Battlefield 3 Online Pass Not Working? Get a New One, EA Says

GR - "Many gamers are reporting that the Online Pass codes bundled with Xbox 360 versions of Battlefield 3 are being rejected. EA's solution is to get a new one from the retailer that sold you the game."

[farhsa2008]

That's what happens when you become greedy and try to nickel and dime your customers.

And for those that say "But it doesn't effect me I buy knew" well here you go. You deserve to get ripped of.

[gamingdroid]

ah... I have been saying it all along. Online Passes are the work of the devil!

Enjoy it! :D

[RememberThe357]

Well... EA is as evil as Activision, but they're worse at it... Touche!

[2pacalypsenow]

THQ started this with UFC 2009

[irepbtown]

I've been saying it since they first introduced it on FIFA, EA are money hungry no different from Activision.

Battlefield 3 is amazing, however I dont see why I need a code just to simply play online. What will the future hold?
You need to renew your pass every month?

[gamingdroid]

I actually don't have an issue with greediness, because technically I see it as a balance. Consumers try to get the most for the least, while companies are opposite. It keeps the balance and is in the spirit of capitalism.

However, underhanded and scheming things, I'm not fine with.

These passes (as they now start to apply to single player campaigns as well), is another step towards controlling consumers and really not giving them choice/options. They also use underhanded techniques to get it accepted by the public.

That is why I would never want a single publisher to dominate the industry.

[zeeshan]

How hard it is to TRUST your customers? Understand that this CAN and DOES happen? How hard can it be for EA to simply ask their customers for their old Online Passes, deactivate the old ones and generate and provide a NEW ONE that works. HOW HARD IS IT?

Online Passes SUCK! I'd be OK if it were to cost like $3 or even $5 but asking $10 for a new one because the one that you provided didn't work should be outright illegal and companies should be brought to the court of law. Yes, even a $1 theft/scam is a theft or scam or however you want to put it!

[Rainstorm81]

I buy "NEW" and my BF3 code worked excellently......

Besides EA didnt say buy a new code.... But i understand your logic, No Online Pass = No problem to begin with

[dark-hollow]

Your "NEW" copy is tied to your console only.

What if you want to play your "NEW" copy in a friend's house?

[Rainstorm81]

you can just not online, and yes it sucks but this is the modern gaming world that we live in, and your choices are accept the online pass on games you were going to purchase anyway or dont play the latest and greatest.

As for playing at a friends house you have some choices; your friend buys the game, you can gameshare, bring your ps3 or 360, or you just play offline.

Something as trivial as an online pass will not cause me to miss out on games like Batman:AC, U3, & BF3....especially when i planned to buy them all anyway

[kaveti6616]

"and your choices are accept the online pass on games you were going to purchase anyway or dont play the latest and greatest."

there are a couple of other choices.

Number 1. Publicly boycott the publishers who use online passes. It won't take a year, just three months. After three months when their quarterly revenue has plummeted, their CEOs will be fired and the passes will be removed.

Number 2. Pirate the game.

Number 3. Purchase one copy of the game in order to maintain a moral high ground, and then pirate additional copies of the game for use on other platforms.

[papashango]

better yet what if your console dies. gotta re-purchase all your online passes. gratz console gamers. You've effectively let the them screw you.

[Grip]

Raiinstorm81 in most Respected way plz Shut up

[PixL]

@darkhollow & papashango: I can just log into my account and redownload the online pass, no problem here.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

@kaveti6616

I totally agree on boycott, but not piracy. Piracy is illegal and will only come back to screw us as some stupid DRM policy...

The whole point is that big companies (in every industry) prey on both the uninformed and those with more money than common sense. As you said yourself, if we hold our purchases for a couple of months we could get there, but people either don't know that or don't mind the abusive costs just to play it early, so they never think about it. The hard cold truth is that we have more people complaining about frame rate, textures or platform specific features than about abusive costs, I mean, every week we see a new petition for something stupid but we rarelly see people getting organizes to stand up against online passes, pre-release DLC or other "modern gaming features".

I almost miss the days when games were for kids, as kids don't have their own money to spend like crazy, gamers were incredibly more selective. Now a days we see people that buy more than 40 games a year, every big release gotta be a day one purchase, even if most of the time this games never get finished.

[KaBaW]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't you just have to transfer licenses?
If you transfer all licenses from your old xbox (via internet) it would be free.
Or, just simply re-activate your account on that new system, and all is fine.

I know it works with that way with any game or DLC that you've purchased.
I don't imagine that any Online Pass would be different than a 'DLC.'

PS - I'm referring to the x360.

[princejb134]

ea says go return the copy to the retail you bought it at
i say just remove the stupid online code requirement, that will equal to happy customers

[theonlylolking]

We must fight the greed of the companies. Rise! For it is time to end this madness. Little by little Activision, EA, THQ, etc.. have been slowly finding ways to give the middle finger to their consumers. Eventually there would be a point of no return. The time is soon and if the support for these games with the online passes, DLC every month, content locked on disc and many more keep continuing then we only have ourselves to blame.

Remember that they are in the business for the money now, not for YOU!

[theEx1Le]

I mean i know Activision recycle their franchises like crazy, but i'm honestly not seeing why they are in your list. They have never jumped on the bandwagon with this online pass/restricted content thing.

[WANNAGETHIGH]

But EA is the saviour of gaming bcuz of BF3 and how is gonna take on Cod /s

Face it no game publishers is an angel.

[MaxMurdoch]

Angel = Valve, CD project. Im sure there are a few others that look out for the customer.

Just not EA and Activision. You couldnt like those companies if you tried. They do everything they can to lose your business. I think we should all boycott at this point.

[jdktech2010]

Not even Valve are angels....they've had the same engine for nearly a decade but no one cries about it like they do with COD or Halo which amazes me

I love me some Valve but geeze

[Brownghost]

how the hell is another shooter gonna save gaming when we need other games other than shooters. Really?

[MischievousIQ]

I agree 100% but it didn't effect me cause I didn't buy BF3. ;P

[lugia 4000]

Or you can go to EA live chat support and get a new one.

[Hufandpuf]

I wonder how many users are affected.

[ironfist92]

One too many. Its a stupid practice which causes unnecessary problems to the buyers.

[kennyboy]

Yeah, "bf3 offers so much more than mw3" i believe these are the words of patrick bach, and i say, "LOL."

BUT, i agree it offers so much more than mw3, in costs.

[Rainstorm81]

Unless you add in COD ELITE....

[dark-hollow]

Which is completely optional and won't hurt you if you didn't subscribe

[KaBaW]

Unless you wanna buy all of the future (already planned) DLC. D:
I mean, all we wanna do is a have a good time, and play with our friends.

[Michael-Jackson]

That's one of the downsides of an online pass and codes in general.

[GraveLord]

Why not just get one from EA directly? Greedy bastards....they know people will just end up buying one for $10 on PSN/XBL since its too much of a hassle to argue with the old lady at Walmart.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

*looks at avatar*
*reads "Greedy bastards...*
*Goes LOL*

[Kaos_Vll]

Been saying it over and over it would affect EVERYONE. There has got to be a better solution for devs to be compensated for their work from used sales then to inconvenience the very people they hope to profit from, us the consumer.

[nevin1]

Then other industries might follow the video game industry.

[MaxMurdoch]

they do not need to be compensated for USED sales. What other industry gets benefit from USED sales? Cars? Computers ? bicycles? NONE. Show me one other industry. They dont exist. This is bullshit and shouldnt even be legal.

USED SALES? once i buy it its MINE. I can sell it if I want. From when on do they need to recoup on the sales that dont belong to them in the first place?

And dont tell me about online or server costs. That is a lie. If i sell my copy of the game to you, the total number of people playing online doesnt change. it stays the same. So whats the problem?

-greed and idiots who justify it. Boycott before its too late.

[roguewarrior]

"USED SALES? once i buy it its MINE". The publishers (and movie studios) are trying to set it up so you don't own the the game, there selling you a license to play/watch their Intellectual Property. They dictate what ways you can use "their" IP.

For example, me ripping a couple DVDs, that are "mine". To my laptop, so i don't have to carry them on vacation, should be fine, but its not. Because you owning the games/movies you buy is an illusion.

[insomnium2]

"If i sell my copy of the game to you, the total number of people playing online doesnt change. it stays the same. So whats the problem? "

The PROLONGED stress on the online servers right? I can't see what's the problem with peoples' reasoning when they don't get this.

I'm not saying that I like this system of online passes but I DO understand why they would want to implement something like this. The reason is NOT greed in most cases. Hasn't EA been in red like a billion dollars in these recent years (according to their financial statements). Implementing online passes is like trying to survive for them if I'm not mistaken somewhere. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[MaxMurdoch]

@insomnium

wtf are you talking about? All publishers were fine for all of these years and all of a sudden used sales are making them bankrupt? Yeah right, you would have to be a fool to believe that. How is activision not charging for online passes yet somehow they arent going bankrupt? Or blizzard for all of the warcraft games ? Wc3 ,wc2? Servers are still up. No one is paying for online passes. Explanation... please?

You are talking nonsense that the corporation fed you. I cant believe you can be this ignorant.

EA is in the red because they try to screw their customers at every turn. Many people are boycotting this company just because of that. The general perception of this company is very negative and its starting to catch up to them.

And im glad. Its about time.

[insomnium2]

@max

Wow that's intense. Does it not cost more to run servers for a full year instead of 6 months? Simple math really.

Internet and online gaming was not that big back a few years ago. Nowadays that's all people talk about. EVERYONE is online now so the servercosts have gone up quite a bit. It would be interesting to the the factual numbers for this. That's all I'm interested in in this.

Aren't warcraft servers played on subscriptions? Don't you pay a monthly/yearly fee?

"You are talking nonsense that the corporation fed you. I cant believe you can be this ignorant. "

Please. I have a bachelor's degree from university of applied sciences so I believe I have a good grasp on how things work on the business side of things. It's all numbers. Insted of sounding bitter about "try to screw their customers at every turn" and "starting to catch up to them" you could simply do a little research about this and back your words up with hard facts. How many copies of software sold? How much revenue? How much have each cost changed and have they done somehing to compensate it in the bottom line?

All I'm bringing to the table isthe fact that online is BIG now and if one player stresses online servers for about 5 months average the new person who buys the game used after that is going to stress the servers 5 months LONGER with no additional income to support it.

Like I said I don't fully support it but I do understand it since I'm fairly educated on the subject. Those 2 things I just said are facts and cannot be argued. However if you do a study on the costs of development and software sold and all other costs related to this and prove me the things I quoted from you I have no problem with it. I'm just trying to give my 2 cents on why are they doing this so calm down for pete's sake man.

You being glad about possible unemplyment of houndreds if not even thousands of people is something that makes me think you are about 18 yo. No offence but that's not cool. It's not all black and white in the world you do know that right?

[vickers500]

"All I'm bringing to the table isthe fact that online is BIG now and if one player stresses online servers for about 5 months average the new person who buys the game used after that is going to stress the servers 5 months LONGER with no additional income to support it."

Yeah, we don't pay 65 bucks for a game to play it for 5 months, we pay 65 bucks to play the game as long as we damn well please. Even if the strain on the servers results in a loss of a lot of money, they can just close them down if no income is helping to support them, and servers are usually always shut down in a handful of years anyways, so trying to defend the companies that not only will shut their servers down and remove access to a large part of the game that you paid for later on down the road, but also decides to screw its customers over by implementing a restrictive limitation on all copies of the game is just stupid. Your argument just screams "I'm a corporate tool".

So yes, the online pass only exists because of greed.

[wicko]

The funny thing about used digital media is that it's quality doesn't change over time. Used cars have more mileage and are more prone to mechanical issues. Bikes are the same. A game doesn't age - it doesn't play worse, the graphics don't deteriorate, it's exactly the same for you as it was for the previous owners. So comparing it to cars and bikes makes no sense.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

"What I said is a fact and can't be argued with" is not an argument Mr. Bachellor, you should know that.

Not to mention your logic is flawed. If that was the case, than either all online games would be either subscription based or even the people buying games new would be charged a new online pass after sometime.

The fact is that EA knows for how long they'll keep servers running and how much it will cost BEFORE THE GAME IS EVEN RELEASED, the cost is already factored in the initial price so you can play your new copy for as long as you please (or 'till servers get closed).

Also there's other source of income like in game ads and DLC that help to pay for servers' maintance and measure a game popularity as to extend the server life and determine other business strategies like validity of making sequels or more DLC.

[jaymart]

Driver SF had code issues, u know what UBISoft did?

They made it so u didn't need the online pass.

This is EA, so the chances of them doing that is 0%.

[soundslike]

gamestop employees....?

[Bolts]

This happened to me in Madden 12. For some reason my online pass would stop working once in a while and I must redownload a new one.

[LoneWanderer09]

Not planning on buying any games that use Online Pass, unless is an awesome game like Uncharted 3 that i really want to play

[theEx1Le]

Such a null statement. Its like saying "i'm a vegetarian, but i love eating steak" -_-

[2pacalypsenow]

i bought medal of honor used on ps3 and it still lets me play online without a pass code i just hit cancel and play it must be a glitch

[theEx1Le]

You dont get the "free" DLC, only difference as far as i am aware. Same as bad company 2, you can play the game the way it shipped but without the "free" map packs

[Firewound]

Another online pass, another problem. Jeez you think you've seen it all, if EA thinks of any more ways to annoy its customers they could make a game about it and include a pass with that too.

"We live in a world populated by morons of the highest order."

[darkgoon3r96]

WOW, so much bullshit on here, I mean, I don't have Battlefield 3 yet, but if it's like FIFA, it wouldn't be that bad, I mean on FIFA, you enter the code, you download the online pass "unlocker" and then it unlocks the whole console, now after that my PS3 broken down, HDMI wasn't working, instead of fixing it, Sony just gave me a replacement, I redownloaded the online pass unlocker from download history, and voila, I can still play online, yes, it's inconvenience, and yes, EA are becoming greedy, but this is the modern gaming world and you guys have to accept it, like it or not, or just get Modern Warfare 3, like Activision aren't greedy, last time I say a publisher not being as greedy as these guys and actually deliver quality are surely Valve, maybe Microsoft, not sure about that though, Valve for sure are the best publishers as well as developers (tied with Naughty Dog) in my mind

[2v1]

fix the connection problems EA that shoud be number one, then fix the lag or frame rate on ps3

[darkgoon3r96]

Yeah right, first thing should be input lag, its affecting PS3 & PC, first thing to be patched

[svoulis]

I don't see anything wrong with Online passes. What you save 5 dollars for a used copy of a game. woo...

Honestly they do it for the developers and to make money. By buying used games you are not showing the support to developers. This is because of stores like Gamestop, when they buy your game they make full profit on the sales the developing and publishing companies don't see any of it. This also helps with piracy in ways. People are thinking this is all about nickle and diming ha. You can't be that oblivious to not know there are more reasoning's that just to get "more" money.

About boycotting anything. SO if you all chose to do that you might as well stop playing video games cause any blockbuster titles from here on out will in fact have this pass needed.

Developers work hard on these games. Very hard, the more you enjoy them the more that means they have poured into it. So WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING.

-

[Brownghost]

The beginning of console drm

[zero_gamer]

Between this and the assorted greed-inspired DLC, this is the worst generation in the history of console games.

[aviator189]

Well, I'm probably not going to get BF 3 anytime soon. From here on out, it's all about Skyrim for the remainder of the year.

[strifeblade]

this is bull****, my online code and pre order code dont work, i called gamestop, and they told me to talk to E.A, well Ea is tellin me to **** off and gamestop tellin me to **** off. Well guess what im beating the crap campaign, then im returning it (ill tell them there is something defective in the disc, since you dont get your money for invalid codes) and getting my money back. **** EA and this stupid bull i have to go through, I dont care how greedy mw3/activision are, if they dont use an online pass, i am glad to game on mw3.

[AntBoogy90]

^YOU SEE WHAT EA DOES TO PEOPLE? HUH? DO YA?

[aviator189]

I think this is the one reason I'm probably going to give this game a pass. I'm sure are millions out there who are buying it and have their own opinions, but this tactic is just horrifying to me as a consumer and a gamer.
I feel bad for dice for having such dicks running the show.

[Brownghost]

I'm surprised activision isn't doing this since their known as the most greediest people in gaming

[SITH]

My friends and I, online codes worked fine. I believe these people had these issues though. No way people fabricated this in the short time this game has been out. EA needs to have there ish together.

[svoulis]

So online passes are a big issue.

But spending money for a service to play ANY game online isn't

Hm.