From today, new EA releases won’t require you to own an online pass in order to access all of their multiplayer content. EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg confirmed the news to VentureBeat via e-mail. “Yes, we’re discontinuing Online Pass. None of our new EA titles will include that feature,” he wrote.
Online passes, which have proved deeply unpopular since their introduction, are required to access extra or online features in games like Battlefield 3 and SSX, and after their one-time activation restrict those features to a single online account.
Passes were introduced by publishers as an attempt to encourage players to pick up games new rather than second hand. Though unpopular, they did help publishers recoup some losses from preowned sales. Ed has spoken out in defence of the online pass before – do you agree?
Could EA be scrapping online passes because the rumoured-to be always online next gen console simply won’t need them.
