EA Blocks Multiplayer Mode on Used Games XBOX360/PS3/PC

Cannaton · 12 May 2010 at 22:23

vonhelmet said:
Same goes for everything else. Why should games be different?

I agree, it's like saying buying a second hand laptop (say a Macbook or a Dell etc) but you have to pay the manufacturer £100 to enable to network card.

I can kind of see EA's stand point though, and I dislike the GAME/Gamestation business model with regards to pre-owned sales. I think how EA see it is that the product is not actually the box/disc/manual but more the content of the disc, so in order to properly access the content on the disc you must pay a fee, I'm still undecided though as to whether that is right or moral.

Dannyb01y · 12 May 2010 at 22:24

The games industry is booming. Modern Warfare has taken over $1 billion which shows if a game is good then it'l sell well and make publishers money. I dont see the need to destroy the second hand market to give publishers even more money.

Dyson · 12 May 2010 at 22:44

I'm really struggling to see the huge problem here.

If you don't like the thought of paying extra to play a second hand game, just wait until the price of the "new" game has fallen. Except for the occasional triple A title, most games are under £20 with two months (or less).

It's obvious that the market is going this way anyway, it's just that EA are making the first move. What'll happen when the industry is mostly a down-load market? No one will buy games? I don't think so.

Dmack · 12 May 2010 at 22:49

Question.

Mr A buys a game from a store, then trades that game in. Mr B then buys that pre-owned copy from that store. Do the publishers make any money on Mr B's purchase or is it only the store since it's pre-owned?

Cannaton · 12 May 2010 at 22:51

Only the store, that's why they push the pre-owned stock so much.

Dyson said:
It's obvious that the market is going this way anyway, it's just that EA are making the first move. What'll happen when the industry is mostly a down-load market? No one will buy games? I don't think so.

Well that's true, but one would hope that when the market is "download-only" that there will be appropriate levels of competition and that the prices will be cheaper than they are today on services like steam, although that all depends on who sets the prices I supose, If it's the publishers rather than service providers then I imagine the price of games will stay pretty much the same.

elmuzzy66. · 13 May 2010 at 00:00

Can't blame EA. Its not as if the game publishers get any protection for the law. I just can't believe that nothing can't be done piracy. Theres no political will to stop it so publishers are left with desparte ways to increase the value of a sale.
Car sale comparisons are wrong as you don't buy a game, you buy a licence to play the game. You buy a car and its yours to do what you want. Then again i keep my games so its not that much of an issue for me.

Vonhelmet · 13 May 2010 at 00:35

elmuzzy66. said:
Can't blame EA. Its not as if the game publishers get any protection for the law. I just can't believe that nothing can't be done piracy. Theres no political will to stop it so publishers are left with desparte ways to increase the value of a sale.

They have plenty of protection, but it's hard to enforce and you'd struggle to come up with a charge that would stick.

elmuzzy66 said:
Car sale comparisons are wrong as you don't buy a game, you buy a licence to play the game. You buy a car and its yours to do what you want. Then again i keep my games so its not that much of an issue for me.

Grey area. If you bought a license you should have rights to format shift and make backup copies, which they try to prevent you having.

Kenai · 13 May 2010 at 00:44

Dmack said:
Question.

Mr A buys a game from a store, then trades that game in. Mr B then buys that pre-owned copy from that store. Do the publishers make any money on Mr B's purchase or is it only the store since it's pre-owned?

Only the store.

Where the publishers will make money is when Mr A then uses that trade in money to buy another new game sooner than he may otherwise have afforded.

Vonhelmet · 13 May 2010 at 00:48

Kenai said:
Only the store.

Where the publishers will make money is when Mr A then uses that trade in money to buy another new game sooner than he may otherwise have afforded.

LIES! THAT NEVER HAPPENS EVER! TRADING IN GAMES IS COMMUNISM!

Gzero · 13 May 2010 at 10:41

Dyson said:
I'm really struggling to see the huge problem here.

If you don't like the thought of paying extra to play a second hand game, just wait until the price of the "new" game has fallen. Except for the occasional triple A title, most games are under £20 with two months (or less).

It's obvious that the market is going this way anyway, it's just that EA are making the first move. What'll happen when the industry is mostly a down-load market? No one will buy games? I don't think so.

Wrong, what your thinking of is the shops that sell you games from overseas, so technically they are not sold in the UK (helps when they don't need to pay VAT).

Also prices are going ^ not down. Then they sit around wondering why it isn't shifting units in some cases and blame good old piracy (accusing a halo fan of piracy is one way of certain death

).

Xiler · 13 May 2010 at 14:37

Its no different from what Xbox do with LIVE. You buy a product yet cant use its online features without paying extra, but u have the means to do so from the start. If you sell your xbox, your live access doesnt go with it.

And if you wana use the car comparison then its like buying the insurance. You have the car but can drive it without the insurance. When you resell your insurance doesnt get transferred over with it, they have to buy another one. With Ea you get the car + insurance free first time.

You are paying for the EA account the second time not the game.

Streeteh · 13 May 2010 at 14:47

Interesting view and well argued. I agree, you should post here more often

Gzero · 13 May 2010 at 15:03

Xiler said:
Its no different from what Xbox do with LIVE. You buy a product yet cant use its online features without paying extra, but u have the means to do so from the start. If you sell your xbox, your live access doesnt go with it.

And if you wana use the car comparison then its like buying the insurance. You have the car but can drive it without the insurance. When you resell your insurance doesnt get transferred over with it, they have to buy another one. With Ea you get the car + insurance free first time.

You are paying for the EA account the second time not the game.

So if you don't have xbox live, then your getting ripped off as a first time buy and should just get it pre owned with out the code.

Streeteh · 13 May 2010 at 15:11

Gzero said:
So if you don't have xbox live, then your getting ripped off as a first time buy and should just get it pre owned with out the code.

True, but then you could argue that people like me who aren't that interested in online are also getting ripped off and should buy second hand.

On second thought, this could be a good thing for me, it will forced down the price of second hand games so i can buy them cheap for the single player.

Gornall · 13 May 2010 at 15:12

Dont get me wrong, hasn't steam done this for years? Buy games, can't sell them?

At least this way you can sell the game and get money back for it, if they wanna pay the extra tenner thats the buyers choice.

Dannyb01y · 13 May 2010 at 15:17

Ea should release fifa without the online code for cheaper. I barley play it online anyways so would welcome the saved cash (am sure it'l never happen!)

Streeteh · 13 May 2010 at 15:38

Gornall said:
Dont get me wrong, hasn't steam done this for years? Buy games, can't sell them?

At least this way you can sell the game and get money back for it, if they wanna pay the extra tenner thats the buyers choice.

Completely correct. Despite this Steam gets welcomed as the bastion of all things fluffy and wonderful in the world.

Kenai · 13 May 2010 at 15:53

Streeteh said:
Completely correct. Despite this Steam gets welcomed as the bastion of all things fluffy and wonderful in the world.

Virtually all PC games do this though, make it a massive pain to sell on, it's not a Steam exclusive trait which is why Steam doesn't get stick for it.

HTMLHugo · 13 May 2010 at 15:56

personally i dont think EA will make any extra money on this.

however it will be a right PITA to the second hand retailers. who as we all know have been taking advantage of us all.

most people i think will

a) buy the game for 40 quid and enjoy.
b) wait till the price drops down enough to justify the purchase brand new.
c) not buy because the game only got mediocre reviews and isnt worth taking a risk on.

as for the impact in other areas, well its an unknown. if the 2nd hand market collapses will Devs start bumping up the prices who knows. This was always going to happen one way or another, but i expected it till wait until the download a game time.

I was always in favour of paying more for a game with dedicated servers which ea does provide for some of its game's anyway but where do we stand with games with p poor online services and no dedicated servers ala PES.

we would be paying them for money for nothing.

At least EA do provide good online facilities, the online lobbies / leagues etc are all gooed enough. the uploading of screenshots / videos is kinda cool also. TW online game stuff is also quite good imo. Maybe not tenner per game's worth but £10-15 per year absolutely imo.

Begbie · 13 May 2010 at 17:23

There goes my buying 2-3 games for £40 from the pre-owned section instead of the one!

Saying that I don't normally play EA games online. So meh.