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Tuesday, August 24, 2010
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Sony Looking to Implement Online Passes in Future Games?
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Sony of Europe's President, Andrew House, shared his thoughts on EA's and THQ's recent efforts to counter used game sales.
One of the more controversial topics of the past year has been EA's "Project Ten Dollar." A system designed to, in part, combat used video games sales, Project Ten Dollar sees the removal of online-enabled portions of select games such as Mass Effect 2 and Madden NFL 11. These portions are then made as premium downloads, costing between $5 and $15, which customers must purchase before being able to play their game online or accessing specific, online-oriented content such as roster updates or DLC expansions. This fee is waived for customers that purchase the game new via a one-time use code included inside the game box.
While EA's intents were and are obvious, the number of inconveniences imposed on customers by Project Ten Dollar speak for themselves. Concerns were raised again when Ubisoft, having taken heavy criticism for the ridiculous DRM (Digital Rights Management) used in the PC version of Assassin's Creed II, went on record that they were carefully watching EA's efforts and stated that they would probably follow suit in the future. Thus far Ubisoft has yet to implement an online pass system into their games, however publisher THQ was quick to act, adding an online pass to May's UFC Undisputed 2010.
Now it seems it may be Sony's turn. Speaking with GamesIndustry, Andrew House, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, expressed support for EA and THQ's online pass structure when asked about it and rumors that Activision will eventually charge for Call of Duty's multiplayer. "On the principle of making online portions of the game available or unlocked from the disc-based release for a fee, we're broadly supportive of that. And we're exploring actively the same option for our own content," House said. "In terms of just a charge for basic online play, thats something that we have to talk about a lot more and we struggle with a little bit because we feel very vindicated and base a lot of the success of PSN today - a 70 per cent connection rate across consoles - on the fact that weҒve removed that major initial barrier to entry."
Should these plans lead to games such as SOCOM 4, Resistance 3, Killzone 3, or MLB 11: The Show having online passes, it wouldn't be Sony's first attempt at combating used sales and pirates in this manner. Two PlayStation Portable games, ModNation Racers and SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo 3, have already used online "entitlement codes" required in order to play them online. This would, however, open the proverbial floodgates with third-party publishers wasting no time following Sony's lead -- at least on the PlayStation 3.
Source: GamesIndustry (Registration Required), via Kotaku
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Posted by Warp on 08/24 at 04:01 AM
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