EA Sports Fucks Over People Who Buy Used Games

[RoyWill Rumble]

The ultimate in dick moves? I think it's certainly up there. Essentially, EA Sports will be including codes in their games for this upcoming year to play online. If you buy a game used, tough titties, no online for you.

Jesus Christ, this is pathetic. I am but one man, but I think I will undoubtedly be boycotting any and all EA Sports titles until they drop this stupid shit.

http://www.easports.com/onlinepass

[METALMAN]

I don't think that was their goal - rather just an unavoidable side effect of what they actually wanted to do.

Those in the games industry actually value the used games market very highly, because people that sell/trade generally do so in order to buy other games.

[King Ellis]

Now awaiting for Activision's return blow in this epic 'Worst gaming company' title bout!

[Kaney]

You can buy a new online pass even if the game is pre-owned, apparently for $10. It's not so much that it's destroying any chance of playing the online aspects if you buy pre-owned, it's more that they are trying to ensure they get money back from games that are sold on after the initial purchase.

It's still a dick move though.

[Lint]

Bioware did it with the Cerberus Network for ME2..you got it for free if you bought the game..had to pay 15 bucks if you bought it used..

[METALMAN]

Are they actually trying to stop people buying second hand games? That's really surprising. I thought their motive was that they wanted money for providing the online service.

I don't know a great deal about games themselves but I know a little bit about the whole second hand games because they made me read this big dossier about it when HMV started doing trade-ins.

Generally, it's seen as a good thing by retailers and games companies alike, because:

1. customer buys game at full price

2. customer trades in game for a lot less than he paid for it

3(a). retailer sells game for a lot more than they paid for it in trade-in (benefits retailer)

3(b). customer buys another game using the credit he got from a trade-in (benefits game company)

Basically it's like the car market, which relies really heavily on second hand products, but obviously smaller scale.

[oldskool]

They know they can't stop second-hand sales, so they just stopped making certain aspects free for all users and made them free for the first one. Can't say I blame them.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Are they actually trying to stop people buying second hand games? That's really surprising. I thought their motive was that they wanted money for providing the online service.

I don't know a great deal about games themselves but I know a little bit about the whole second hand games because they made me read this big dossier about it when HMV started doing trade-ins.

Generally, it's seen as a good thing by retailers and games companies alike, because:

1. customer buys game at full price

2. customer trades in game for a lot less than he paid for it

3(a). retailer sells game for a lot more than they paid for it in trade-in (benefits retailer)

3(b). customer buys another game using the credit he got from a trade-in (benefits game company)

Basically it's like the car market, which relies really heavily on second hand products, but obviously smaller scale.

Which is still a dick move, considering people are paying a shit-ton for games that more or less are absolutely expected to have online play. And I do blame them. I absolutely blame them. Again, games are hella expensive, and online gaming is an integral part of the EA Sports titles. Making people pay for it on top of the game is just ridiculous simply because they bought it used. It was lame when Battlefield did it, it was lame when Mass Effect 2 did it with the Cerberus stuff (surprise, surprise, EA produced these games).

[METALMAN]

Oh yeah I'm not in any way defending them for charging people for an online service. That's appalling.

[zero]

Yeah, this is unacceptable. Game companies have been trying to wipe out the used game market for years now (wasn't it rumored years back that Sony was toying with the idea of PS3 games only working on one machine?), but to see it actually come to fruition? Yeah, it's undeniably dickish. Much like the record industry, game publishers haven't learned that people buy used/pirate because most new games/albums aren't worth full retail price.

[DMN in the House]

If the market will allow it, then they are absolutely in the right to charge for online service.

[DMN in the House]

If the market will allow it, then they are absolutely in the right to charge for online service.

[King Ellis]

I never really minded it before, the only game I can speak about personally is Saboteur where the addtional content is really useless and you can get by fine. I've only really started ME2 and never touched Dragon Ages but am sure both are complete experiences and have enough content to satisfy. The extra stuff there is a bonus. BFBC2 i'm not entirely what the deal is on that one so I can't comment.

Multiplayer though is almost an entire game in and of itself. In fact, i'm sure it IS the entire game to some people who won't even touch the single player component, so to lock people out of it is a dick move. Especially for 360 players who already pay their subs.

[Kaney]

Well, they've already paid for the game, and if they're on XBox then they'll have already paid for the Live subscription, so why should they have to pay further still for EA games?

[oldskool]

It's odd because people would be all for it if a pirated game was remotely locked out of a particular feature, the rest of the game worked fine, and if you paid a $10 fine you'd unlock the parts that had been remotely locked as a result of your playing the game without paying the publishers/developers anything.

I hardly ever buy my games new any more; all this does is drop the used price because Gamestop et al will get fucked over trying to sell a used game for $5 less than a new game when it's tangibly depreciated in value by $10 and as such I'm not overly outraged. Another factor's that I don't play a ton of online games on the consoles anyway, so in effect I'm getting a discount.

EDIT FOR KAAAAAAAAAAAANE: You didn't pay the publisher for the game, and you have to pay for XBL as well as EA because EA's market influence bent Microsoft over a barrel in regards to getting full control over their games on XBL.

Edited May 11, 2010 by oldskool

[RoyWill Rumble]

If the market will allow it, then they are absolutely in the right to charge for online service.

And I'm within my right to go to a hospital and make fun of the terminally ill, but I don't because I'm not a dick.

[TKz]

You're missing out there Will.

[LL!]

Anyone who buys a $10 online code is an idiot.

[apsham]

...how are they justified? That statement blows my mind.

Also, I read this on the Escapist article;

GameStop, whose pre-owned game sales are a big reason why Project Ten Dollar exists in the first place, appears to be trying to get out in front of this one by selling "point cards" with new and used copies of EA games that can be used to purchase Online Pass content. "We're delighted that GameStop is offering their support of this program as a place for gamers to purchase points that provide access to downloadable content from EA at their stores and through their website," Moore added.

[Gene Kiniski]

Anyone wanna buy a 360? I don't think I will be needing mine much longer.