EA in Your Pocket

Benjamin Franklin once said, “A penny saved is a penny earned”. But what if every time you saved a penny you had to give one to someone else?

Think of it this way – why do people buy used cars? The answer, obviously, is to save money. But what if suddenly the Ford Motor Company decided that it needed a piece of the action every time a used car was sold anywhere.  Imagine Ford imposing a fee every time someone bought a used car from someone else.  Suppose you decided to buy your uncles old Ford f150 truck. You give your uncle 6 grand, he hands you the title and the keys.  Then suddenly, a week later, a letter comes in the mail from Detroit. It seems that Ford has decided you owe them an extra thousand dollars because they want in on the deal.

It would probably go over like the proverbial lead balloon wouldn’t it?

Yet that is exactly what Electronic Arts (EA)  is in the process of doing every time you buy a used console game, and other publishers are following suit.

You see it seems that Gamestop is having a very good year.  In fact, the retailer is reporting an increase in sales in the first quarter of 2010 up to $2.08 billion dollars. This, according to the retailer, represents increased profits of $75.2 million, with a 6.8 percent growth rate. My friends, that is a big piece of pie in anyone’s book and Electronic Arts wants their cut.  There is one slight problem however…

Electronic Arts doesn’t have any right to a slice of that particular pie – yet.

It all starts next month, beginning in June with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 that will come with a “ one-time use code that will allow gamers to play online on the Xbox 360 or PS3 systems.” (We here at No Prisoners, No Mercy aren’t sure how the dent Tiger has managed to place in his otherwise pristine reputation will affect game sales but that is another matter altogether).  

Eventually, most players will grow tired of the same console game.  In my case there was a time I played Grand Turismo games until the virtual wheels fell off. In the end I donated the games, but the usual process is to sell the games to someplace like Gamestop.  Now when you grow board with Tiger’s new game, or any other EA games that will follow, you will have to buy an online pass directly from EA for $10.00.

Now it seems that Ubisoft likes the idea as well (why am I not surprised?).   According to Gamasutra  Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez said, “We are looking very carefully at what is being done by EA regarding what we call the ‘$10 solution, and we will probably follow that line at sometime in the future.”

Who we are surprised at being all for the idea is Gamestop.  Games Politics is reporting  that GameStop CEO Dan DeMatteo is “looking forward to the launch of EA’s Online Pass” adding that…

“There have been some questions concerning first user only content and the effect on our used business. We have not seen an impact thus far and as a matter of fact, we will turn this into a positive with our ability to sell DLC through our investments made in technology to market and sell this content in our stores.” – GameStop CEO Dan DeMatteo

We can all understand why Ubisoft is excited about this new trend in used console games; But Gamestop is another matter. Is it a case of David staring down Goliath, wondering if he can stand up to the giant? Gamestop Chief Operating Officer Paul Raines says otherwise :

“We support the creation of added downloadable content for popular franchises, as we see that as extending the life of titles and broadening the base of game players.  We do not anticipate an impact to our used margins due to this program. The amount of used game buyers currently playing online is low, and as it grows, our proprietary models will manage trade and sale pricing to reach margin goals.” – Gamestop COO Paul Raines

So what’s the big deal?

The big deal – you may say to yourself at this point, “So what? I don’t play console games.”  Even if your hands never touch any controls but a keyboard it still may be a cause for concern. Why? Those whose favored games fair best on a PC have seen the increase in the $25.00 my sparkly little ponies, and the $10.00 Pandaren Pets . Now our own Sister Fran will be the first to tell you that riding a Celestial Steed is a lot better than riding a rhino (a Kodo for you WoW fans out there).   Now Direct 2 Drive is getting in on the action .  The digital distributer starts with free to play games, adds in “extra digital content”, and sells them to get their cut of the action.  The problem is, apparently, that they are not labeling them as free to play. Here is what their vice president Sutton Trout told Gamasutra:

“In the same way an MMO is an online game, a free-to-play is an online game,” he explained. “The monetization might be slightly different, but at the end of the day, [gamers are] playing online. We named it that [way] for a reason. It would be very confusing to tell our users, ‘free to play channel,’ and then ask for money.” – Direct2Drive Vice President Sutton Trout

My grandmother used to call this “squeezing the nickel until the buffalo shits”.  Of course that was back when the nickel had a picture of a buffalo on the back.  Where does the monetization of the video game industry stop? Yes, I understand that the whole point of a business is to make a profit.  Still, we here at No Prisoners, No Mercy are beginning to feel like we will eventually end up buying our games from people in trench coats in dark alleys.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather