EA may have been the first game publisher to introduce the online pass, but now the company plans to get rid of them.
In a report from VentureBeat, EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg confirmed via an email that EA will no longer feature online passes on all of their future games.
Here’s Rosenburg’s reason for EA killing online passes:
“Initially launched as an effort to package a full menu of online content and services, many players didn’t respond to the format. We’ve listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward.”
From that statement, it sounds like consumers didn’t take online passes too kindly. This is because online passes lock certain modes of a game is you buy a second hand copy. You will have to pay an extra $10 or more just to play online multiplayer if you have a rented, borrowed or used copy of a game.
It will be interesting if other game publishers get rid of online passes too. Even though EA introduced them first, other game publishers followed EA’s lead and included online passes too. Will other game publishers follow EA’s lead again and get rid of them?
This is good news for people planning to buy FIFA 14 or Battlefield 4 later this year. Even if you get a used copy, you’ll still have access to the online modes without paying the additional fee for it.