On Download Content (DLC) for Core Features
The trend is almost disturbing, but there is a distinct effort to get console games to shed one of their last remaining advantages over PC games: transferability. You buy a PC game, you buy the license where the only item of value is the product key or serial number that gets permanently tied to your computer or account. The resale market is virtually obliterated with pencil and paper the most sophisticated implements needed to copy the most valuable component of retail versions and no method of confidently eliminating access to the key to the original owner.
EA made many a console gamer annoyed by the addition of the Cerberus DLC to Mass Effect 2. In order to access DLC in ME2, you must first purchase this seperate $15 DLC. A code was included with retail copies for a free, one-time download. Any used copies are very likely to not include the code or have already redeemed it making the insert useless. They have now applied this model to the newest installment of their massively successful Madden NFL franchise (and the new Tiger Woods PGA title). Online play, one of the biggest draws of the series, will require a paid download to access with retail copies coming with a download code. Those buying the game used will either have to pony up $10 or live without online features. Why not release the game for $10 cheaper and not include the code? As far as EA is concerned, the river of money generated by Madden is merely "Mighty Mississippi" rather than Amazon epic and place the blame squarely on those "criminals" buying the game used from a friend or from their local Gamestop for a savings of around $5-10 with nary a dime reaching EA. By putting a price tag on a core feature, the value proposition takes a major hit for those desiring online play. The remedies are either buying the content for $10, pure profit for EA, or brand new, even more for EA. To them, its a win-win. To us, its another UFIA.
(Nintendo used a similar tactic when it released the Wii Speak. In order to use the eponymous Wii Speak Channel, you had to use the one-time code included with the accessory, thus preventing any resale market of the peripheral. Whether they will extend this to other add-ons (vitality sensor, for instance) is not yet known.)
Now EA's response is that people who buy the game used didn't pay EA and since EA invested a lot of money in getting the online services up to handle the workload, it's only fair to expect some sort of payment. It is a logical argument, at least at first glance. If they have 1,000,000 players using their online system, it makes sense for 1,000,000 players to have paid for that privilege. But that's where that reasoning falls apart. Used copies started as new somewhere in the market. At that initial point of sale, EA got money for a single player to go towards the cost of their online network. When that initial buyer sells the game to someone else, there is no net change on the total number of players. The seller pulled themselves out of that 1,000,000 population. That online spot has already been paid for at first sale, so why should the next guy have to pay for a spot that was already purchased? It doesn't make any sense. It's like buying a house from the current owners and having the builder stop by and demand you pay him for building it in the first place.
This concept was awful months ago and the fact that it is spreading is even worse. Online play is [presumably] already on the game disc. EA is asking for money to access a feature that is already on the disc you bought. What's the next step? Access to only 16/32 teams without a download code? It's turning console games into extended demos where you have to upgrade to the full version to get the full experience. At that point, they might as well take a page out of the App Store/Android Marketplace playbook and just sell it as Madden NFL Lite for a small discount.
EA made many a console gamer annoyed by the addition of the Cerberus DLC to Mass Effect 2. In order to access DLC in ME2, you must first purchase this seperate $15 DLC. A code was included with retail copies for a free, one-time download. Any used copies are very likely to not include the code or have already redeemed it making the insert useless. They have now applied this model to the newest installment of their massively successful Madden NFL franchise (and the new Tiger Woods PGA title). Online play, one of the biggest draws of the series, will require a paid download to access with retail copies coming with a download code. Those buying the game used will either have to pony up $10 or live without online features. Why not release the game for $10 cheaper and not include the code? As far as EA is concerned, the river of money generated by Madden is merely "Mighty Mississippi" rather than Amazon epic and place the blame squarely on those "criminals" buying the game used from a friend or from their local Gamestop for a savings of around $5-10 with nary a dime reaching EA. By putting a price tag on a core feature, the value proposition takes a major hit for those desiring online play. The remedies are either buying the content for $10, pure profit for EA, or brand new, even more for EA. To them, its a win-win. To us, its another UFIA.
(Nintendo used a similar tactic when it released the Wii Speak. In order to use the eponymous Wii Speak Channel, you had to use the one-time code included with the accessory, thus preventing any resale market of the peripheral. Whether they will extend this to other add-ons (vitality sensor, for instance) is not yet known.)
Now EA's response is that people who buy the game used didn't pay EA and since EA invested a lot of money in getting the online services up to handle the workload, it's only fair to expect some sort of payment. It is a logical argument, at least at first glance. If they have 1,000,000 players using their online system, it makes sense for 1,000,000 players to have paid for that privilege. But that's where that reasoning falls apart. Used copies started as new somewhere in the market. At that initial point of sale, EA got money for a single player to go towards the cost of their online network. When that initial buyer sells the game to someone else, there is no net change on the total number of players. The seller pulled themselves out of that 1,000,000 population. That online spot has already been paid for at first sale, so why should the next guy have to pay for a spot that was already purchased? It doesn't make any sense. It's like buying a house from the current owners and having the builder stop by and demand you pay him for building it in the first place.
This concept was awful months ago and the fact that it is spreading is even worse. Online play is [presumably] already on the game disc. EA is asking for money to access a feature that is already on the disc you bought. What's the next step? Access to only 16/32 teams without a download code? It's turning console games into extended demos where you have to upgrade to the full version to get the full experience. At that point, they might as well take a page out of the App Store/Android Marketplace playbook and just sell it as Madden NFL Lite for a small discount.