Neuromancer
Member
Well that much for a huge company like EA I don't think makes much of a difference. There's no way to know what the costs of the online pass have been in terms of people developing the system, them marketing the system to make people aware of it, manufacturing the stupid little cards, coordinating the codes with the console owners, etc. I have a feeling the whole thing has just been a wash.Why don't you chill out, man? I was wrong about that, another poster pointed it out in a far more mature manner.
And that doesn't really alter my argument. I still think its a very minor inconvenience, and trying to get profit off used game sales for those that made the game is a cause I agree with. Code problems suck, and are annoying, but its part of modern gaming, just like day one patches and 100kb downloads.
And neuromancer has a point, but $10-15 million in "found revenue" is still a pretty good turnaround from what would have just been nothing to those who buy the game used.
Granted this may come as hypocritical because his company does online passes too, but I thought this was a very interesting interview with THQ's Danny Bilson, where he talks about possible benefits from the used game business:
Combined with Gamestop's own reports that the majority of used game trade in credit goes towards new games, I question the effectiveness of any of this stuff.DB: ...There are so many ways that people experience games outside of the premium buying it for $60. Used games spread the content across a wider audience also, so you hope that the audience grows. When the next one comes out, they all line up to buy it at premium price the first day.
WP: So you're not one of those game publishers that thinks used games are the worst thing to happen to the industry?
DB: I really can't comment on that.