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

Soooo... if I buy an EA game used, I can expect to be excluded from online content, with certain titles. And, on the other hand, I can expect the same should I buy new? /facepalm

I guess that's when you just buy used, email EA and say the code I used was expired... can I has one, plox? Worked with my used copy of Bad Company 2 last year, anyway.

I'm surprised this is being reported now. Copies of Medal of Honor new haven't came with the pass in a while. Same with bad company 2 I believe. This online pass thing is just stupid.

Shit this just happened to me. Bought Need for Speed HP the greatest hits version on black friday @ Best Buy. Had'nt opended it cause im still playing AC Revelations.And guess what!?!?! Damn code doesnt work. So called EA, the CS ( as usual) said that he couldnt give me an answer as to why they werent working. He offered to give me a 20 percent coupon for the Origin store! Damn, he said to call back in a week to see if they were working then. Ugh oh well back to the Creed for now. Seacrest County online will have to wait. I can tell u one thing. Never again EA.

My online pass expired for Medal Of Honor. It's annoying that something you pay for, doesn't work, and EA doesn't care. Which seems to be the issue with a lot of EA games; there are issues and they don't care.

I hope game companies finally get it through their thick skulls soon that fighting used game sales is counter-productive. Used game sales help the industry grow.

Take Arkham Asylum. When it was announced, it was made by an unproven developer so many were weary about buying it new for $60. What do they do? They wait a bit until its $20 cheaper, rent it/redbox it or whatever so they can play it without having fear of wasting $60 on an unproven game. A comic book game, no less (and we know how most of those turn out.) and since it's a great game what will they do? Pre-order the sequel, Arkham City. Outsold the original.

On a side note, though...Warner Bros. isn't excluded from sleazy dlc marketing, either.

This reminds me, I got a brand new copy of the collectors edition for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood off of Amazon not long ago. The code it came with said it was expired on the little card, but it still worked when I tried it.

So watch those Ubisoft codes, too. They have printed expiration dates after which they may or may not work.

Online passes can piss off, I wont even buy or play a game that has one, that's right, I wont even rent it.

I refuse to support something that punishes honest customers.

Dragon Age: Origins does it the worst when it comes to Dlc. You're just walking down a road when you see someone who needs help.

Me: Excuse me, sir, you look troubled.
NPC: Yes! Those bandits have chased me off my land and took my farm! You must help me!
Me: Sure, I'll help you. (Purchase Help Farm Dlc)

...the parenthesis is IN the dialogue option, disguised as an on-disc side-quest at first.

The f*ck is that sh*t?

Speaking of Dead Space 2, I actually did not bother to enter my online pass for it until a couple months ago, despite having bought the game on release and beaten it.

I just wasn't that that interested in the multiplayer. Guess it's a good thing I decided to put it in on a whim.

In effect, EA is now the dirty pirate by plundering a customer's wallet.

*thumbs up*

Because of my hatred for online passes. I only rented Uncharted 3 through red box one morning, beat the game in one day, then returned it that night.

I only spent $2.16. Thanks for saving me $57.83 Sony, I appreciate it.

There can still be some copies that came out at launch of the game that still brand new to this day.

May I say something? Online passes are f***ing stupid. That is all.

Oh no. you know what's Scary ? i bought Dead Space 2 LE Day 1 of release anddddd guess what ! i still have yet too open it ! it's just i have other games previous too that i have yet too get too. but hopefully sometime soon I'll get too it like Christmas time ( when i got a new Hard Drive to install in my PS3 ... let face it i'm lucky if i have 5.5 GB left free on my HDD right now as i type this )

posited ?

My battlefield bad company 2 ULTIMATE edition, comes with expired code, i mean all of the code expired, not only the online pass.

It goes beyond loaning out or reselling console games. Online pass blocks FAMILIES from using the game they purchased online. Games are locked to a single gamertag - and in a world where MS offers family subscriptions and there are multiple consoles and gametags in a single household the online pass is a complete screw job. This story is only good news for me because the more these publishers screw up their online pass the more people are likely to go back to buying games used and the more this idiotic online pass will have to be rethought.

Reasoning seems obvious. They let the online codes expire, then when the populations are down, they shut down the servers.

I always purchase my games brand new. However this is more than an issue of taking ten seconds out of my life to enter a code. I wish it was just that. Each quarter it seems like game companies are pushing for new ways to screw us out of more cash while offering less and less service. At the same time they target the young and feeble minded with their marketing to encourage desperate purchases for fear they might lose out on that limited offer of some sort (I.E. "Hurry! Buy your limited edition Nose ring for your in game character for a life time 'Elder' status in the online forums! Only $20!").

Until gamers unite in a unified front and stop making desperate "crack addict" like purchases of game content, developers will continue to make us all their beotches. I think a good example of this was FM4. T10 treated their community like crap for FM3. Lots of people vowed to not return for the next game and from the rumor on their most recent sales figures it would appear that FM4 was far from the success they thought they were pimping out. I personally hope they learned a lesson there. Don't bite the hand that feeds because you might just starve.

What's going to be more entertaining is when EA starts shutting down servers for games that have Online Passes.

They've already eliminated the argument about being a means of combating second-hand sales by partnering with GameStop to include codes with used titles, might as well shoot the other defense about using Pass funds to support servers in the foot as well.

Not that they didn't do that already by revealing that the $15 million from their Online Passes last year was "found money" and "pure profit".

Which again leaves me wondering...why do people defend this again?

Stop buying EA Games. Don't support Online Passes. End of discussion.

"Until then, maybe you shouldn't wait until the holiday tear the shrinkwrap off that copy of Dead Space 2."

Wait as long as you like.. The MP is terrible, you won't miss anything. That's assuming anyone is even still playing the MP.

If obtaining a new one is free, then whats the point in having them expire??? Thats just dumb as hell!!