http://kotaku.com/ea-getting-rid-of-online-passes-507021364?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow
[quote]One of the first publishers to dabble in the idea of an "online pass" - whereby gamers were charted a fee for accessing certain online content if they purchased a title pre-owned - has decided to do away with the program.
EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg has told VentureBeat. “Yes, we’re discontinuing Online Pass. None of our new EA titles will include that feature.”
Interestingly, Reseburg claims the decision is based on consumer feedback. “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.”[/quote]
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Hallejujah.
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Has hell frozen over or something?
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Excellent...
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EA in a nutshell.
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I'm genuinely curious: why do people hate online passes so much? Your game comes with one to start so you're not "paying for multiplayer", you can still resell the game, AND the publisher/developer can make a small amount of profit that otherwise would have only gone to gamestop or another second-hand retailer. I really don't understand. Is it on principal? Should developers not make [i]any[/i] money on used copies then? What is the problem? The only (moderately) legitimate reason I've seen is that it hinder "borrowing/renting", but that's generally not the case, because most games give you essentially a trial of the multiplayer if you don't have a pass. So, what is the problem with them? Locking them to one Gamertag? Most digital games and [i]all[/i] steam games do this. You don't hear about this with those.
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I didn't mind the passes simply because I always buy new if I can. But at the same time, I've never bought a pass for a game I got used, I just couldn't justify the price. Also, It was a bummer when I borrowed hard that a lot of content was unavailable to me. So I support their choice I guess.
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Lame. They were actually a great idea.
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Good. They were nothing more than an inconvenience to me. Just another code I had to waste time typing in, and if I felt inconvenienced by I just would not activate it.
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It really wasn't that bad, just 5 bucks, and developers don't make a single cent off of the selling and buying used games. But it's really disgusting when you buy a new game and your online code has already been stolen by someone else. It's punishing someone who is completely innocent, and would be considered illegal if it happened on anything else but video games.
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About time. The only online pass I redeemed was ME3. Everything else, I just played without the online content.
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Awesome! Now buying Battlefield 4 won't leave a bad "Ugh, I just bought a game with an online pass" taste in my mouth :D
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Edited by omg a bannana: 5/16/2013 6:36:51 PMAnd [url=https://www.google.com/search?q=EA+stock&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb]look[/url]their stock is already going up. Wow EA, don't ya think you should have done this a while ago! Too bad they don't make any good games though.
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Hell yes.
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The thing that stunk about EA's online passes was how easily they could be cracked by generators, especially on the PS3 and if your new copy happened to be the unlucky code, sucks to be you. The second time it happened to me was the last time I bought an EA game.
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Good. Very good.
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Good.
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FINALLY! THANK -blam!- FOR THAT, ITS ABOUT TIME TOO!
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Cool. Although I still think EA getting voted "Worst company in America" two times in a row is just a load of bull.
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Thank you EA
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BBC confirms this
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This is a welcome piece of news. Hopefully other companies will follow suit and this abortion of an idea will simply fade away into the mists of history. Good find, OP.
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...This has to be some sort of joke. EA passing up on money?
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EA got a new director, right? Here's hoping EA will totally shift its direction... and also hopefully fix its !@#$%^ customer service.
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New CEO, who wants to rebuild company image after disastrous PR cases, and earning "the worst company in the world" because of little shits who think its funny to avoid giving the banks a lesson and vote of distrust. Good on them. It's hard to not stay evil with a company as big as EA, so good on them.
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Edited by Smarkdow: 5/16/2013 2:10:56 AMWait a second. EA didn't do something...stupid? They actually made a [i]good[/i] decision? I can't believe what I'm reading.
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Is this the real life? I didn't think EA had it in them. Is this just fantasy? I never thought I'd see the day...