Battlefield 3 Probably Getting Online Pass

4.5
A growing number of games are locking out preowned customers from certain content -- usually online multiplayer -- unless they purchase an online pass-equivalent from their respective publishers. This allows publishers, who normally make no money on preowned sales, to at least get some revenue from the active second hand market.

DICE has half-confirmed to Gamerzines that Battlefield 3 will be shipping with some form of online pass system, but seemed somewhat shaky on the details. EA also closed the door on the discussion, asking the site to pick up the conversation at another time.

"The whole idea is that we're paying for servers," explained Battlefield 3 executive producer Patrick Bach. "And if you create a new account there is a big process on how that is being handled in the backend. We would rather have you buy a new game than a used game because buying a used game is only a cost to us; we don't get a single dime from a used game, but we still need to create server space and everything for you. We want people to at least pay us something to create this because we're paying for it. It was actually a loss for us to have new players."

If Battlefield 3 does end up shipping with an online pass system, it gives Modern Warfare 3 everything to play for. Whatever you may think of Activision's other business practices, one thing the company hasn't done -- yet -- is incorporate an online pass system. If Battlefield 3 ships with an online pass and Modern Warfare 3 doesn't, that may be enough to send a few people who were on the fence between the two rival military shooters in the direction of Activision's title.

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Source: http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/221541/battlefield-3-will-probably-feature-an-online-pass-as-compensation-for-server-costs/

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"Battlefield 3 Probably Getting Online Pass" :: Login/Create an Account :: 63 comments

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GuyNamedBobPosted:

-Jordan-
GuyNamedBob
-Jordan- Anyone against online passes is clearly a moron with no care for the developers. Simple as that really.
how do they have no care for the developers if they dont like the idea of an online pass? the excuse EA uses for this is the servers getting to crowded and they have to pay to run them. but if someone sold the game, they obviously won't be taking up any more space in the servers. if they're afraid of people buying used that badly, than they can just lower the msrp a few months after the game to get people to buy the game new. they're already a multi-million dollar company, and will certainly make millions more with bf3, theres no reason why they should nickel and dime their own players.


You're an idiot. You do realise your entire battle log is stored on their servers right? This will (after a decent amount of play time) add up. Why should anyone get server space for free. Do you realise how much hosting a game like battlefield costs. This isn't about playing on the servers, it's about the data they store for every single person who's played regardless of if they still do. Think about it like this; You play the game for about 6 months quite frequently but then decide to sell it. Then in the couple of years after you selling it, 3 more people buy the copy you had. That's 4 people's battle logs being stored on the single initial cost. This is going to cost them more than you spent on the game in the first place overall. You're also forgetting that EA has to pay the server technicians and are likely renting the servers from a data centre.
YOU are an idiot. you realise that your entire multiplayer data is stored on the developer's servers for alot of games right now that dont charge anyone a cent to play multiplayer. the online pass will cost about $10. do you seriously believe that it costs $10 for a couple MBs of data of one player? you apparently think it costs them even more than that since you said 4 multiplayer profiles will cost more to EA than the original $60 you spent on the game. its unlikely more than 1 person will own the game after you get rid of it anyway. about 20 million people (at least) will likely purchase bf3, so if it costs EA $10 a person than that means they will be spending at least 1/5 of a BILLION dollars paying a group of server technicians for just bf3. people already pay $60 for the game (and $60 yearly if you have an xbox) so theres no reason why they should charge their own fanbase and community any more than that. just the fact that they are doing this with bf3 shows that they are greedy and trying to make a quick buck for themselves.

Big_Hairy_BaconPosted:

matt0268 Completely against this, the game alone will be roughly $65 (39.99 GBP), pricing is going to kill console gaming.. to get the maximum performance out of a game now counting: Passes, Map packs and addons, each game is going to cost around $100, if there stopping people selling games no one is going to want to buy new games. I just think everygame should be sold with everything. you do what you want. No one should be allowed to sell things such as map packs and keys as you've payed for the game at the start. your just getting restricted content. Its going to end up pay by match content of big games.


damn i wish i could rep you from here....

EtnaPosted:

Hopefully its not dumb...im going to be playing MW3 anyways :P

iDisAsTerxxPosted:

BF3 is gay, and your argument is invalid.

Calvin_JohnsonPosted:

This means alot of people are gunna play MW3 not BF3

cheez4V2Posted:

ZBrush
GuyNamedBob
-Jordan- Anyone against online passes is clearly a moron with no care for the developers. Simple as that really.
how do they have no care for the developers if they dont like the idea of an online pass? the excuse EA uses for this is the servers getting to crowded and they have to pay to run them. but if someone sold the game, they obviously won't be taking up any more space in the servers. if they're afraid of people buying used that badly, than they can just lower the msrp a few months after the game to get people to buy the game new. they're already a multi-million dollar company, and will certainly make millions more with bf3, theres no reason why they should nickel and dime their own players.



If you sell a preowned game your not instantly removed from there server logs.

If I bought a game then let 30 of my friends play online on it I am essentally using up 30 server slots that hold data for those online profiles.

It's not complicated and also not stupid.

Stops some forms of piracy because it cant be played online, The developers get the money they deserve for slaving away at a game for more than 2 years, and people buying the game get reserved server slots and dedicated servers.


Exactly how much server space is a idle player going to take up..? Nothing.. probably about a 1 MB of user data stored on the server. (Your Stats) If you are not playing the game you are not on the server, simple.

and what about all those kids that cant afford $60 every time a new game comes on and have to RENT it..

Not like any of this matter anyways, homefront (which i rented) needed a online pass for... which sold on the 360 marketplace for 240msp or less (cant remember). So if you ever buy a game off someone make sure they take off the point difference they you are going to have to purchase.

SpartanZombie94Posted:

iJarH3ad Sorry guys!

For some reason i don't see my message in there? Look like it's a glitch! And I can't delete that comment! :/ Anyway

Here's my message

"That could be true. But most NEW PC games are cost under 30 bucks and required the keycode.

Most NEW xbox 360 games are cost $60 or $50 (depends). Plus we are paying the xbox live which is $10 a month....

See the difference? There shouldn't have a online pass on xbox. In my opinion, I think Microsoft won't allow online pass for the all games company on xbox in the future...

PC's code key is fine, it's totally different than xbox...

End of story...".
they have done codes for along time on PC because its so much easier to torrent/pirate and play PC games...on xbox you have to JTAG, on PC its a matter of a couple low memory programs

SpartanZombie94Posted:

-Jordan-
GuyNamedBob
-Jordan- Anyone against online passes is clearly a moron with no care for the developers. Simple as that really.
how do they have no care for the developers if they dont like the idea of an online pass? the excuse EA uses for this is the servers getting to crowded and they have to pay to run them. but if someone sold the game, they obviously won't be taking up any more space in the servers. if they're afraid of people buying used that badly, than they can just lower the msrp a few months after the game to get people to buy the game new. they're already a multi-million dollar company, and will certainly make millions more with bf3, theres no reason why they should nickel and dime their own players.


You're an idiot. You do realise your entire battle log is stored on their servers right? This will (after a decent amount of play time) add up. Why should anyone get server space for free. Do you realise how much hosting a game like battlefield costs. This isn't about playing on the servers, it's about the data they store for every single person who's played regardless of if they still do. Think about it like this; You play the game for about 6 months quite frequently but then decide to sell it. Then in the couple of years after you selling it, 3 more people buy the copy you had. That's 4 people's battle logs being stored on the single initial cost. This is going to cost them more than you spent on the game in the first place overall. You're also forgetting that EA has to pay the server technicians and are likely renting the servers from a data centre.
Call Of Duty and Activision get away with it.

-Jordan-Posted:

GuyNamedBob
-Jordan- Anyone against online passes is clearly a moron with no care for the developers. Simple as that really.
how do they have no care for the developers if they dont like the idea of an online pass? the excuse EA uses for this is the servers getting to crowded and they have to pay to run them. but if someone sold the game, they obviously won't be taking up any more space in the servers. if they're afraid of people buying used that badly, than they can just lower the msrp a few months after the game to get people to buy the game new. they're already a multi-million dollar company, and will certainly make millions more with bf3, theres no reason why they should nickel and dime their own players.


You're an idiot. You do realise your entire battle log is stored on their servers right? This will (after a decent amount of play time) add up. Why should anyone get server space for free. Do you realise how much hosting a game like battlefield costs. This isn't about playing on the servers, it's about the data they store for every single person who's played regardless of if they still do. Think about it like this; You play the game for about 6 months quite frequently but then decide to sell it. Then in the couple of years after you selling it, 3 more people buy the copy you had. That's 4 people's battle logs being stored on the single initial cost. This is going to cost them more than you spent on the game in the first place overall. You're also forgetting that EA has to pay the server technicians and are likely renting the servers from a data centre.

ZBrushPosted:

GuyNamedBob
-Jordan- Anyone against online passes is clearly a moron with no care for the developers. Simple as that really.
how do they have no care for the developers if they dont like the idea of an online pass? the excuse EA uses for this is the servers getting to crowded and they have to pay to run them. but if someone sold the game, they obviously won't be taking up any more space in the servers. if they're afraid of people buying used that badly, than they can just lower the msrp a few months after the game to get people to buy the game new. they're already a multi-million dollar company, and will certainly make millions more with bf3, theres no reason why they should nickel and dime their own players.



If you sell a preowned game your not instantly removed from there server logs.

If I bought a game then let 30 of my friends play online on it I am essentally using up 30 server slots that hold data for those online profiles.

It's not complicated and also not stupid.

Stops some forms of piracy because it cant be played online, The developers get the money they deserve for slaving away at a game for more than 2 years, and people buying the game get reserved server slots and dedicated servers.


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