EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

Now this is something EA started with Mass Effect 2, and I thought it would be like an one-off experience, but they seem to be expanding on this idea.

http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/...e-multiplayer/

Personally I feel that handicapping the used game market sucks for gamers who can't afford full-price, but I also understand why a company would want to force people to buy a game new.

So what are your thoughts?

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

actually Dragon Age: Origins started it, followed by The Saboteur... ME2 was the third game to do it lol. But even Gears of War 2 did basically the same thing in 2008.

As you know, I think this is great for the pubs/devs you get completely screwed by the used game market and, more importantly, PIRACY. It's been a well-publicized problem, and the people who work on these games deserve compensation.

The DLC offerings are completely optional, and in the case of the new direction EA Sports is taking with it, they still give you a week-long trial before you have to decide. $10 is a more than reasonable price to ask, because people who need to have to pay the $10 are people who did not pay up to the original publisher/developer to play the game (remember, new copies get this stuff for free!).

Also, the argument that it hurts the budget-minded consumer isn't that strong. I am very, very poor, and have to adjust my gaming purchases accordingly. I almost never buy a $60 game, and when I do I plan months in advance to be able to save up for it (see: MW2, Mass Effect 2). People can just as easily wait about 3 months after release, at which point the price for most new games already drop to the 40-45 dollar range. And if you are savvy enough to score a used copy at a much better bargain, throwing on an extra $10 is not at all much to ask, especially if it still results in a cheaper price than a new copy. If it doesn't, then buy it new. Or just skip out on the optional content anyway.

If anything this will drive the price of used games down further since they will now be "incomplete" experience. But I think the more important point here is in regards to piracy, where now the pubs/devs can at least scrape SOME well-earned dough for their years of hard work.

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

Actually, you bring up another issue that has been created this generation.

The price collapse model. In which, people see a game, and know they don't need to buy it week one because in 2-3 months it will be dirt cheap, but its dirt cheap because no one bought it early because knew would become cheap.

Of course the problem with that, is much like used games, developers/publishers lose money and they potentially lose the chance to expand their created universe with sequels and the likes.

As for the main point, I agree with you, developers/publishers should be given a cut of the used game market (especially with some of the prices GameStop sales them for), but I don't think putting a premium on it is the best way to go.

We shall see how it goes, since in the case of ME 2 and I believe Dragon Age, is even when you pay this premium you are still paying for DLC on top of that as well.

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

I could care less cause EA sucks, but are they saying that I would have to pay $10 to play a game online on top of Xbox Live which I pay for to play games online?

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

No, you own Mass Effect 2, its the Cerebrus Network for other games.

When you bought it new, you got a code which you used to activate your account, basically if you buy the game used and want that content, you had to pay 15 bucks to gain access to it.

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

Kind of sounds like its making you pay for online gaming.

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

I think you are overly-optimistic about how this will combat piracy. :ohreilly:

For me, I think this is fuel for the DLC fire in some ways, and I loooooooooove DLC. I could go on for hours, but another thread, another day....

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

Price collapse model? There is a theory to this insanity? The real problem is that games are way too much money out the gate and there are way too many games. The reality is developers need to either make less games so that people can afford them and have time to play them lol, but that will cost them money; or they can keep making tons of games and LOWER THE PRICES. This is exacerbated by this 3-console + PC gaming market where you often need to buy the hit games across 4 platforms. Total, insane, expensive, craziness.

EA is walking a fine line between really unethical and shady, but that will bleed into a DLC discussion I refuse to have. :D

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

not that it combats piracy in the sense that it stops it, but in the sense that game makers can still make some money off pirated copies... along the same lines as DLC, but more integrated, in a sense

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

i agree with people not having enough time to play them but how about an alternate model altogether: make games shorter, cheaper, and by extension cheaper and shorter to make... this is also smaller risk on the part of publishers.

look at it this way: the average game takes about 12 hours to complete (lets say). It equates much more to a TV season than a movie, in terms of time invested to complete the experience. However, individual TV episodes can be consumed on their own without investing in the whole season.

This may sound like the much-talked about "episodic" model of game design, and yes it is similar, but im talking less segmented than that. or, maybe just the way valve does "episodes" (lol)

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

I think Nintendo is already doing something like that... turns out they make a lot of crappy games.

Hey, nothing wrong with the way Valve does episodes. They just take a really long time is all. :p

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium
 

Oh I completely agree that the game industry needs a more flexible pricing scheme.

There are games (VERY few I should state) that I think are worth the $60 admission fee and then there are games in which I think they have a much better chance of selling if they launched at 30-40 bucks.

The problem with that at times is perceived values, most people associate cheaper games with poorer qualities so they don't bat an eye at it or anything.


But they are making shorter games, the two Gears of War, Splinter Cell Conviction, and I'm sure tons of other games don't even begin to hit double digits for completion. But we still pay full price for it, (I'm sure a case could and would be made for co-op/online extending the standard play-time)


Not the place for this conversation, but I'm just going to say you are wrong and leave it there.

Re: EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium