EA Sports Locks Multiplayer from Used Copies

[Diff-chan]

That guy from BF whatever whatever also said this:

If they want to pretend it's a service they can charge like it's a service. In other words, subscription fees.

I bought WoW used.

[Opaque]

That's the thing though, the idea behind this is buying it new gets you a lifetime subscription. When you bought WoW used you might not have got a free first month of play, which is a loss of $15 in terms of value, which is a bigger loss than $10 for lifetime play on a sports title.

Also, assuming that Madden 2011 used is day one AT LEAST $15 cheaper than a new copy because of this change and the logic that no one in their right mind would pay $55 + $10 to get 60 worth of value, this could end up being no different to the end user. It might even, in theory, prove to more of a loss to used dealers not buyers and even a benefit to people who don't give two fucks about online play in EA games.

Again though, a lot of this depends on EA providing a service with enough quality to justify this new "charge", which is something they've failed at since the original Xbox.

[Razor Ramon]

Destro is a putz. I just wanted to throw that out there because the evidence is right here in this very thread.

[Opaque]

Here's a good comparison analogy I thought up which made me think of an interesting point: Imagine you buy a used car from some random guy, do you get to go to Toyota and demand they repair it?

Now that depends, is it still under warranty? If so, then yes, they need to. If not, no and that's your fault for buying it used, but hey you saved a ton of money that you can put towards those repairs anyway.

Now this got me thinking and somewhere down the train of thought I realized this important note: If 3 million new copies are sold, no matter how many people sell them back and have someone else buy it used, no more than 3 million people will EVER be able to play this game online at the same time. The hard cap for potential user base is how many copies sold new. Which means if I buy a used copy of a game and then pay to play it, and someone else already payed to play it but they obviously never will again since I have their used copy, well EA just got 2 life time subscription fees for only one user worth of strain on their servers.

So yeah, end of the day this is bullshit. I still hope it drives down used prices on games I don't want to play online though.

[Destro777]

Ahhh so we have precedence from other industries right? Cause used car sales totally killed the car industry. Used dvd sales fucking destroyed the movie industry.

...yeah because movies dont come out only in theaters first right - also comparing cars to games is legit. Har.

Look all im saying is I side with the game creators here. Their jobs are riding on the sales figures. Add some extra stuff for people who support the product. I dont understand why thats so wrong. IMO its the same thing to me how a musical artist would be upset if someone downloads their shit for free. The music industry (like Warp) is doing similar stuff if you still buy the hardcopy direct from the label giving you extra disks and artwork.

THE END of the gaming Industry KABOOM (!) probably an exageration but theres reasons why so many game companies these days are closing up shop or merging. Used game sales definately play a part in that. I just cant stand the people who do buy used (or even hacked the game) and feel like theyre owed the missing content or that they were scammed (the newest Battlefield has this). Shoulda done some research first. Shoulda supported the product.

[Joust Williams]

I love when people bring up the car industry as if they're at all analogous other than the fact there is a good involved. And let's ignore the fact that every low-cost form of entertainment is doing the same thing (albeit in different ways since books != games != movies != etc).

[Diff-chan]

THE END of the gaming Industry KABOOM (!) probably an exageration but theres reasons why so many game companies these days are closing up shop or merging. Used game sales definately play a part in that.

Companies are closing up shop because they spent too much money to make shitty games nobody wants. Nobody bought Bionic Commando new so there were no used sales of that pile. Mythic is pretty much finished and I didn't see racks of used Warhammer Online games on the shelf.

[Destro777]

Destro is a putz. I just wanted to throw that out there because the evidence is right here in this very thread.

I was hoping for a your mother joke.

[Razor Ramon]

THE END of the gaming Industry KABOOM (!) probably an exageration but theres reasons why so many game companies these days are closing up shop or merging. Used game sales definately play a part in that. I just cant stand the people who do buy used (or even hacked the game) and feel like theyre owed the missing content or that they were scammed (the newest Battlefield has this). Shoulda done some research first. Shoulda supported the product.

That's silly. The music industry did just fine with used records and albums cost tons of money to put out. This is just another way for the publishers to line their pockets without having to press more games. You're just too stupid to realize it.

[Razor Ramon]

I was hoping for a your mother joke.

Today I'm feeling saucy.