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.
therandomness
I don’t follow the logic behind this systems. As I understand it, the feeling is these ‘passes’ are supposed to compensate for second hand purchasers using the online servers. If the copies were pirated, I’d agree, more players would be online. But piracy is one thing we’ve managed to avoid with the PS3. So there’s still the same number of discs in the universe, and hence the same, or fewer players online.
The success of these systems is going to be hugely dependant on price point. I’d also hope to see the prices for individual games decreasing as they age, as an ‘incentive’ to keep the servers alive. If they cost more than a few pounds, here’s one person who’ll be sorely disappointed in his ‘free online play via PSN’.
It feels part of a continuing culture with this generation of console games, where you buy the game, but then get hit up for the DLC (and now the online portion) separately. Games shouldn’t have hidden charges, it takes all the fun out of playing them to get to a point where your effectively asked to hand over a non-negotiable sum of money in order to get the most out of it.