L1 game store calls for EA boycott

EA is implementing the Online Pass system with all their new sports titles. This is a one time registration code that locks the online content availability to your console. if you buy a used EA sports title (starting with the 2011 titles) you will be forced to buy a new online pass for an additional $10!!! for the same service that already exists and is offered for free right now.

Do not let EA continue this practice.

[DJexs]

I'll boycott until my ea ban is lifted lol

[jjohan35]

Does anyone know if the EA Online Pass gets locked to your account or to your console?

If locked to your account, does that mean that my brother's account on the SAME console cannot play online with my copy of Madden?

If locked to your console, does that mean I cannot play online with my copy of Madden on my brother's console?

In either case, this is absolute BULLSHIT. Any clarification would be appreciated.

[Rainstorm81]

It works kinda like the VIP codes on BFBC2........locked to your account.

[Inside_out]

The only thing worse than EA and Ubisoft with there" we need to get all there info and charge twice" crap is the gamers that think this stuff is a good idea...Makes business sense...yeah, for who....Lets sell them demos...these IDIOTS will buy ANYTHING....

I'm done with these guys...hopefully retailers will show Ea and Ubisoft the door......lets see how many games they sell when no one has them...lol...PSP go anyone...

[FOXDIE]

This is a really serious topic folks, please pay attention and spread the word!

[DarkSpawnClone]

Where do i sign up this is "MADNESS!!" EA boycotted.we cant let them do this.

[Rainstorm81]

THIS......iS......EA SPORTS!!!!!!!!!!!

(kicks Peter Moore into a bottomless pit)

[trounbyfire]

getting so damn tired of these companies and the greed

[jagstatboy]

you nailed it...the bottom line for doing this is greed. Think about the coin EA already makes, and now they are screwing gamers over even more and don't give a flip.

[BlackCountryBob]

Get a grip, you are not being ripped off. Pull your head out of your ass and be real for a second. The choice is simple, you spend £40 on the game new and nothing changes but if you buy the game second hand 2 days after launch for £35 it will cost you more so it makes sense to buy it new. Same for if you buy it platinum. In my opinion, it is a very clever and mostly innocuous way of protecting their core business so it is them getting money to reinvest in games like Dead Space rather than Gamestop top slicing whose profits go to shareholders.

And it seems to be neglected that you will get 7 days free play on a second hand game before the lock comes in.

Support the people who make games by always buying new.

[Darrius Cole]

@BlackCountryBob - We are being ripped of by this change.

Ownership of a good or service is the right to use that good or service.

Ownership of a physical copy of the game is the right to play the game.

EA is trying to say that we don't have the right to play a game even though we bought the game from the owner fair and square. Once you buy a game its yours; you can do what you want with it. You can play it, play frisbee with it, use it it as a plate, and yes, sell it to whomever you want. EA is trying to eliminate the market for second hand games, and increase their profit BY REMOVING VALUE (taking away the right to re-sell a game that you own) instead of by adding value.

I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS:
-If I don't want to play the game online in the first place, will I be able to pay $10 less for the physical copy and let them keep their online pass?

-Is it now OK for someone to download the game a play it since the game is not complete without the online pass?

-Since EA doesn't want people selling back their used copies why don't they offer the games as donwload only titles?

I have an answer for the last question. The answer is...because the online-only market is not as big. Therefore, Online-only titles don't sell as much. People want physical copies. (Ref: PSP-Go). EA wants the benefit of having stores like Gamestop create a market for game's physical copies but not the downside of having Gamestop creating a market for their physical copies.

What if other industries did this? What if you couldn't live in a used house? What if you couldn't drive a used car? What if no one could buy used stocks on Wall Street?

This is greed and arrogance on behalf of EA....greed because they are trying to get more money in exchange for nothing...arrogant because they think it will work and it won't.

Only Madden and Tiger Woods golf are able to compete while doing this. These two are only able because they have a contract with the NFL and Tiger Woods. The other EA games are too close the 2K games and in many cases the 2K games are better than the EA games anyway.

Please forgive any typos or proofing errors.

[Baka-akaB]

I'm just going to boycott those stores ripping us of with their used games instead :p .

Feel free to disagree away

[RealityCheck]

So what happens when your console dies and you get a refurbished unit or a new one. Now for all these kind of games you either have to pay again or spend hours on the phone with the game company trying to convince them of your legitimate situation and move the license over? And you would have to do that for each game?

No thanks. As long as there are other options (competition) I won't spend my money on games like that.

[Baka-akaB]

Take a look at XBL , Steam , PSN , and publisher's own private networks such as Bioware's Cerberus .
With pretty much everything tied to one's account , you know it's unlikely to be a problem

[Captain Tuttle]

If your 360 dies (much more likely) you just pop your HD into the new console. Problem solved.

Edit: Baka beat me.

[RealityCheck]

@ Captain Tuttle

My 360 died 4 times, each time I kept my HDD and they sent me a refurbished unit. Popped the HDD back in and to play download games again fully you need to call MS each time. My 360 hasn't died in the last year so maybe things changed since then but that's how it was at first.

@ Baka-akaB

That's a really good example, playing ME2 I kept denying connection to Cerberus. Call me old fashion but having to log in to XBL\PSN is already an extra step from last generation gaming. If the future is to have an account and password for a login process for each game, that would be quite annoying. An annoyance for something that adds nothing to my gaming experience is something that as a personal choice I would rather avoid. All I want is to put the disk in of a game I bought and play, period.

[Captain Tuttle]

As long as you're hooked up to Live all you have to do is pop in the Hard Drive. That's it (at least in the US). And since this discussion is about online gaming being hooked up to Live or PSN is the default condition.

[Baka-akaB]

@RealityCheck

Well you can do precisely what you described , just play the game . Cerberus was for extra stuff .
You said it yourself , you kept denying Cerberus' connection .

And who said it would be a different process for each game , that a gross and cheap copeout? It's obvious it will at least be for each publisher , wich in turn might simply be linked to a console or steam account .

Sorry but i really can't sympathize here with used game customers . If budget is the issue , it would be better to just get in contact with fellow gamers and buy stuff from their hands (at worst via a craiglist , ebay , priceminister type of service) , instead of turning to retail chains like Gamestops , out to screw both the original buyer and used game buyer .

Instead most of them go buy used games overpriced , and sellers get screwed with points crap and lousy flat rates for their games

[RealityCheck]

@ Captain Tuttle

What you say is true if you play online using the same account that was used to purchase the download game. But what about households with multiple gamer accounts? The fact remains that unless you call MS all your download games have reduced priviliges unless you stay online using your original account.

My whole point is that these measures cause some problems in some cases for no benefit to the gamers.

[Captain Tuttle]

Life ain't fair. It's EA's servers and they can do what they want. Everyone is so goddamned entitled these days. I'm not a fan of this so I won't buy these games. It certainly won't stop me from buying a new game from EA that I really want.

[lelo2play]

Honestly I agree with what EA is doing... if you buy the game new, you don't have to pay for the online. If you buy the game secondhand, or rent it, you pay extra 10 dollars for online. This is going to hurt the stores like GameStop (among others) that make extraordinary profits from secondhand sales and renting, and give some of those profits to developers and publishers.

Secondhand games and rentals profits do not reach developers and publishers. This way they receive some kind of compensation.

If you think about it, this is not going to hurt consumers. This is going to bring the prices for secondhand games down (less profit for stores like gamestop), and consumers that buy secoondhand games and don't mind the online, are going to get cheaper games. Instead of paying 45-50 dollars for a secondhand game, you will probably pay 30-35 dollars.

Other developers are going to follow EA's steps.

[zerocool3397]

this is bad for gamers on a budget. Its not fair and forcing us to pay more money. Surely there is a way for them to earn money from the companies selling the games instead of the the gamers.

[BlackCountryBob]

So tell me, if EA charges Gamestop etc a fee for every second hand game they sell, will they eat the loss or will Gamestop increase the price of a second hand game to cover the surcharge?

[ipe]

i wont buy titles from publishers that do this thing, whatever it s ea or sony or ms i REFUSE to buy it.
U wont be able to bring game to ur friends house to play it 4 Gods sake.

LIke it s not enough ey re ripping us with dlc(which i almost never buy)and now this.

[rmatott]

i can understand why EA does this, they make no money on the 2nd/3rd selling of their product.

I would hope that when gamestop re-sells EA's sports titles, they charge 10 less. I know that wont happen, but if consumers wont pay more than they should (gamestop/ebay) for these games the market may have to adjust itself

[rmatott]

Thinking about it, EA and all devs should charge gamestop a sell on fee. for every used EA title that gamestop sells, gamestop would have to pay EA/other dev's 10 dollars or certain % fee. gamestop cant jack up their prices anymore than they really are, so EA could force this on them, and not on the consumer. what would gamestop do? say oh screw you EA we wont sell any of your games in gamestop stores? yea right!

[crematory]

you should also boycott SONY cause they did the same with modnaion racer (psp)

[krisq]

I don't see why GamStop can't compensate the online fee with lowering the price of such game.

[BeaArthur]

They could but then the people who trade in will get even less money for the trades. EA has probably created a monster here because other publishers seem to be following suit.

[Topshelfcheese]

These Boycott's are stupid. 90% of the people boycott'ing are the ones that buy the game used or rental, and reality flash game developers don't care about you cause until now you didn't support them and they lose nothing if you don't buy the game anyway.

You call game company's geedy when Gamestop is posting 2billion revenue quarters and making more in revenue than EA and Activision combined in a year. Bottom line is alot of company's post losses or very little profit, and you chastise them for trying to grow their business.

[chasegarcia]

Yea but Companies don't have to rape us with this fee. How about lower the price of the game close enough so that people would rather buy it new. For example if a used copy cost $15 sell the game new for $20.

[Ninjews]

You nailed it mama. I don't know how Ea hasn't considered this.

[Topshelfcheese]

So you want game company's to lose even more money? that makes no sense. If you think that just cause the drop a game to 20dollars that it will sell more than 3 times more new copies, you are insane.

The game company isn't raping you, Gamestop is raping you for selling a used games for 55 dollars.

[N4GayFanturds]

EA customers! Every year y'all buy another Madden or Tiger Woods game that only contains MINOR updates (uniform or roster changes, etc) over the last.

How big a difference Madden 2009 was over Madden 2008? Madden 2008 over Madden 2007? Anything to justify $60 PER YEAR (especially y'all who complain of [email protected]$50 p/yr)???

These minor updates could have...SHOULD'VE been released as DLC, with a new game every 2 years like most other franchises!

But noooo....u say to URselves; "No one plays 2009 anymore, so I gotta buy 2010!" TOOLS!

All y'all doing is FEEDING a greedy monster. Now the monster wants more!

[mcgrawgamer]

how is this any different from buying a used game for 54.99? The guy doing the vid doesn't seem to care or notice that Lamestop is taking all that money that should be going back to the developer. I guess he doesn't remember when authentication codes were implemented with pc gaming when Lamestop started raping the PC community with their trade in business.

[crapgamer]

I have already been boycotting EA Sports since they stole the NFL license. ESPN NFL 2K5 was and still is the best Football game to date. Take Two realized that sports titles are a rip off at $50-$60 every year and so they only charged $19.99, So EA buys the NFL license and they aren't forced to make any changes, they can do what they want and people will still buy it.
Now while people may hate selling used games and consoles to Gamestop, they do have the best prices on used games for purchase, now EA is being greedy about that too. I don't want to see the day when games are "Download only" and seeing the PSP GO fail, I think it's clear the majority of the regular people don't want that either. People need to stand up to mass Monopoly's like EA, they think they can do whatever they want and people will still buy their products. Forget that. Roster updates and a minor addition or subtraction are all we get. Not worth $60 a year. People complain about paying for XBL, which you can get at Amazon for like $29 now, yet they are willing to pay EA $60 a year for the same game with updates, now they want to have people to pay to play it online. Get real EA!

[mcgrawgamer]

nice post friend. I don't play EA sports titles either and 2k did have the better strategy. My only issue with this guy is his argument is kinda one sided. IF he was really serious he should call for a boycott of EA, Ubisoft, and Lamestop. Since they all are trying to abuse the consumer.

[Topshelfcheese]

the only reason they sold 2K5 at 19.99 was to compete with Madden. If 2K had the exclusive license they would be selling there game for 59.99 and you would be complaining that they don't innovate every year.

My point is proven by the fact that Allpro 2K8 released at full price.

[mcgrawgamer]

well I can't speak for crap but I can admit that my love affair with 2k was only because they were once a SEGA dev and I'm a sega fanboy. :)

so my comments about 2k will be VERY biased.

[harrisk954]

Do I like the idea in general? No.

But, what this move will cause is companies like Gamestop to DROP their used game prices, which are insane as it is... (buy back used $60 game the day after release for $25 and resell as used for $55... WTF???!!!) ...

So, if Gamestop is forced to drop prices (because who will pay $55 for a used game if it will cost $10 to play online) it will be better for consumers... If you don't want to play online, then you will benefit even more from the inevitable used game price drops. If you do, then you will most likely end up paying what you would have paid anyway (i.e., Gamestop lowers prices $10 and you buy a $10 online play card at Gamestop at the same time!)

The used game market/rental market hurts new game sales. It was inevitable that publishers would do something to curtail the trend. This is a move designed to hurt Gamestop. Consumers will not be hurt at all if Gamestop does what they should do, which is to drop the prices.

[harrisk954]

By the way, it potentially really sucks for Xbox Live customers who already pay to play online.

[chasegarcia]

How are they going to lose money when they sell millions and make a profit from the game at $60(Madden comes to mind). Also speaking of Gamestop. Don't buy games from them if you do not like their prices or how they run the company. Plenty of places to buy and sell games. I avoid them completely. I buy from Amazon and Newegg.com

[kagon01]

won't give a damn about it and will continue to support this current(rotten) gaming industry...(unless a miracle happens)

And those who work at Gamestop stores, you should be worried you know, once Gamestop becomes digital you'll said goodbye to your jobs...(only IT personnel will be needed for maintaining their servers)

[fuckitimout]

this IS another restriction on online play. I can only play online on my console -BULLSHIT! Soon games will be download only which means you'll NEVER OWN IT. When that happens I'm done with gaming, sadly,it won't matter because there are masses of idiots who'll put up with this shit and shell out the cash anyway. These fools don't see that they're being ripped off indirectly. Makes me think of the dumbasses who buy Socom: Confrontation off psn for $40 when they can get the hardcopy for the same or less the price NEW not to mention used

[dizzleK]

i'm making it my business to buy ea's, and now ubisofts, games used. and i'm going to buy them from gamefly and amazon sellers so not even gamestop gets a cut. i don't need the online play or dlc.

thanks for saving me even more money ea!

[ATLGAMER]

Sorry MAdden

[scoot555]

Well isn't this cozy....EA and Gamestop in Bed together. Now these $10 codes will be sold at Gamestops where Gamestop will get a kickback percentage of the profit. Not only am I now Boycotting EA Sports for the 2010-2011 year and possibly beyond...I am also sick and tired of Gamestop and their unethical and downright criminal philosophies. Isn't enough they only pay pennies on the dollar for trade-in's that now they have to have their greedy fingers in the Online Gaming industry too? I am soley a Used Game Purchaser and have been for well over a year. I exclusively use EBAY and Craigslist to buy, sell, and trade games. I encourage all gamers to seriously consider Boycotting both EA Sports and Gamestop. Let the mighty dollar come back to bite them where it hurts the most, in the bank account! United WE Stand!