EA has surprisingly called time on its controversial Online Pass program. Andrew Testerman wonders what the publisher will turn to next
EA just hosted its quarterly financial conference call, and its executives have been asked to comment about the recent price hikes for games.
Today, Electronic Arts announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2025, alongside the full year.
Split Fiction has sold nearly 4 million copies, and the next battlefield is confirmed for a release by March 2026 with a reveal this Summer.
In addition to the roughly 100 job cuts IGN reported earlier today at Respawn Entertainment, EA has made wider cuts across its organization today, impacting around 300 individuals total including those already reported at Respawn.
Absolutely insane. Man I'm hope they land on their feet EA needs to get the shit together badly....
This is why this industry has slow releases and none compelling games.
Why would anyone willingly work in the VG industry or specifically for one of these globocorp organizations that put you in constant fear of losing your livelihood based on terrible choices made by idiotic management, not the people with talent making the actual games?
I think the that EA is definitely going to increase it's microtransaction model, however I don't think this is the death of Online Pass, merely the killing and rebirth. It would not surprise me in the least to see some "version" of Online Pass with a different name and no actual code will reappear, similar to how they do always on for products like Sim City. Sure, that launch was a disaster, but from a business point of view, it didn't hurt sales and they still got their DRM. Look for Online Pass as a non-publicized but super annoying feature in all EA games to come.
About time I say, if CD Project Red never complained about used games or piracy and the Witcher II got pirated like hell (4.5 million copies to be exact). But they worked within their means instead of going "triple A" then made enough to live and create a sequel.
More developers need to re-manage their money especially when it comes to advertisement.
DO NOT pay any credence to this....Quite simply, the next gen consoles have this all sewn up.
EA abandoning Online Passes is only making way for a similar system that's built-in & a very 'important' part of the next gen infrastructure.
Even Sony & MS will play this down as to not affect sales, but they will both still penalize pre-owned purchasers in some way.
Don't be fooled people....this is EA we're discussing here!
*EDIT*
Piracy is one thing, but why should I have to pay to play online when I already pay my IP and purchased the game? If I purchased a Blu Ray movie, watched it, and then sold it for $5, why should the movie studio get any of that? They made their money the first time around.