Sony wanting to go the EA way??

[DjDhiraj1]

We all came to know about EA' additional money-making scheme, when we read that they were going to start an "Online Pass" system for their games.
For those of you who dont know about this, EA gives a code with the purchase of their new games which gives the consumer the ability to access online. This essentially means that if you buy the game pre-owned, then you have to purchase an "online pass", in order, to use online facilities in a game.
This has been done for their sport games such Madden, Tiger woods 2011, etc and will continue to grow.

THQ also announced this same trend recently for theie upcoming Smackdown vs Raw game.

Sony' European President, advocates this move and is actively looking to find ways to monetize the second-hand game purchase market too. While they dont believe yet to charge for online access, i am beginning to doubt this.
First PSN Plus, then PSN protection plan, now looking into monetizing second-hand game purchases...as far as am concerned, its not looking good for "free" PSN!!

Full story HERE (http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6274384.html?tag=latestheadlines%3Btitle%3B2)

[FreedomCore]

Bummer.... :(

[iMatty-]

I kinda agree in a way, the developer deserves the money from the game and 2nd hand takes it away from them. xD

But I also agree with a guy from GameSpot,


its amazing how all of a sudden these companies come up with the idea to charge people extra for used games.

used games have been around for years , and it has never hurt them , as evidenced by the rapid growth of the games industry in past years.

what does hurt a company is if a game is not good, because that can be (though not always) a factor in it not selling well, therefore reducing revenue.

if a game is good , people tend to keep it, or sell it much later, when it becomes irrelevant to the developer, if a game is not good, they either sell it , or lose trust in the developer.

thing is, if a game is ok but I can't sell it later just in case its not good, I won't buy it , ill save my money.

not the best way to sell more games.

So i'm between both sides atm. :P

[ally]

Surely games with mainly online content will have to much cheaper to buy pre owned than they already are (depending on price of pass) as otherwise you'd be aswell to buy new. For example cod4 still sells for £20 at least preowned, and if you had to pay like £8 on to of this it starts to become obscene for a 3 year old game.

[DjDhiraj1]

WHat am sure will encourage developers to do is - include online trophies in every game:rolleyes:

[DoSe]

the day sony starts charging for online play of used games is the day ill buy a mod chip and just play my games offline lol.. I agree the game devs deserve to make money, but this is not the way to do it.. They are already charging more for a new game than it was on the last generation systems, and look at the top selling games they are still making millions of dollars even with the sale of used games..

[wright316uk]

i cant remember the last game i bought preowend anyway so this does not really affect me much

[fs86]

It doesn't really affect me either, since I can't remember the last pre-owned game I bought... think it was for the PS2. I kinda agree that preowned games completely shuts out the developers. The issue isn't about making PSN chargeable - it won't affect people that buy new games, and I think that this is what all the devs are leaning towards... Like ally said, if you have to pay more on top of what you pay for CoD4 preowned, then it becomes pretty expensive, and if you really want it, you might as well buy it new, right? Although I really don't think that GAME would take money off its preowned titles, which it makes a hell of a lot of money on, just because Sony want in on the action too. I'd like to think they'd factor it in, but I seriously doubt it.

DoSe why couldn't you just buy the pre-owned games and play them offline?

The other issue this tackles is piracy, in a real-world way, rather than with a software solution. Not that people won't find SOME way round it, but it makes it more difficult.

Who knows, at the end of the day, stores might find it easier and better for everyone involved to bulk-buy codes from Sony for cheaper, include them in their preowned games, and put an extra couple of pounds on the price tag to cover the costs.

[Rock-Shayde]

Good thing I couldn't give a flying f*** about online then ^^

[DoSe]

It dont really bother me much, cuz i dont really buy used games.. Maybe once in a great while ill goto gamestop when they have their buy 2 get 1 free deals, but even then i buy old cheap games..

I just think its stupid for them to add these codes for online.. Why not do something similar to bad company 2, and include a code to get free DLC or something if you buy the game new.

[kjkg]

Who knows, at the end of the day, stores might find it easier and better for everyone involved to bulk-buy codes from Sony for cheaper, include them in their preowned games, and put an extra couple of pounds on the price tag to cover the costs.

Pretty sure thats what is going to happen. Makes the most financial sense for all parties.

I like picking up the odd bargain, second hand. But it is rare. If I really want a game, then i def will buy it new!!!

[ChrissyCooza1]

I try and buy games brand new so its not too bad but if ya get a good deal online like eBay or something I would do that to however I refuse point blank to pay for online play hence no to xbox so sod the online pass bollocks if worst comes to worst screw online I will dust off the PS2 and play splitscreen games with ma mates since splitscreen seems to have died on the PS3 for most games which is a shame, its boring watching someone else do stuff.

[Rocky.]

i don't this whatsoever cos now we are seeing stores doing used games like TESCO and ARGOS. i buy my games cheap as i don't have alot of money :( but if I see a coming soon or new game with a good special like ASSASSIN'S CREED 2 and GT5 then i'll buy it new includes GOTY editions aswell get them new.

[Leec1991]

Everything is about money.