The grand retailer Gamestop has come out with open arms to embrace EA’s “Online Pass”. For those uninitiated, this “Online Pass” will kick you in the balls and take your lunch if you buy a used game and have any desire to connect to Xbox LIVE or the PlayStation Network.
How will EA do this, you ask? Any EA game that you save a few bucks on by purchasing it used will play just fine offline. However, if you feel the need to follow along with where gaming is at today, and jump online to play with friends, well… your hosed. That is, unless you pay $10 for the privilege to play online again. Maybe you use a game trading service like Goozex or GameFly. You will need to pay to play that game online with your friends.
Here is what GameStop CEO, Dan DeMatteo had to say about this:
“There have been some questions concerning first user only content and the effect on our used business,” said DeMatteo. “We have not seen an impact thus far and as a matter of fact, we will turn this into a positive with our ability to sell DLC through our investments made in technology to market and sell this content in our stores.” — Dan DeMatteo via GamesPolitics
So why is GameStop embracing this. They feel that this will make the consumer more aware of DLC that is available as well. DeMatteo even went as far as to say that people who buy used games don’t play online. This situation further complicates things by being completely ridiculous and bat-shit crazy.
EA, and THQ, are introducing this pay to play online measure as a way to stop the used game trading/selling industry. You see, developers get nothing when gamers buy a used game. This little practice only hurts their bottom line while it fattens the wallets of the executives at GameStop.
Why buy a used game at GameStop for $45 and then have to go home and spend another $10 to play it online? Why would any consumer spend $55 for a used game with a torn to shit case, and a disk that looks like it has been drug down a gravel road. I can’t see why most consumers wouldn’t just spend the $5 extra, get a game brand new, and not worry about any of this junk.
What the hell are you smoking GameStop?
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