EA's Online Pass Won't Affect Used Sales

[Ares]

EA's Online Pass Won't Affect Used Sales

GameStop backs publisher initiative to buy new.
May 20, 2010
by Jim Reilly

GameStop isn't too concerned with the recent swing of publisher initiatives to get consumers to buy games new. The company stated on its financial call this morning it will back these new business models, such as Electronic Arts' "Online Pass."

The pass, which is included with every new copy of EAs upcoming sports games, will unlock multiplayer modes and features. Those who buy the titles used must purchase a code for $10 to play online.

"We support the creation of added downloadable content for popular franchises," said COO Paul Raines when asked about the program.

"We see that as extending the life of titles and broadening the base of game players. We do not anticipate an impact to our used margins due to this program."

GameStop says it will continue to benefit from the sale of downloadable content.

Raines noted the company saw a significant increase in point card sales during the launch of the Stimulus Package, the first map pack for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

"GameStop consumers are ahead of the mass market in digital adoption, and we see the percent of customers buying both physical games and digital point cards growing rapidly," he added.

Source: IGN

 

[yepimonfire]

thats not too bad, i can sort of see where they are coming from, it does cost them money to run the servers and what not. why not just make multiplayer a premium service you can pay for all EA games, like a monthly subscription or something that applies to all customers? add a free 3 month subscription to the new games, make you pay up front for the used. that would seem more logical to me.

 

[Ares]

thats not too bad, i can sort of see where they are coming from, it does cost them money to run the servers and what not. why not just make multiplayer a premium service you can pay for all EA games, like a monthly subscription or something that applies to all customers? add a free 3 month subscription to the new games, make you pay up front for the used. that would seem more logical to me.

If EA was to take the route you are suggesting a lot of gamers will not be happy about it. PS3 owners won't be happy but 360 owners would down right lose their minds, and here is the reason why IMO:

1) Having to pay for Xbox Live Gold $50 a year
2)If you have Netflix add $8.95 a month
3) EA Online Pass $$? a year so you can use the multi-player feature.
4) If EA does this every dev will follow, so you can have 5 different online passes just to play against your friends in Sports, FPS, RPG etc..

But 360 owners won't be alone because of all the news that Sony will introduce PSN Premium at E3. If it gets to that point playing games online will no longer be worth it IMO.

 

[SopRage]

I cannot for the life of me understand why people are buying MSPoint cards in stores.

If you're playing online, you already have a Live account. If you have a Live account, MS already has your credit card info! All you have to do to get MSPoints is to push a button!

 

[its phillip]

I cannot for the life of me understand why people are buying MSPoint cards in stores.

If you're playing online, you already have a Live account. If you have a Live account, MS already has your credit card info! All you have to do to get MSPoints is to push a button!

Well, sometimes stores will have them on sale. It's probably just people being stupid though...they spend $55 on a used (and potentially damaged/missing things) game at gamestop when you could just spend $60 to get it brand new, or maybe even spend less and get it at amazon.

 

[Chopper Greg]

I cannot for the life of me understand why people are buying MSPoint cards in stores.

If you're playing online, you already have a Live account. If you have a Live account, MS already has your credit card info! All you have to do to get MSPoints is to push a button!

It's actually fairly easy to understand, once you realize that as soon as you purchase online, instead of giving the person who is doing the buying the option to renew when they feel like it ( like when the funds are available ) MS keeps your credit card data, and automatically renews your account every time it gets low - if that means that your account is now over drawn and you start racking up $30 insufficient funds fees per occurrence, online gaming just got a heck of a lot more expensive .

When people go to the their local store and buy point cards, it allows them to have more control over their own money, and how and when it is spent - they can even use cash to buy it, something that is hard to use online.