EA Discontinues Its Online Pass Program

[Based Lord Zedd]

From a business stand point though, they make ZERO money off used games, and servers cost money to run. Its reasonable to make cheap skates pay a fee to get online and play multiplayer. a 5 dollar fee is reasonable. Gotta keep the industry alive

That cost of running online is factored into the original price of the game.

If I buy Madden brand new I'm already paying for the online access/server use for that physical copy of the game. If I sell the game I'm no longer using any of that, whoever I sold the game to is using it in my place. So why do they need to charge twice for the same copy of the game? It's not like if I sell my game EA all of a sudden has two people playing online multiplayer instead of just one.

It was nothing more than EA trying to double dip cause they were butthurt other companies (Gamestop, Gamefly) and private sellers were eating off of used games/rentals and they weren't getting any of the pie.

 

[Poppa_Dock]

not if video games go away. It's costing more and more money to make video games, with such a small audience actually paying for them. it doesnt excuse some of the DLC bullshyt. But a monetary fee to play online is reasonable

I think it's more of companies wanting to make more off of video games than it actually being more expensive. These companies see consumers dropping thousands every few months on hot devices and they want a piece of that pie. If it was that bad of a situation financially we would have already seen a stalemate in the advancement of gaming technology, as we all know its only getting better and new types of games with better capabilities are being created every day, better graphics, physics engines etc. All these companies basically want to be like apple, where people are flooding their company with money every quarter for apparently no reason.

 

[The_Sheff]

That cost of running online is factored into the original price of the game.

If I buy Madden brand new I'm already paying for the online access/server use for that physical copy of the game. If I sell the game I'm no longer using any of that, whoever I sold the game to is using it in my place. So why do they need to charge twice for the same copy of the game? It's not like if I sell my game EA all of a sudden has two people playing online multiplayer instead of just one.

It was nothing more than EA trying to double dip cause they were butthurt other companies (Gamestop, Gamefly) and private sellers were eating off of used games/rentals and they weren't getting any of the pie.

Companies have a set period of time they expect a consumer to play a game online. It's how they schedule how many servers to have up. MS sold millions of copies of Halo 4 in the first month, there is no way in hell they would keep the server capacity for that many players throughout the lifetime of the game. When you sell your copy to another person they have to keep the servers up to account for those gamers but they received no compensation for them.

 

[The_Sheff]

I think it's more of companies wanting to make more off of video games than it actually being more expensive. These companies see consumers dropping thousands every few months on hot devices and they want a piece of that pie. If it was that bad of a situation financially we would have already seen a stalemate in the advancement of gaming technology, as we all know its only getting better and new types of games with better capabilities are being created every day, better graphics, physics engines etc. All these companies basically want to be like apple, where people are flooding their company with money every quarter for apparently no reason.

We have already seen the consequences of increased development costs. Studios have been closing left and right this gen and companies are less willing to release a niche or risky title because they can't afford a flop. One bad selling game is causing medium level developers to fold.

From now on you will see either huge expensive games by the largest publishers or smaller downloadable titles from indies. The medium level games are damn near done as far as consoles go.

 

[illwittdeez]

What fukkery do they have in store to replace it brehs

Question of the year!

 

[Based Lord Zedd]

They'll introduce something worse, whether it be next-gen consoles taking used games out of the equation for EA. Or EA finding a better way to charge.

 

[Liquid]

What fukkery do they have in store to replace it brehs

maybe they will charge per hour

 

[B86]

What fukkery do they have in store to replace it brehs

No need for replacement fukkery on EA's part if next gen consoles don't play used games at all....

 

[Iamnoone]

Companies have a set period of time they expect a consumer to play a game online. It's how they schedule how many servers to have up. MS sold millions of copies of Halo 4 in the first month, there is no way in hell they would keep the server capacity for that many players throughout the lifetime of the game. When you sell your copy to another person they have to keep the servers up to account for those gamers but they received no compensation for them.

We have already seen the consequences of increased development costs. Studios have been closing left and right this gen and companies are less willing to release a niche or risky title because they can't afford a flop. One bad selling game is causing medium level developers to fold.

From now on you will see either huge expensive games by the largest publishers or smaller downloadable titles from indies. The medium level games are damn near done as far as consoles go.

You said everything I wanted to say

 

[winb83]

What fukkery do they have in store to replace it brehs

Console maker enabled ban on used games. Requiring a serial number to install and activate a game.

 

[23Barrettcity]

What fukkery do they have in store to replace it brehs

A single player mode fee or a start up install fee or a loads up as a black screen showing a loading screen until you pay 11 $ fee

 

[Rain]

maybe they will charge per hour

No need for replacement fukkery on EA's part if next gen consoles don't play used games at all....

Console maker enabled ban on used games. Requiring a serial number to install and activate a game.

A single player mode fee or a start up install fee or a loads up as a black screen showing a loading screen until you pay 11 $ fee

The sad thing about all of these is that I wouldn't rule any of em out

 

[23Barrettcity]

Companies have a set period of time they expect a consumer to play a game online. It's how they schedule how many servers to have up. MS sold millions of copies of Halo 4 in the first month, there is no way in hell they would keep the server capacity for that many players throughout the lifetime of the game. When you sell your copy to another person they have to keep the servers up to account for those gamers but they received no compensation for them.

I'm sorry but your argument sounds like corporate greed. Say I keep my game and everyone does that brought it and plays online the servers are being used anyway or if someone buys a used copy years in the future the servers most likely are down . The thing is the timeline of 6-12 months later how high traffic are these servers ?? It makes no difference really if I have it or Jon snow the servers would be up anyway so unless the fee was for say after a sequel came out the servers should up and expected to be used .

An alternative is everyone says fukk buying games at launch waif for price drops in the future or something

 

[The_Sheff]

I'm sorry but your argument sounds like corporate greed. Say I keep my game and everyone does that brought it and plays online the servers are being used anyway or if someone buys a used copy years in the future the servers most likely are down . The thing is the timeline of 6-12 months later how high traffic are these servers ?? It makes no difference really if I have it or Jon snow the servers would be up anyway so unless the fee was for say after a sequel came out the servers should up and expected to be used .

An alternative is everyone says fukk buying games at launch waif for price drops in the future or something

Why should I keep my servers up to support people who are not my customer?

 

[Eoin]

They goin make you watch adds before going online