[not sure where to post this... it's games related so...] What's this? A bout of common sense over at EA? EA are to kill off their Online Pass for their new games because 'many players didn't respond to the format'... Doesn't affect PC games to much... but EA are admitting, in a roundabout way, that their attempt to cut down on pre-owned games backfired... Wonder if it'll take them another 3 years to realise an always-online Sim City was a bad idea... source
I always wonder how much these systems cost. To keep one (or many) auth servers running for something like Fifa, checking every time a player logs in must take an ungodly amount of bandwidth. Even with EA's love of canning services every eighteen months that's a year and a half of twenty four hour upkeep lest they brick their games. All for the sake of maybe getting ten bucks out of someone. I Expect they intend to replace it with an emphasis on new buyer exclusive DLC or just DLC content for all, new buyer or not.
I am somewhat surprised by this - Even though it didn't affect me, it did in a round about way make sense for them to do it. If you look at it from their point of you, why should second hand places like GAME make money from there product for essentially buying and selling leaving EA with nothing. Still don't like the company but they do make a awesome FIFA series...
