EA's Online Pass or Used Game Premium

[BreakABone]

I think it's brilliant, and don't think that it's intended to "battle" used sales. The concept is simple: as gamers migrate to heavier online play as a part of the experience, the publisher needs to be compensated.

If the gamer is the original purchaser, the publisher gets paid when the user buys the game; if the gamer is a second-hand purchaser, the publisher currently does not get paid. With Online Pass, EA is ensuring that second-hand purchasers will pay something for the maintenance of the server network and for access to premium content, since they extend the costs of providing these services.

Yes, I think it will become the norm at the major publishers, and think that EA is charging too little...

I think the game industry has created a problem for itself by giving consumers unlimited online game play for free. I think not just to battle used games, but as a basic business sense of generating more revenue from usage more and more of these programs will be looked at being implemented.

How consumers react is a totally different issue.

But overall the EA Sports Online Pass seems like a mild introduction. I can see consumers griping, but really it seems entirely fair that if a consumer is buying a second hand copy they are not going to get direct support from the publisher. It is not like they are charging a season pass for all users that want to play Madden online.

The reality is that these games are pretty expensive to develop and it is unrealistic to expect companies to support free online play forever. I think the bottom line in the industry requires companies to start to find ways to monetize online usage.

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/e...-says-analyst/