When Electronic Arts announced its plans for the Online Pass program on all its Sports ‘11 titles this year, gamers moaned and groaned and discussed how that move was going to open up the can of worms for everybody. Quickly after the announcement, THQ jumped on board and announced that they too were moving in this direction.
Since then, the Online Pass option hasn’t really spurred much attention around gaming news and everyone has realized it isn’t really that big of a deal. However, now that Sony is confirming that they’re looking into the business model as well, it may start turning heads again.
Speaking with GI.biz, SCEE boss Andrew House explained that this type of business decision is not only something Sony supports, but it’s something the company is actively looking into as well.
“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.”
As someone who purchases his games new, I couldn’t care less about this decision. In fact, I’m sure most gamers will never even be bothered by a decision such as this one. However, for those of you who purchase titles used, this is obviously going to impact your buying options. Considering Killzone 3 is just around the bend, it’ll probably be the first first-party title you see implement this scheme.
How do you feel about it all?
