EA Sports Locks Multiplayer from Used Copies

I can't wait for a lot of the "new" (gutted) copies of these games that GameStop is selling off the shelves to be sold without the code card because it was stolen from it since it was just sitting there on the shelf. I know someone who did this when they bought a used copy of Mass Effect 2 and I'm sure it's pretty widespread.

Oh god, and you know who loves Madden AND stealing?????????

THE BLACKS

Actually there is a good thing about this, is that the used market will actually be more profitable for consumers. Buy a game but don't want to play it online? Sell the card for probably $15 or so.

In the end, this probably doesn't even fix the problem lol.

Instead of selling a used game for $5 off, Gamestop will have to knock $15-$20 off. Which means the person trading the game in will receive less for their game. EA isn't going to hurt Gamestop one bit. They're only going to hurt the people who regularly trade in their games.

YES! I WILL PAY YOU $15 FOR YOUR CARD WHEN I CAN JUST BUY THE CONTENT FROM EA FOR $10! THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT PLAN!

Theif went the opposite direction I was thinking. Grabbing a bunch of these and selling the codes online for $5 a pop could be profitable. With cell phone cameras you don't even need to physically take anything from GS.

Whoops completely missed that! Timber's version does sound like a good plan.

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Originally Posted by Timber

I can't wait for a lot of the "new" (gutted) copies of these games that GameStop is selling off the shelves to be sold without the code card because it was stolen from it since it was just sitting there on the shelf. I know someone who did this when they bought a used copy of Mass Effect 2 and I'm sure it's pretty widespread.

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note to self, don't buy games from whitetrashville, ohio.

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Originally Posted by Thief Silver

This is appalling, PC games at least it's not having multiple CD keys online at the same time, I can still give someone my copy of Diablo II and have them play it. What Diff said is a better way to do it, drop the game's price $10 and charge $10 for this. I still don't like it because you're still screwing people over.

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Not really. If they did this, then they'd charge 50 dollars, people would find out about the $10 tax that they haven't paid yet and then not jump in. With this route, they charge the $60, have a free/sunk cost online entry and the subset of customers that gets hurt (if you can call it that) are the ones who bought used copies. The copies that EA wants to make "worthless". EA wants you to be online. They want to remove the barriers of entry to the highest amount of paying customers as possible while at the same time remove the usefulness of the used product. Perhaps they can't have it both ways, but they'll find out soon enough, right?

I forgot to say that one solution (and its effectiveness depends on the product(s)) is bundling a "beta" for a future product where the copy of the other game is the key. This at least keeps the used sales at bay for a while, but again it depends on the product you're selling and the product the beta is for.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

note to self, don't ever step foot in ohio.

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fixed