Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3 MP Will Require Online Pass
Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3 will require an Online Pass for playing online.
Gamers waiting to pick up a used copy of Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 at a somewhat discounted price might as well purchase a freshly printed version, as the multiplayer components of both games will require an Online Pass. Those who purchase new retail copies will get this pass for free, but customers lingering in the used games sector will have to fork out the extra bucks if they want to play online.
"The Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War feature can be activated via the Online Pass code found in every new copy of Mass Effect 3," the company said in an official statement. "The Mass Effect 3 Online Pass can also be purchased separately on the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system and PlayStation3 computer entertainment system."
Just days ago Battlefield 3 core gameplay designer Alan Kertz said that an Online Pass can be purchased separately for used games. While most of us already know that it's a way for publishers and developers to generate revenue from the used games sector (because, after all, they get absolutely nothing from second-hand sales), Kertz said the Online Pass revenue also helps pay for the cost of keeping multiplayer servers up and running.
Earlier this week EA went into further detail about Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode, explaining that progress made the multiplayer component and "a suite of Mass Effect games and applications" will directly link back to the player's main campaign, helping Commander Shepard "rally the forces of the galaxy to eliminate the Reaper threat once and for all."
"Featuring four-player cooperative gameplay, multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 puts players in the role of a team of elite Special Forces soldiers sent to protect resources and assets that can help the war effort against the Reapers," EA said. "Players will have the option of playing as one of six classes and from six different races: Human, Krogan, Asari, Drell, Salarian and Turian."
Details surrounding the multiplayer portion of Mass Effect 3 can be found here.
So what! They are not entitled to revenue from second hand sales! Games are still goods and not services.
Oh, come on! It's not like the online servers are going to get an additional person per used/resold game! Besides, they already got 100% value from the first buyer (and overpriced, that is).
This thing is a totally stupid money milking strategy of people by the publishers.
Now, if they let the online part of the game with the old online pass code active and independent from the "offline"/SP still playable, I'm all in for that. So, you just sell the "offline" part of it and continue to rock online. I really doubt it's that way though.
Cheers!
Oh, come on! It's not like the online servers are going to get an additional person per used/resold game! Besides, they already got 100% value from the first buyer (and overpriced, that is).
This thing is a totally stupid money milking strategy of people by the publishers.
Now, if they let the online part of the game with the old online pass code active and independent from the "offline"/SP still playable, I'm all in for that. So, you just sell the "offline" part of it and continue to rock online. I really doubt it's that way though.
Cheers!
So what! They are not entitled to revenue from second hand sales! Games are still goods and not services.
Businesses and companies exist to make the most money they can
The difference is that the second person's money did not go to EA , Bioware, and anyone else related to production and distribution of the game.
The only person who benefits would be the guy who sold the game used, or gamestop.
Its about money. Mainly because that person buying used does not give them any money, only the store thats reselling it gets money. If that same customer who was buying it used bought it new, this wouldn't be needed.
So instead they tack on another fee that really makes used pointless. If its a popular game, it will be $40ish used. Then they add this which is normally $20ish so its $60 and you could have just gotten it new.
Lets just say they made bottom barrel pay of 50k - 60k, that's over 2 million dollars in wages alone for the staff for a 2 year development of a game.
Then you got to calculate in work space, hardware to work on, advertising costs, costs to manufacture - label - package - ship the product, liscencing fees, and all the other business expensenses for a large scale operation.
You consider all of that and complain about paying $50 or $60 for a AAA title?
Come on.
Would be easier to not buy EA games if there were other titles coming out worth playing.
Craptivision is worse my friend, with $15 for atomic map packs and don't forget Ubisoft, who are adamant on putting 'always connected to internet' DRM in their games. Many big developers are doing things that upset the gamers.
with all the power efficiency and speed improvements from the newer technology the server maintenance costs must be going through the roof!!
they should totally use bulldozer platform if they want to make profit!!
You have no idea about the current costs of running a server. Every year the cost of running a server goes down. Cheaper Hardware, Faster, Cheaper internet connections. It doesn't cost that much money to run a server.
Past a certain point people will stop playing the game and the old servers will be reallocated to the newer games. This is just another way to garner revenue.
Battlelog was a little buggy in the beta, but I liked it's functionality. Best thing about it is going to be setting up squads in battlelog that carry over into the game itself, so you can group up with your friends on the browser, pick a server that will fit you all, and when you get into the game, it's going to put you all on the same team and in the same squad. That's awesome imo.
Then it's got stats, server list, everything rolled into one thing seperate from the game (So no need to patch the game to do updates on the browser. It's a great thing.
Origin, though I like steam better for their deals and selection, works damn the same way, so don't see how it's crappy.
If you'd cancel a game over this news, you must be a no-body anyway lol. Probably just some guy that got rolled over 100x per game in the beta and started raging.
Then it's got stats, server list, everything rolled into one thing seperate from the game (So no need to patch the game to do updates on the browser. It's a great thing.
Origin, though I like steam better for their deals and selection, works damn the same way, so don't see how it's crappy.
If you'd cancel a game over this news, you must be a no-body anyway lol. Probably just some guy that got rolled over 100x per game in the beta and started raging.
The Battlelog wasn't that bad and like what you said, all those perks is kind of cool, but I'd much rather have a traditional game screen that can do almost all of that, or at the very least make it optional to use Battlelog on the browser.
Origin on the other hand is like steam, the reason I don't like it is because it is just like steam, I already have steam, and don't want to add anymore crap onto my computer. Plus having the ToS state that EA may gather personal and/or computer information or game/app usages for marketing purposes is like having a spyware.
And to your third statement, I loled when I read it, it doesn't really matter to EA cause to them I am a nobody, sure me and my friends are no longer getting the game, but either way that's like a few customers down the drain. I'm not getting the game because I want to know that I actually fully own the game and can pass it down to a family member without having them to shell out whatever it costs for the online pass. And fyi I actually did okay on the beta (it was a lot fun, no doubt about that), and I was always a fan of Battlefield, I've owned Battlefield 1942, 2, and 2142, but never touched the bad company series.