Ubisoft Announce Uplay Online Pass

TSA Staff 75 Comments

Ubisoft will have their own ‘online pass’ in the form of Uplay Passport, it’s been revealed.

Driver: San Francisco will be one of the first to use the system, which will lock out multiplayer to anyone that hasn’t got a code, obviously something new copies of the game will come with.

It’s a hot topic here at TSA, with many readers discussing the pros and cons of such schemes (and in particular Sony’s PSN Pass) but one thing’s for sure – it’s here to stay.

The move follows EA, THQ, Codemasters and Sony, who are all now experimenting with similar ideas at different levels.

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75 Comments

  1. I have only 1 problem with the pass system, and that is I can’t bring my game to my friends house and play online or stuff like that. I always buy new but oh well, this is what the whole industry will end up doing.

    • Yeah ya can as long as you log in as yaself!

    • That and if you have a child/spouse/sibling who games on the same system as you but you cannot go online with their accounts. Don’t see why the codes can’t activate the online for the entire console, wouldn’t be very hard and wouldn’t effect their counter-used-games strategy. I know it’s not that big a deal to simply share the same account for online, but c’mon!

      • At the very least, the PSN Pass has been confirmed as working across the system, for all user accounts on the console.
        Also, as the code is an unlock on the PS Store, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t simply log in while at a friend’s house and download the unlock there.

  2. Online pass = less people playing online mutiplayer, so it’s more harder to find matches. Era of consoles has come to an end…

    • PS2 had virtually no online play at all and managed just fine. Consoles have a long way to go yet.

  3. I know it’ll probably never happen but it’d be nice to be able to buy the game new cheaper without the online pass.

  4. Aslong as psn stays free, it’s all good. Online pass seems fairs to me.

  5. You make hundreds of billions in profits… you’re just being greedy now.
    This kind of stuff is going to ruin gaming (further). Mark my words…. there WILL be another industry crash similar to the one in 1983 at this rate.

    • Given all the decent developers who have had to close recently I think its fair to say not all of them are making “hundreds of billions in profits” ;)

  6. This is a stupid move tbh but games drop in price quick these days, right?

    • Definatley. Wait a month and it will be down to £20 or under. (thats including COD now, as that didnt really drop in price until the next iteration was released)
      50%+ Depreciation in a month. Great for many apart from day 1 buyers

  7. And it’s begun.

  8. Good. Punish those cheap ass second hand buyers. They ruin the games industry.

    • How do Preowned buyers ruin the industry? The preowned market does support the gaming market. Remove that and the market suffers. Not everyone can buy the latest game new or is having trouble trying to find a copy of a game. I buy preowned as it is very cheap and mainly due to my finical state atm. The preowned market has allowed me to get some excellent games and without it, i would probably not have discovered them. To say that preowned buyers have ruined the industry is a bit harsh.;-)

      • How much of your money buying preowned games went to the developers. I give you a clue NONE. All it has done is make certain retailers rich. If you can’t buy games new then you shouldn’t be playing. Or limit the amount you do buy. Instead of 10 preowned get 7 new. Preowned buyers deserve to get less of a game for not supporting developers. If you want the same experience as those who buy new the cough up that extra money, pay the developers and enjoy.

      • I’m sure that publishers do make millions on their games which some of it goes back to the devs. If the publishers want to make more profits then they should talk to the retailers and work out a deal.EG.5-10% cut of the profits made. They shouldn’t take it out on the consumers. I do support developers, i brought all of the DLC for Dragon Age Origins which i got preowned. DLC helps to make more money for the devs and publishers.Preowned buyers don’t deserve to get less of a game if they decide to save a few pennies. Also the online pass will affect how you will lend it to a few mates.

        I wish i had enough spare cash to get 10 games. Sometimes preowned is the cheapest option. Look at Novemeber that is packed full of games and i think a lot of people will be trading in a few games to help cover the costs of the game. I think publishers should put an incentive to buy new.e.g. free DLC with new copies etc.. The online pass system will devalue the tradin prices of games. If i have i game that i no longer play and decide to trade it in to get another game that i am interested in, i may not be able to do that. Not everyone can cough up the extra cash or plain refuse to pay £40 for a two year old game.

      • “If you can’t buy games new then you shouldn’t be playing.”
        That’s a very bold statement there..and one that I find rather disrespectful.
        The industry is going about this all wrong, as are you by the looks of things. We’ve survived this long without the need for passes, so why now? The fact that the gaming industry is more lucrative than it’s ever shows publishers absolute greed in the matter.
        They should also maybe review the fact that not every since game that hits the shelf *has* to have multiplayer! Server costs too high? Then don’t tack on a pointless multiplayer mode that no ones going to be arsed about in 3 months! Easy!

        Anyway, when I buy a game used, there isn’t magically a totally new copy of the game. I’m taking on a game that someone’s already bought and relinquished their multiplayer slot for me to jump into. The arguement of ‘well if you buy the game moths after release, the publishers should have a hand in server upkeep.’ Bollocks! Would you charge the original buyer again if he returned to te servers after a year of inactivity? No. They why charge me for taking his place?

        The great thing for me about this is the fact these games will have very low resale value, which will wry quickly reduce the price of the same game brand new (give it a year or two and tell me im wrong) so I can hopefully pick up some great games with tacked on multiplayer components in not even interested in for dirt cheap. And no, I won’t feel bad about it because the industry will have brought this on them selves.
        No other industry does this! Why does this one have the right to?

      • I stand by my statement that if you don’t buy a game new then you shouldn’t play it. Or at least get less of a game used.

        If you can’t afford it then you picked the wrong hobby. With digital distribution just around the corner you’ll have to get used to it. With that there will be no trade ins or second hand market at all.

      • That’s like saying if you can’t afford to go to the Alps you shouldn’t be learning how to snowboard.

        I take it EVERYTHING you’ve ever bought in your life has been brand new.. not loaned, picked up off ebay, bought at a used record store, downloaded illegally of the internet, half-inched? Best sell that 2nd hand car you’re driving.

        Over the last 9 months I literally couldn’t afford to eat, but I did it anyway! I couldn’t afford books for uni but I bought them anyway!
        I’ve been gaming my entire life, mate. I’m not about to give it up just because I can’t afford to buy a game brand new.
        To be honest I very rarely play games online anyway, so it doesn’t greatly affect me. I can see it actually benefiting people like me in the way of games being so low in value due to online passes bringing down resale value etc that I can go pick up a game for cheap. In which case, bring it on! And in which case.. sucks to be you, gaming industry.

      • Comparing games to holidays is stupid because the last time I checked you can’t trade in holidays or buy them second hand. Cars is also a poor comparrison because not only are they very expensive but they take up lots of space. Most people can rarely afford to buy multiple cars new let alone store them.

        Games like films and CDs are similar. They can be bought and stored in bulk. There is no real reason that you would HAVE to sell them unless you are cheap. I have collected hundreds of games CDs and films over the years. Like I said before if you can’t afford it then it’s your problem not developers. They don’t want you to use second hand market because they don’t benefit. As soon as digital distribution starts some of you will have to quit or cut right back.

      • lol, making the assumption that someone is cheap because they sell on stuff they have finished with is a bit of a minefield.
        I traded stuff in while I was working, and bought 2nd hand, because there was no way I’d have been able to buy games otherwise.
        Just because you have enough money to throw around and buy everything brand new doesn’t mean that everyone in the whole country has. If you look at it there’s estimated to be 25%ish of people in the UK living below the poverty line. So you would deny these poor people the chance to lift themselves out of the drudgery of everday life for a few hours a day just so that some large company somewhere can rake in a few extra dollars.
        I don’t mind paying full price for a game, particularly if it’s something other than usual yearly rehash.
        But I suppose the society that we now live in now people are only interested in themselves.

      • Just came across this troll’s ‘point of view’…… Laughable.

  9. and so the list gets longer.
    and it’s pretty long already.

    but is anybody surprised at ubisoft using a pass system?
    look at the ridiculous drm they used on their pc titles.
    the only thing that surprises me is that it took them this long.

    i’m not going to start the whole debate again, you all know my views by nows.
    so i’ll just say i am not going to support this move so i will not be buying any game with an online pass new.
    preowned at a fraction of the price though? heck yeah.
    i’ll just have to do without online play.

    and you know what, i can live with that, or without it as the case may be. ^_^

  10. Luckily there’s not alot of ubi games worth playing online. I honestly can’t think of an ubi game other than GRAW or Rainbow 6 that I’d play online, and I don’t think we’ll ever see either again. If these publishers were smart they’d offer a yearly subscription service similar to XBL that not only covers the cost of online passes for all used games by that pub but also includes free DLC, special tournaments, prizes, social events, avatars, and even throw in a “Hey I pay extra” trophy. The main problem is they and people here claim its a service, but they don’t offer a service, they offer a pay this way… or pay this way option for the same crappy online play as 10 years ago, seriously multiplayer hasn’t changed since id coined the phrase ‘deathmatch’, it’s not worth extra money for a MP that can be discontinued at any time, isn’t guaranteed to work, is occupied by racist, homophobic, ignorant, fanboy-punks, and needs a Facebook account for bonuses.

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