EA removes ALL online-passes from its games

[Xuphor]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/15/ea-getting-rid-of-online-passes

Madden, FIFA, Battlefield, Dead Space, Mass Effect and more – will be “discontinuing” its Online Pass initiative. [...] We’ve listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward.

Holy sh*t..... EA did something right because they listened to customer feedback.
First sign of the Apocalypse?

 

[Chary]

EA isn't supposed to do anything right. They have to be the root of all evillllll!!!

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Eh this didn't really affect me at all. Every time I bought a used EA game, EB Games always put the code in there, no matter how old the game was. You know, it actually sorta seems like EA is under the restructuring aspect in the company's career. If any game needs a reboot, it's EA.

 

[BrightNeko]

Replace online pass with limited edition that has all the original features. Isn't removing an online pass it is renaming it.

 

[hhs]

IGN is blocked on my work computers. Can someone summarize this for me? By online pass do you mean season pass or multiplayer activation?

 

[Bladexdsl]

holy fuck what is next simcity not needing online?!

 

[alirezay]

IGN is blocked on my work computers. Can someone summarize this for me? By online pass do you mean season pass or multiplayer activation?

Yes.exactly! You have to have online pass to unlock online features.

 

[Black-Ice]

Do the Mafia listen to customer feedback? No
EA > The Mafia > Sony

 

[nukeboy95]

now all that is left is that premium dlc crap

 

[Bobbybangin]

This decision from EA is pure damage control from all the "worst company" press they've received. But it's a good move. I won't deny them that. If they want to keep moving forward they can make frostbite to work with the Wii U.

 

[Attila13]

holy fuck what is next simcity not needing online?!

That would be cool...but not gonna happen just like with Diablo 3...

 

[FAST6191]

In some ways I reckon they could have kept a lid on it until E3 (though I believe their annual statement is out in a couple of days) as that would have been a great announcement for their conference, also some news worth hearing to come out of E3.

Still the end of stupidities like this are always welcome.

 

[tbgtbg]

Great, now I only have 99 reasons to hate EA and hope it dies in a fire instead of 100. Showing progress, fellas!

 

[Deleted member 473940]

OMG!!! Used games, here I come

 

[kristianity77]

For me, all that's left for them now to do to now is stop cutting off servers way too early so 12 months down the line their games stop working properly and then they will have made progress!

I managed to find a brand new copy of the Simpsons for my lad the other day and even that server is taken down. I mean....really?

 

[shakirmoledina]

ea following sony. keep at it ea and it might just work.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

the big companies want to build a large subscriber base. It is not for their decision, it is wall street decision. The investors are not used to ultra-variable revenues, that's why they encourage its companies to do this kind of shit.

I'll not be surprised if EA try another strange move to have subscribers. Something like "pay $ 9,99 monthly to have Madden/Fifa always up to date" instead of today's "buy Madden/Fifa this year, and buy again next year, then you buy it again and again every single year until you die."

 

[FAST6191]

the big companies want to build a large subscriber base. It is not for their decision, it is wall street decision. The investors are not used to ultra-variable revenues, that's why they encourage its companies to do this kind of shit.

I'll not be surprised if EA try another strange move to have subscribers. Something like "pay $ 9,99 monthly to have Madden/Fifa always up to date" instead of today's "buy Madden/Fifa this year, and buy again next year, then you buy it again and again every single year until you die."

I would love to see someone attempt a true game subscription model for games like this but at the same time I am not sure -- I recall some of the old football manager games occasionally released updates to mirror the states of the leagues that by necessity (it is extremely unlikely your fantasy game mirrored the real world) wiped your save and put it in the same position as the real world. To that end it would not always be the same game and that could change things fairly fundamentally.
To that end "I will kick your arse at Fifa" means less than it might and that could be a problem.

 

[Isaac]

Well, if next gen consoles have the console locked games, there would be no point in having the online passes anyways since only one person can play the game!

 

[Obveron]

This is damage control for EA. They know they will be pushing always-online DRM down our throat with future games so they are tossing a small bone to its enraged customers.