The next shot in the war against pre-owned sales has been fired!

[Pure Mongrel]

EA Sports Locks Out Multiplayer Modes On Used Sales - Xbox 360 News at IGN

I wonder how long it will take for the other publishers to follow suit.

I wonder how companies like EB GAMES (Gamestop for our North American TOGers) and GAME will react to this news?

I bet the game publishers can't wait for the day they can cut out the retail sector all together and do download only.

Would you be happy to no longer hunt for a bargain at a retail shop and be locked into download only pricing?

[click]

This shit is out of control. I thought the pricing for MW2 was bad, this is just ridiculous. MONEY MONEY MONEY

[Chief]

Greedy bastards.

[jonny2combz]

Yep GREED thats all it is, people will go back to PC if they keep this up.

[George]

Mmmmmm. Not a good call by EA sports if you ask me. But when you spend all your money buying the competition you need to get your revenue from somewhere else. Is there no monopolies mergers commission in the game industry?

[Pure Mongrel]

I will be interested to see if this becomes a double edged sword.

On one hand the publishers jump up an down about how they are losing revenue due to people purchasing pre-owned games.

On the other hand many new games are purchased because people have the ability to trade in games they no longer play.

I for one very rarely purchase pre-owned games. This is not because I am a opposed to pre-owned games but because I tend to pre-order games for the "added extras".

Now the thing that EA has not thought through is that people like myself only keep pre-ordering because the cost is off set by the ability to trade in games I have finished with.

I would estimate that my purchasing of games will drop by over two thirds if I can no longer trade in games for any real value. Add to this that I will stop pre-ordering all but only very select titles, preferring to wait to see if the game is "worth it" before I invest money on a game I will get no return from.

Now this will have two possible flow on effects IMHO.

1) Games will have to become cheaper to attract the buyers who can no longer trade (Possible, but highly unlikely)

2) Quality games will be lost as publishers will pull back on backing untested IP's and only focus on re-releasing the same IP's that have proven "safe" to back. "Hey look Modern Combat Fighter 47 is out ... YAY! Can't wait to play that ... this time you get to wear blue combat fatigues!" (The most likely possibility).

I admit I am a cynical man, but can anyone see this new move by EA as a good thing?

Imagine a gaming world where games like, Oddworld, Psychonauts, Little Big Planet, etc never get released because they are to "different" from the mainstream ISP's to gamble on.

There could be one glimmer of hope in this scenario and that is Indy games. They will be the only bastion of creativity left in the industry ... until they are bought out, or forced out, by the big publishers.

[Pure Mongrel]

Side note: Are there grounds to challenge this decision on the grounds that it is unfair business practices?

Would a company like Game-Stop / EB or GAME have the "balls" to challenge EA on this? After all they stand to lose a major revenue stream?

Is this to big a fight for them considering how many popular IP's EA holds and the fact that purchasing online is become more prolific?

Only time will tell, but if this "one online code" per copy of the game goes through ... I weep for the future of gaming.

I wonder how they will manage it? Is the code attached to a User account or a console?

What happens if I lose access to my user account for any reason, or just want to change my user name?

What happens if my console dies?

What happens if the PSN or XBL go down for extended periods? We saw what happened with the PSN went down ... people could not play many games that required connection to the service just to run. (heavy Rain was one ... and it had no online play!)

Big Brother is not just watching ... he has your nuts in a vice and is twisting until every last dollar falls out of your pocket!

I wonder what hobby I will take up to replace video gaming?

[Ancient_One]

PC Gaming............

[theZee]

I might be wrong, but my understating is that if you buy pre-owned games, you'll need to purchase a $10 Online Pass in order to gain access to the Multiplayer features of that game. So in essence you can still play online with used games but you need to fork 10 bucks for it - seems like a sensible thing to do for the game companies to try an recoup some revenue from the pre-owned games market.

Those who purchase the game used can buy an Online Pass for $10 or sign up for a free 7-day trial. The pass will be implemented for NCAA Football 11, NHL 11, Madden NFL 11, NBA 11, FIFA 11, and EA Sports MMA as well. The pass offers different features for each title, however, players will not have access to basic multiplayer features if purchased used.

[Scratches]

Unfortunatly, even with the Online Pass your online access is limited .

The pass offers different features for each title, however, players will not have access to basic multiplayer features if purchased used.
"You will be unable to play multiplayer online game modes or use your downloaded content in online game modes," EA says.

Oh, and can i get a translation for this little gem?

"This is an important inflection point in our business because it allows us to accelerate our commitment to enhance premium online services to the entire robust EA SPORTS online community," said Peter Moore, President of EA SPORTS.

sphinctasayswhat?