Things haven't exactly been going all that smoothly for EA recently, all things considered. First they were rated as the "worst company in America", then they presided over the disastrous launch of Sim City, which led to millions not being able to play their newly bought game, as it had to connect to a server in order to work - a server which had buckled under the pressure - and then they were forced to lay off 10% of their workforce to boot. But it's not all bad news, at least not for consumers, as in addition to their plans to scrap the controversial Online Pass scheme from all their upcoming games, EA have announced that they'll be removing the pesky feature retroactively too. In a nutshell, that means that any older games you happened to buy second hand won't be nagging you to buy the Online Pass every time you load them up any more - hooray!
Originally planned as a way for publishers/developers to take a cut from used game sales - whose profit goes entirely to the shops selling them - 'Project $10' punished consumers who bought a game second hand by including a single use code with all new games, that was required in order to access certain elements of the game. Once redeemed, anyone who then came into ownership of that copy of the game, whether pre-owned in a shop, or if you lent it to a friend, would have to pay the equivalent of $10 (~£6.80) to buy a new online pass, and unlock the full game - most often, the online multiplayer. Adding an extra layer of complexity into the system, and punishing consumers rather than retailers (after all, it's not your average player's fault that stores keep new games at artificially inflated prices while slashing the cost of pre-owned), it's no surprise that the system was as unpopular as it was controversial, with some boycotting EA's games completely until the system was removed.
While EA have announced that the idea of an online pass has been scrapped for their upcoming titles, in a happy twist, EA will also be removing the online passes from their old games to boot - with the likes of Battlefield Bad Company 2, Bulletstorm and Medal of Honour now letting you play online for free. Another, equally controversial part of the online pass was the decision to withhold access to certain, single player parts of games, so that those who bought a game new would get an extra dungeon, or quest for free, while those who bought pre-owned would have to pay extra. Mostly affecting Bioware's role-playing games, the good news is that the previously locked add-ons are also now being made free, such as Mass Effect 2's huge Cerberus Network pass and Dragon Age II's Black Emporium download, which give you a new team-mate and a number of extra missions to play through. A number of other games have had previously online-pass restricted goodies made free for everyone, too - so if you happen to own any EA games, it might be worth a check of the Xbox Live Marketplace just in case.
Those of you who own Alice: Madness Returns can also now nab the original American McGee's Alice for free - although you will need the disc in to play it still.
While the decision to scrap online passes is certainly a welcome one, the more cynical amongst us may be wary of a potential ulterior motive, especially given rumours that EA and Microsoft are set to become even closer on their next console, the Xbox One. Given Microsoft's move to block pre-owned games on their next console, EA's decision to scrap online passes may be seen as more of a cost-saving exercise rather than a philanthropic venture to regain trust amongst consumers, at least to the more cynical amongst us. It's worth remembering that the decision to unlock the online multiplayer on their old games won't affect all, or even most of EA's back catalogue either, as many games that had online passes have already had their servers switched off, meaning online play simply isn't possible on them any more, free online pass or not. We're still smarting over the loss of Family Game Night.
According to EA's official Online Pass FAQ, players with Playstation 3s will stop being prompted for Online Passes over the coming weeks, or at the very least will be able to download a pass for free, while Xbox 360 owners can access a wide range of free downloads and passes at the moment on the Xbox Live Marketplace. If you've been itching to try out a multiplayer mode, or were loathed to pay out to access that extra mission because you dared buy pre-owned, why not fire up your old games, and get downloading now!
