Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Will Require Online Pass

Jim Hargreaves 85 Comments

We’re flabbergasted here at TSA Towers tonight as DICE confirms that Battlefield 3 (which is published by EA, just for the record) will require a one-use “online pass” code to activate the game’s multiplayer features. Jokes aside, we saw this coming, especially as last year’s Bad Company 2 adopted the same anti pre-owned scheme.

Designer Ian Kertz spilled the beans when replying to a user on Twitter who had asked whether a new copy of Battlefield 3 is required to play online, to which he replied:

You can also purchase an online pass for a used copy.

Online passes have been a hot topic this week, Warner Bros. announcing that Arkham City’s Catwoman missions, which apparently make up roughly 10% of the game, will require an online pass to unlock.

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85 Comments

  1. Well at least it doesn’t cut out single player content …

    • Yeah, but it could effect co-op missions.

      • thats not really single player :P

  2. Fair enough here since they are using dedicated servers. Aren’t they?

    • Why does that matter?
      It doesn’t.

      • Because they’re much more expensive?

      • And? The first person who bought the game is no longer playing on DICE’s server as they sold the game. There’s no difference if the second person plays after buying it from the first or the first person plays forever. Doesn’t make a difference.

        People who think these passes are a good idea are ignorant.

      • Your attitude towards others who think online passes are a good idea is also one of ignorance. Personally, I don’t care about online passes as I don’t play multiplayer that much anyway, but neither would I diss people who thought otherwise.

      • Not ignorant Awayze, just a different opinion on it.

      • @Awayze
        Just to point out that even though there’s the same amount of people playing it, there’d be an extra profile taking up space.
        When you trade your copy, the servers won’t know, and your profile and stats would still be there, taking up space.

        I wouldn’t normally nitpick, but you’ve just called people like me ignorant, and told me I fail in reply to an earlier comment, so I can’t really resist pointing this failing in your argument out.

      • I didn’t play BCBF2 online for over a year and they had deleted my profile stats when I went online. Ok then they can just delete stats after a year of inactivity. Still no reason to charge pre owned buyers to get a code to play online.

      • BFBC2*
        BFBC1 as well.

      • @Awayze
        For the thing about your stats being deleted, you might out of coincidence come across a common glitch where your stats seem to get reset, however, your stats come back later.
        I came across this glitch a couple of times but my stats came back to normal with a few hours or the next day.

      • Look, this whole online pass thing is happening for a very simple reason, the games production industry make their money from selling new titles, the sale of new titles is negatively effected by used sales, and now technology allows some clawback from this market. Onlines passes give this troubled industry some limited control of the used market, they’d be fools not to do it.

        Anyone who fails to understand this and views it as a money grabbing initiative needs to realise you don’t make videogames to become rich.

    • Agreed Tef, dedicated servers are the only time I’ll tolerate online passes.

    • Yes they are, for all platforms. This whole idea would be rather ridiculous otherwise.

    • The dedicated servers argument doesn’t really stack up. EA either have to pay for their own or pay to use Sony’s. P2P still requires use of Sony’s servers, it doesn’t just happen by magic.

  3. These passes don’t effect me because I buy all new releases new but it’s still pathetic that EA are doing this, should have kept the VIP which just locked pre owned people out of those so called “map packs”…

  4. No surprises here but it could make a notable difference to sales if Activision keep MW3 clear of single-use passes.

    Hugely uninspiring beta and online passes … That’ll be the future $20 rack then.

    • That won’t affect BF3’s game sales. If it does, then the people that are whining about the pass really aren’t fans of the series, and wouldn’t have bought the game eitherway.

      You think an online pass would affect how many parents buy MW3 for their kids come Christmas? No.

    • You’re complaining about a beta because it was released for it’s intended purpose, fixing bugs, instead of acting as a promo? Wow.

      • Nope, he’s saying it’s uninspiring. The be fair, Battlefield without vehicles isn’t covering it’s main selling point.

      • Oh I see. Sorry, I’ve just got used to so many people complaining about the beta being buggy on the Battlefield forums, and I thought he was doing the same :P

      • Mmhm. It wasn’t in any way a sleight against the title but more of a desperately needing to prioritise with what few dollars I have.

        I’m still interested but it’ll have to wait, sadly.

    • Activision get a good return from map pack sales and I think that and their usual huge opening week sales means an Online Pass really isn’t necessary. They cover their loses easily.

      Maybe Activision aren’t completely evil :)

  5. Not surprised at all with this news

  6. Fair enough as long as it works that is. I hope we don’t end up with a repeat of BFBC2 servers where they struggled to work for the first few weeks/months and had random disconnecting afterwards as well.

    • That will happen again, no doubt. It’s EA servers after all.

  7. On sweet Jebus, you just lost a sale DICE.. yeah take that .

    • I don’t get why people say this. If you’re buying new anyway, why does it matter? If you’re buying used, they honestly couldn’t care if you buy it or you don’t since they won’t see any money off you anyway.

      • Totally agree. I thought I got away from this kind of comment when I joined TSA, but apparently not.

      • We really need a sarcastic font.

      • Lol oh it was sarcasm. My bad :P

  8. Not buying this sh***y game anyway. Especially not on console.
    MW3>BF3 Despite BF3 being 720p, it still graphically sucks compared to MW2 at 600p upscaled.

    • well i can tell you on my pc BF3 looks 100x better than MW2 ever could

    • Shitty? Nope, I happened to quite like it. Looks better than MW2 as well, unless you’re blind.

      • No it does not. I play on one of the best Panasonic plasma TV’s on the market. The graphics are nowhere near as good as MW2, anti aliasing was lame and if you aimed your gun at a wall and walked straight into it, the picture became pixelated. The frame rate was choppy too. The game being 30hz doesn’t help but then again UC3 beta is at 720p 30hz as well and that is gorgeous and smooth. PS3 and 360 BF3 beta. On PC it may be a different story but on console Infinity Ward’s COD will always look better.

      • obviously this is my opinion but I’d say the bf3 beta (ps3 1080p) looked miles better then any cod I’ve played. i expect mw3 to be a improvement over previous cods but i don’t expect that it will come anywhere close to what i saw of battlefield in the beta due to the limitations of the cod engine.

      • It just plain does Awayze, I can’t really take any of your points seriously as you’re so up CoD’s arse here it’s unbelievable.
        That’s coming from someone who enjoys both series’s.

      • Oh, and, btw, I played both MW2 and the BF3 beta on a fairly inexpensive Goodman’s 22inch plasma tv and LG 50inch LED, BF3 won hands down on both.

    • can you not detect a hint of sarcasm at all?

      • No he’s not being sarcastic, his comments are often shitty and ill-informed, see his reply above as just one example.

      • lol no sarcasm in his ignorance there I’m afraid. You know how much better MW3 graphics will be compared to MW2? NOT MUCH. It’s the same engine they used way back when on the 1st CoD on PC, and also the same engine used on consoles for the 1st CoD on consoles.

        It’s cartoony, and smooth, so people like this guy, thinks the graphics are really good. I think he’s just trolling though.

      • yeah my mistake. i thought he was pretending to be a cod fanboy with all the bad grammar , swearing and shortened words. obviously i was wrong and he actually is a cod fanboy, quite a rare site at tsa.

    • Stop trolling and go away.

    • Pfft… everyone knows Serious Sam 3 is way more awesome and sexy, did you see the graphics? then you didn’t see Serious Sam 3: BFE.

      • Bah, Skyrim wins the sexiest graphics of the year award and it has dragons! :D Every game needs dragons. Cod needs Dragons, BF needs Dragons, GT5 needs dragons. :p

      • Graphics for VVVVV on PC wipe the floor with everything else. Can’t say the same for when it hits consoles though.

    • Oh for f*ck sake. Graphics? Seriously?! Unless you have a magnifying glass at your TV screen the whole time, you won’t even notice the differences between COD No. 500 and BF “iwannabeCod”.

      Its the gameplay that matters. Not what looks a tad less pixelated in some areas. I’m still playing Super Mario 64, 15 years on. Still a great game. Couldn’t care less for any HD B.S or “OMFG TEH GRAFIX ARE AWSOMEZZ!1” features.

    • Wow, I’m not sure if you are actually serious, since that is such a ridiculous comment. If you are, please, do us all a favour and go be a fanboy on some other site.

    • Guide to TSA comments section:

      Be a BF3 fanboy and troll = Allowed. Other members even join in.
      Be a CoD fanboy and troll = Everyone has a go at you.

      Double standards much.

      • Fanboyism of any kind is always brought up and condemned for the silly nonsense that it is. The same applies for BF3 fans/trolls.

  9. Online passes everywhere now, it’s getting annoying.

  10. “especially as last year’s Bad Company 2 adopted the same anti pre-owned scheme.”

    No, it didn’t. BC2 gave you free dlc to add incentive to buying new. BF3 will chop off a third+ of the game should you buy pre-owned.

    • I think this is a good idea, it help losses due to piracy, and used games. next they need to stop hackers boosting the breadboards

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