Those gamers who have purchased pre-owned EA titles this year are likely familiar with the EA Online Pass program. Once a staple of the EA Sports line of games, the Online Pass has become Electronic Arts’ standard solution for remaining profitable in the used games market. Everything from Dead Space 2 to Madden has used the Pass system to get gamers to shell out $10 directly to EA’s pockets. While this additional fee doesn’t stop the bulk of the customer’s cash from going to the local GameStop, it has provided EA with a bit of extra revenue.
In a recent quote taken at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference, EA’s Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown was quoted as saying the following:
The revenues we derive from [the Online Pass] haven’t been dramatic. I’d say they’re in the $10 to $15 million range since we initiated the program.
A little bit of extra cash, as $15 million is believed to be pocket change for EA, is certainly better than no profit at all. Since the program rolled out, we’ve seen pretty much every EA title in recent memory come bundled with some form of incentive DLC or the one-time use multiplayer access code. Although no one could fault Electronic Arts for trying to reclaim a relatively tiny stake in the pre-owned games market, one can’t help but be curious as to exactly what percentage of used game buyers spring the extra cash for the Online Pass.
We Mash writers would love to know exactly how many of our kind readers have gone for the used game/EA Pass combo. Do you guys not mind buying the code, or do you generally find yourself just buying your games new and avoiding the program altogether?
[Source: Gamesindustry.biz]
