After Electronic Arts made a rather stunning, if not ‘brilliant’ move to charge for online play from used games, the industry has been cautiously looking into following suit. Sony now joins a growing list of publishers that are “actively” pursuing an “online pass,” one that would require the input of a one-time use code to activate online play capabilities.
SCEE president Andrew House, speaking with GI.biz, not only acknowledges that Sony is working on a similar solution but is enthusiastic about one. "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," House said in the interview. "And we're exploring actively the same option for our own content."
Sony has admitted that they are still not convinced that gamers should be charged for basic online play, especially in new games. Though Activision’s Bobby Kotick has expressed interest in a pay-to-play setup for Call of Duty, Sony remains unconvinced.
"In terms of just a charge for basic online play, that's something that we have to talk about a lot more and we struggle with a little bit," House said. "Because we feel very vindicated and base a lot of the success of PSN today -- a 70 percent connection rate across consoles -- on the fact that we've removed that major initial barrier to entry."
2 Comments
August 24, 2010
I thought Sony was already doing online pass? Wasn't it in one of their Socom PSP games?
August 24, 2010
If Sony actually did pursue an "online pass" it would most likely be the same as the other publishers, meaning it would only affect those who bought used copies of their games. New copies would have the code in it already so that those who bought the game new wouldn't be charged anymore.
It actually would be a pretty smart move on Sony's part, expecially considering they aren't making the same kind of money Microsoft is on their online service. On top of that, it would also help their overall bottom line.