Used Games To Require $10 "Passport" To Play Online

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
How many other companies do you think are going to start doing this and how long before single player games will go this route?

The new Uplay Passport program will begin in the "coming months and will be included in many of Ubisoft's popular core games," according to today's official release. This backs up rumors that hit earlier this week of the upcoming "service."
Click to expand...
 
Other companies have already started doing this, EA Sports has been doing it since last year, same with Sony. Single Player Games do it via DLC.
 
Well you can't even install FEAR2 until it's authenticated with the STEAM server, that was almost 3 years ago.
 
eh... it doesn't really phase me, honestly. The majority of the games that I play online are new anyway.

With that said, I have no intention of ever buying one of these passes.
 
I was going to be outraged, but remembered this isn't any worse than Steamworks.
 
Nanan said:
Meh, all the more reason to download hack copies of games.
Click to expand...

Sad to say but this is how it will be. Steam does have god sales though, so you don't pay the full face value on the game to begin with.

Steam should get a game marketplace going, but that would be too good for the consumer, and too bad for steam, since gamers will undercut Steams own prices for the various, "used" games.
 
All I have to say is UbiSoft can suck my ballz. I'll never buy a game from them again after the shit with Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and "Star-Force" protection.
 
Good for them...now they can recoup some of those 2nd and 3rd party used sales they have been cheated out of. I would rather the money go to the publishers/game studios that see gamestop rape consumers on used game sales, which doesn't benefit anyone but themselves and some cheap bastards. There are always legitimate ways to buy a new game cheaper than retail price!
 
If it wasn't for the Tom Clancy games, Ubisoft would never see my money. Now? That may change.
 
I'm not for publishers doing this but I can never understand people buying used games when the new ones are only $5 more, unless they are out of production that is.
 
Not sure this really bothers me as steam doesn't really bother me. I'm not much for selling used games in the first place; since I like to hold onto them and play them again from time to time. On top of that I usually hold out for sweet half price deals on steam or through amazon or something before I'll buy a game. Honestly I find few games worth the full retail price to begin with. I think the most I've spent on a game in the last 5 or 6 years has been 30-35 bucks; which was only for portal2; which I got my moneys worth out of.
 
fps4ever said:
Good for them...now they can recoup some of those 2nd and 3rd party used sales they have been cheated out of. I would rather the money go to the publishers/game studios that see gamestop rape consumers on used game sales, which doesn't benefit anyone but themselves and some cheap bastards. There are always legitimate ways to buy a new game cheaper than retail price!
Click to expand...

Rape consumers? Tell me, what will consumers do with their new games when they no longer want or need them? With used games sales no longer existing they can't trade it in for anything so they're left with either letting it collect dust somewhere or throwing it away. Seems to me that getting rid of used games sales hurts consumers just as much as it'll hurt gamestop.

Also, it's rather crass to call individuals who value used games sales cheap bastards. I for one couldn't really imagine someone paying for a game like Sniper: Ghost Warrior at retail prices and not being able to recoup something of what they lost. I mean, I feel downright robbed having paid $5 for it on steam. If I could get a refund I would.

Cheap Bastards...No I'd say it's more about not wanting to pay full price for a title which doesn't come close to comparing in quality to many other titles. It's about recognizing value.
 
LastQuestion said:
Rape consumers? Tell me, what will consumers do with their new games when they no longer want or need them? With used games sales no longer existing they can't trade it in for anything so they're left with either letting it collect dust somewhere or throwing it away. Seems to me that getting rid of used games sales hurts consumers just as much as it'll hurt gamestop.

Also, it's rather crass to call individuals who value used games sales cheap bastards. I for one couldn't really imagine someone paying for a game like Sniper: Ghost Warrior at retail prices and not being able to recoup something of what they lost. I mean, I feel downright robbed having paid $5 for it on steam. If I could get a refund I would.

Cheap Bastards...No I'd say it's more about not wanting to pay full price for a title which doesn't come close to comparing in quality to many other titles. It's about recognizing value.
Click to expand...

Sell it on eBay instead of Gamestop. I see people do it all the time along with stating the online code has already been used! Also, if you feel you've robbed after only paying $5 for a game then yes, you are a cheap bastard! :D

Problem is I don't think there is an easy answer that wouldn't piss off someone!
 
Although, when was the last time you bought a second hand PC game?

Your only going to hear from two factions about this, the people who buy second hand console games, and GameStop who will suddenly find the second hand market dwindle, not a bad thing really, I hate getting $10 for a game they will sell of for $50 again.
 
fps4ever said:
Sell it on eBay instead of Gamestop. I see people do it all the time along with stating the online code has already been used! Also, if you feel you've robbed after only paying $5 for a game then yes, you are a cheap bastard! :D

Problem is I don't think there is an easy answer that wouldn't piss off someone!
Click to expand...

Have you even played Ghost Warrior? It's so bad that if it was actually free I would regret having taken the time to install it.
 
This really only affects console users. You can't really sell used PC games because of authorization and CD keys. Honestly I buy maybe 3-4 good console games a year, other than that it's PC all the way.
 
The "get back at mean old gamestop" argument doesnt hold up because if companies really wanted to, they could just stop giving them new games to begin with. Also gamestop is not the only used game market around.

For the time being I dont think this will affect used game sales. One would assume that gamestop/et al. will just adjust the price down $10 to compensate for the code purchase. It will, however, affect trade in value because there is no way they will lose the $10 all on their end so the crappy trade in prices will go even lower. Just my two cents.
 
I could see MAYBE being justified doing this with games that require dedicated multiplayer server infrastructure, but for a single-player game? No deal.
 
This will primarily affect console gamers. The big-wigs want to stifle the used game market among console gamers as much as possible. Its a damn shame if I want to use my GameFly subscription to rent the game, I don't want to pay $10 to play it online for a few days. :mad:
 
nerdydesi said:
Its a damn shame if I want to use my GameFly subscription to rent the game, I don't want to pay $10 to play it online for a few days. :mad:
Click to expand...
Thats something I hadnt even thought of, it is going to be really crappy for gamefly customers especially with more and more titles doing this sort of thing.
 
I don't how this should even be allowed with games that run off p2p multiplayer. .
 
At least they're not as bad as Valve, who ties the entire game to your account, not just parts of it.
 
Easy fix, don't buy their games. Just like I have never bought anything that used SecuRom.

The idea of penalizing people selling stuff used is...I don't get it. If a car company started selling cars that you couldn't sell used without paying off the manufacturer they'd be crucified.
 
Aluisious said:
The idea of penalizing people selling stuff used is...I don't get it. If a car company started selling cars that you couldn't sell used without paying off the manufacturer they'd be crucified.
Click to expand...

Car manufacturers dont do it because they cant get away with it. When car companies can sell cars with a 'license' for the electronics & software inside you can bet they'll try to take a cut of used car sales.
 
Nanan said:
Meh, all the more reason to download hack copies of games.
Click to expand...

Or buy the game? Pass comes with new copies of the game. I would rather support the game company anyways.. Instead of gamestop.
 
fps4ever said:
Good for them...now they can recoup some of those 2nd and 3rd party used sales they have been cheated out of. I would rather the money go to the publishers/game studios that see gamestop rape consumers on used game sales, which doesn't benefit anyone but themselves and some cheap bastards. There are always legitimate ways to buy a new game cheaper than retail price!
Click to expand...

A. Anything sold used is depriving the company from money, just look at cars. Yet, you don't see car companies trying to regain lost potential sales. That's because it would be considered extortion.

B. If the product was really that good, then it wouldn't have been sold used to begin with.

C. Used games sales are the only way to properly depreciate the value of games. Especially over priced games. Otherwise, they'd always be $60, despite how good or bad the game really is.
 
Its not just Gamestop. Its also used sales marketplaces like Ebay, Playtrade & Amazon.
 
Tak Ne said:
Car manufacturers dont do it because they cant get away with it. When car companies can sell cars with a 'license' for the electronics & software inside you can bet they'll try to take a cut of used car sales.
Click to expand...

They do in a sense. A lot of cars have a lot of custom codes that OBDII doesn't support. Think of it like OpenGL with Nvidia extentions. By doing this, car companies can limit you to where you can have your car repaired, and it costs private shops thousands for the tools that can.

The car is yours, until it breaks down. At that point you're the car companies bitch. Same idea here. It's your game, until you wanna play it online. Then your the game companies bitch.

Though honestly, game companies put too much value in the multiplayer they put in single player games. Only the most bored teenagers would be interested in doing this. Otherwise, the most popular online gaming experience is still the PC.

World of Warcraft? PC
Minecraft? PC
Starcraft 2? PC
League of legends? PC

Except for a hand full of games on the console, many people aren't going to play them. Battlefield and Call of Duty games are probably the only few games people care about multiplayer on the console.
 
I'm sorry, but I've must have missed the part where this somehow affects the majority of PC gamers. My consoles are to entertain guests, my real gaming takes place on my PC where all my games are new whether I bought a Collector's Edition for $80 or got the game on sale for $5.

Am I supposed to have sympathy for console gamers considering how the industry trends that have favored them have negatively impacted my own preferred platform for years?
 
Well if I have to pay a $10 fee for a used game then we will just stop buying Ubisoft games until the price of it drops to $10. This will take the wind out of their sail.

Kickstand
 
Megalomaniac said:
Steam should get a game marketplace going, but that would be too good for the consumer, and too bad for steam, since gamers will undercut Steams own prices for the various, "used" games.
Click to expand...

It doesn't make any sense at all to buy and sell "used" copies of digital games. What's next? Used copies of mp3's?
 
It's crap like this lawyers and politicians should fight. I can't think of any other items that automatically self-destruct or require a fee to remain operational when you sell them to someone.
Imagine if cars contained some circuitry that caused the engine to fail when you sold then...
 
Megalomaniac said:
Nanan said:
Meh, all the more reason to download hack copies of games.
Click to expand...
Sad to say but this is how it will be. Steam does have god sales though, so you don't pay the full face value on the game to begin with.

Steam should get a game marketplace going, but that would be too good for the consumer, and too bad for steam, since gamers will undercut Steams own prices for the various, "used" games.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it probably will only decrease sales, some on the selling side (somebody who buys their games with plans to resell it while the value is still high, but now won't be able to sell it for anywhere near as much right from the start - result being they don't buy the game at all), some on the buying side (somebody who can't afford full price but still wanted to support the industry and inject money into it - after all, that money the original game owner got usually was immediately spent on another new game so you can't say publishers didn't benefit from that used game sale at all).

Especially if you believe that people generally want to follow the rules and are only likely to break them if they think the industry is out of touch and making grabs for your wallet every chance they can get. If you believe that the music industry's attempts to lock things down via DRM and extract more money out of people only increased music piracy then by the same token it should do the same for games if people start to feel more and more pressured by industry practices. Question is - how long before sales go down and the game industry blames it on piracy or the economy, after all you KNOW no company would ever admit that it was their 'make a grab for another $10' ploy that might have contributed to lower sales.
 
SXO said:
I'm sorry, but I've must have missed the part where this somehow affects the majority of PC gamers. My consoles are to entertain guests, my real gaming takes place on my PC where all my games are new whether I bought a Collector's Edition for $80 or got the game on sale for $5.

Am I supposed to have sympathy for console gamers considering how the industry trends that have favored them have negatively impacted my own preferred platform for years?
Click to expand...

This. As SXO has pointed out, PC gamers have been getting the short end of the stick for years. This is merely the bean counters taking their magnifying glasses to the console market.
 
JimmiG said:
It's crap like this lawyers and politicians should fight. I can't think of any other items that automatically self-destruct or require a fee to remain operational when you sell them to someone.
Imagine if cars contained some circuitry that caused the engine to fail when you sold then...
Click to expand...

No offence, but what makes you think politicians are going to lift a finger to help when the majority of their campaign contributions comes from major corporations and lobbyist groups funded by corporations and special interest groups? Especially when it doesn't suit their interests?

The American goverment stopped caring about its people a long time ago.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top