EA: Online Pass can expire for new-game purchases, but it shouldn't

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A NeoGAF member posited that his new copy of EA's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit contained an Online Pass that was expired, blocking him from accessing online content -- others on the forum came forward with similar stories, suggesting that EA's disclaimer covers this clause and he was out of luck. Since blocking new-game purchasers from using online content seems like an unproductive move (even) for EA, we asked an EA Advisor for clarification on its Online Pass expiration policy.

EA's Online Pass can indeed expire for some new games, blocking buyers out of online content until they download a new pass or attain one from EA directly, EA confirmed to Joystiq. As a rule, no Online Pass should expire, but a few titles will have a time limit on their use, even for new purchases, EA said. Dragon Age 2, for example, has an Online Pass that expires on March 31, 2012, according to EA's EULA description. Re-downloading or getting a new Pass is free, EA said.

This still seems like a strange extra step for EA to infuse in its new games, and we have contacted EA more directly for further clarification. Until then, maybe you shouldn't wait until the holiday tear the shrinkwrap off that copy of Dead Space 2.

Posted: Dec 03, 2011 11:59 pm

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/03/ea-online-pass-can-expire-for-new-game-purchases-but-it-should/#comments

Comments

aidzzzPosted: Thu. Dec 08, 2011

EA is a bunch of scumbags, plain and simple. they should stop with this online pas B.S. and go fix their servers. straight trash.

c0dm0dzPosted: Thu. Dec 08, 2011

EA makes good games, mainly sports games, but they should just stop making the need for speed series.

DeathsbugsyPosted: Tue. Dec 06, 2011

METALSMOOTH1470 i dont see why they bother having passes for online, its just a waste of time and resources and also prevents you form lending or selling it to another person

Thats the point. They want to make more money so they make it so you cant just get it from a friend

-DynastyPosted: Mon. Dec 05, 2011

will thats what happened to mine :(

MightyMitchPosted: Mon. Dec 05, 2011

Clearly2Beast
CastleCrashers
Steuby44
CastleCrashers
iJarH3ad
Clearly2Beast Who cares? They get an extra code for free if its expired. Number one most greedy company ever..

Just fixed it for you... we play COD online for free.. EA doesn't because they want some money.. see the difference? Activision is not greedy at all. JS
They do it for a reason. New games come with a pass so whats the problem? Used games make EA lose money, and they dont want to lose movey considering they're one of the biggest publishers for games out they're and run probly over 50k servers for each one of their games. CoD doesnt charge because they over charge their customers on everything else, such as map packs and their Elite system. Also CoDs servers are horrible and full of mods, Ea's you wont find that.

I usually don't get involved in CoD vs BF arguments because I like them both but I don't know how you could even say that EA has better servers. EA had an online beta that didn't work for a week then they launch the complete game and I still cant join a server. CoD doesn't have a beta and I've never had a problem on MW3.
I wasnt trying to start a CoD Vs BF here i was just saying EA is better than Activision, because its true. They charge $10 for the online pass for people who didnt buy it new because when you buy a used game the retailer gets the money not Ea, then you do multiplayer and they lose money beccause you're using they're millions of servers without ever giving them money to use the servers.

You realize the whole point of the BF3 beta was to stress the servers right? The software they gave you to play was a late alpha build.. Not to mention Elite's servers have been way worse, there still not 100% functional a month later! And don't even get me started on Activision's greed! The CEO wanted to charge people for cutscenes in a campaign! The DLC is overpriced, they never give enough money to the developers (hence the whole Infinity Ward vs Activision lawsuit after MW2 and the reason why the developers still use a 12 year old engine), and why they force the developers to put out a Call of Duty title every year. Point being, its pretty much fact that Activision is one of the most money hungry corporations in the world besides Apple. At least with EAs online pass you get lots of great dedicated servers, unlike CoDs shitty peer to peer connections.

WOW!!! Kudos to you. I was going to reply on this thread, with this exact same response. You managed to hit just about every point I would have made. Actually I forgot about charging for cut scenes. Nicely Done!

METALSMOOTH1470Posted: Mon. Dec 05, 2011

i dont see why they bother having passes for online, its just a waste of time and resources and also prevents you form lending or selling it to another person

Fear-edPosted: Mon. Dec 05, 2011

Skwuhurl I think the reason for this is that if someone buys the game but they don't have xbox live so they don't use the code. Then when they sell it the person who buys it would be able to use the code. But if they make the code expire the person who bought it used can not do so. Yes I'll admit it's a little greedy but nothing compared to Actvision. $15 for crap map packs and $60 for a map pack with different guns.
$50 dollars for a service that so far, isn't entirely up and running yet. Also the free dlc? They havn't confirmed that it's going to be map packs. So you could end up with two map packs and a ton of weapon camo.

It's 15$ for a map pack but really 20$ cause you got to buy it in 1600, And thats for a mappack there just doing reguler maps now so there probable gonna be like 2$ O_o..

SkwuhurlPosted: Sun. Dec 04, 2011

I think the reason for this is that if someone buys the game but they don't have xbox live so they don't use the code. Then when they sell it the person who buys it would be able to use the code. But if they make the code expire the person who bought it used can not do so. Yes I'll admit it's a little greedy but nothing compared to Actvision. $15 for crap map packs and $60 for a map pack with different guns.
$50 dollars for a service that so far, isn't entirely up and running yet. Also the free dlc? They havn't confirmed that it's going to be map packs. So you could end up with two map packs and a ton of weapon camo.

GuyNamedBobPosted: Sun. Dec 04, 2011

Clearly2Beast
Clearly2Beast
CastleCrashers
Steuby44
CastleCrashers
iJarH3ad
Clearly2Beast Who cares? They get an extra code for free if its expired. Number one most greedy company ever..

Just fixed it for you... we play COD online for free.. EA doesn't because they want some money.. see the difference? Activision is not greedy at all. JS
They do it for a reason. New games come with a pass so whats the problem? Used games make EA lose money, and they dont want to lose movey considering they're one of the biggest publishers for games out they're and run probly over 50k servers for each one of their games. CoD doesnt charge because they over charge their customers on everything else, such as map packs and their Elite system. Also CoDs servers are horrible and full of mods, Ea's you wont find that.

I usually don't get involved in CoD vs BF arguments because I like them both but I don't know how you could even say that EA has better servers. EA had an online beta that didn't work for a week then they launch the complete game and I still cant join a server. CoD doesn't have a beta and I've never had a problem on MW3.
I wasnt trying to start a CoD Vs BF here i was just saying EA is better than Activision, because its true. They charge $10 for the online pass for people who didnt buy it new because when you buy a used game the retailer gets the money not Ea, then you do multiplayer and they lose money beccause you're using they're millions of servers without ever giving them money to use the servers.

You realize the whole point of the BF3 beta was to stress the servers right? The software they gave you to play was a late alpha build.. Not to mention Elite's servers have been way worse, there still not 100% functional a month later! And don't even get me started on Activision's greed! The CEO wanted to charge people for cutscenes in a campaign! The DLC is overpriced, they never give enough money to the developers (hence the whole Infinity Ward vs Activision lawsuit after MW2 and the reason why the developers still use a 12 year old engine), and why they force the developers to put out a Call of Duty title every year. Point being, its pretty much fact that Activision is one of the most money hungry corporations in the world besides Apple. At least with EAs online pass you get lots of great dedicated servers, unlike CoDs shitty peer to peer connections.

Also almost all of EA's games are unhackable. MW3 got hacked literally a week after release.

Actually, MW3 got hacked BEFORE the release.

TheBrownGuyPosted: Sun. Dec 04, 2011

jwmc1971 whats a PS3 ?

Hahah

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