

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I don't understand why EA would charge about £5 or £10 (depending how stupid the exchange rates are for them) to play on their mostly-broken servers.