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EA's 'Online Pass' has only generated $15 million revenue

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DVDBack23 @ Sep 08, 2011 16:52 | 8 comments

Since its launch in 2010, it appears that EA's Online Pass has only generated $15 million in extra revenue.

Online Pass, the company's way to kill of the used game market, requires second-hand buyers to pay $9.99 or so if they want to access the online features of a game, on top of the price of the game.

Added CFO Eric Brown at the recent Citi 2011 Tech Conference:

The revenues we derive from that haven't been dramatic. I'd say they're in the $10-$15 million range since we initiated the program.

Online Pass has started a new trend, and other publishers like Sony and Ubisoft have followed, each looking to milk more money from consumers.

Brown says consumers are "ok" with the Online Pass:

The reception of the program has been positive. We thought about [Online Pass] pretty carefully and there hasn't been any significant push-back from the consumer, because I think people realise that if you're buying a physical disc and it requires an attachment to someone else's network and servers, [those] people realise bandwidth isn't free.

So the fact that we're diffusing or covering online costs is not viewed to be unreasonable. We're well into this program and there is no consumer backlash.

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Comments

Comment by: molsen (Sep 08, 2011 17:32)

You made money on the bandwidth when you sold the intial "physical" disc. Who are you trying to kid here. I'm not intrested. Sorry, you are double dipping.

Comment by: JGJD2001 (Sep 08, 2011 18:12)

imagine selling your car and then the ford or whoever then decides they want £££ to activate the steering/radio/accelerator etc......other companies may follow this utter rubbish trend

Comment by: Mysttic (Sep 09, 2011 00:11)

It's only a pain in the ass if the game requires online access despite never truly being an online game; *I LOOK AT YOU MASS EFFECT 2*. I honestly surprised there isn't some sort of law out there against double dipping.

Comment by: WierdName (Sep 09, 2011 02:24)

When the disk was sold initially (brand new), it doesn't matter how many times it changes hands. If customer A buys a game, Hot Pursuit for example, then they decide the game is an unfinished gimmick of a game riding on the coattails of it's past, it doesn't matter one bit to EA if customer A continues to play the game or sells it off to customer B. EA would have no way of knowing that customer B took the place of customer A if it wasn't for having to create an individual account. Unless customer A copies the game, EA will feel absolutely no difference between A or B (except that B might play more than A until they also realize it sucks). The point is, the cost was already factored into the initial sale, and charging customer B on top of A is 'double dipping.'

And unless I was too subtle EA, Hot Pursuit sucked! ...Waste of money. The old PS2 HP2 game is better. Not was, is. Had I not got it unbelievably cheap on Black Friday I would be pretty pissed about it.

Doesnt expecting the unexpected make the unexpected expected and therefore mean youre expecting the expected which was the unexpected until you expected it?
"Opinions are immunities to being told were wrong." - Relient K

Comment by: Anonymous User (Sep 09, 2011 10:51)

This is an absolute con the way they charge consumers more money again with this method. The amount these companies moan about losing money to people that pirate games and then have the cheek to rip people off in this way.

Comment by: SoTired (Sep 09, 2011 15:33)

To say "consumers are OK with it" is delusional.

I doubt many customers will refrain from buying a game solely due to this restriction. However, I lost interest in games years ago due to the increasing number of anti-consumer policies in the gaming industry. There are many ways to entertain, and many segments of the entertainment industry that do not assume the customer is the enemy. The yahoos managing the game development companies don't realize how much larger the gaming market would be if they would focus more on trying to attract customers to the industry and stop worrying about whether they have squeezed every cent they can out of a particular customer.

Comment by: ximwoem (Sep 09, 2011 22:35)

Originally posted by molsen:
You made money on the bandwidth when you sold the intial "physical" disc. Who are you trying to kid here. I'm not intrested. Sorry, you are double dipping.

the internet is a baby and pedo game comps are spit roasting it.

Comment by: deak91 (Sep 10, 2011 07:04)

they are assh**es well im thinking there is a way out of this its simple every game you buy that needs this online crap dlc or such the 1st buyer installes it but uses a throw away email after all thats all thats needed to verify and when its sold that throw away email goes with the game problem solved the second buyer only buys the game and is not charged for the dlc stuff that 1rst user registerd with the game i think that will solved it after all until they put in place only one computer or game system can be registered for a game there will be a way around this crap