It shouldn’t really hit you as any kind of surprise, but it appears EA’s Battlefield 3 might feature an online pass, at least in some capacity.
Speaking to Gamerzines, DICE’s Patrick Bach said that he “thinks” they are locking out players from online who don’t have a Pass (meaning you’ll need to buy the game new or grab a code from Xbox Live or the PSN Store).
“But I don’t think it’s an online pass,” he added, confusingly. “I think it’s our own back end. I’m not sure I want to call our system an online pass.”
[drop2]Bach doesn’t think that such as system would automatically give Activision’s Modern Warfare 3 an advantage, though.“The whole idea is that we’re paying for servers,” he said, “and if you create a new account there is a big process on how that is being handled in the back end.”
“We would rather have you buy a new game than a used game because buying a used game is only a cost to us; we don’t get a single dime from a used game, but we still need to create server space and everything for you,” he admitted.
“We want people to at least pay us something to create this because we’re paying for it. It was actually a loss for us to have new players. Hopefully people understand why. It’s not to punish people. To us it’s compensation.”
Online passes aren’t exactly rare anymore, Sony’s PSN Pass has caused much discussion here on TSA and whilst we’re not always happy with them, they do appear to be the future, if only for the rather honest reasons outlined by DICE above.
MICKY17
No problem for me as I plan on getting this day 1. More than happy to support DICE/EA for what will be an outstanding game. Roll on October!
minerwilly
It’s virtually the only game I buy brand new whatever they bring out year after year . I don’t even need to read the pathetic 8/10 reviews , mines been pre-ordered since the day it was announced. Online pass seems a fair deal . Games by Dice, Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog are the only thing I will ever buy full price , the rest can wait till drop to £20 .
Greek-BBQ
I bet there will be issues such as “re-enter” your pass when you’ve already done it and it won’t accept it preventing you going online..
I’ve heard about those issues on bc2
m61726b
The code you enter downloads an unlock from the PS Store so if they have an issue they can delete the Game Data and download the unlock again.
Similar issues happened with Medal of Honor, and Homefront for that matter.
PoolieMike
“We would rather have you buy a new game than a used game because buying a used game is only a cost to us; we don’t get a single dime from a used game, but we still need to create server space and everything for you.”
Except you don’t, since the person who traded it in isn’t using that space any more.
enroene
so true.But support the devs or you know what happens.
colmshan1990
But the server side of things doesn’t know that the server space isn’t being used any more. Imagine if games just started randomly resetting your progress if you didn’t play for a week or something…
Foxhound_Solid
Day one preordered.
m61726b
It would interesting to find out EA’s prediction for sales. If they are expecting 10 million units and half again used then surely there is a better way. Judging by these comments they are expecting a hefty used sales market. If this is the case why not just sell a digital download copy at £30 and do away with the pass.
It makes sense backing the claims of server costs so why not go all out and take the development costs and server costs. They can, after all, make it a single license per machine like Joe Danger to stop gaming sharing.
enroene
Too obvious.Gnite.
CarBoyCam
I really don’t get why people don’t like this Online Pass business… I’m buying the game new, but even if I wasn’t, online passes don’t bother me one bit.
yogh_wayne
If this is similar to the VIP online pass of BFBC2, you’ll get a lot of new map packs without having to pay extra for DLC in return. I buy my games new anyway, so I’m not bothered by online passes at all. On the contrary, it often means that you get some extra, that would’ve been sold as DLC otherwise (e.g. the first Alice game, bonus quests for Dragon Age, BFBC2 map packs etc.)
Smallville2106
I don’t mind the whole online pass thing. It bugs me the way some devs try to bullsh!t us by saying it’s not actually an online pass etc. It is. They know it is, we know it is so just say it.