Dark days are looming ahead for gamers as more and more companies are looking at pulling out online gameplay modes in favor of purchasable online passes. As I mentioned in my Red Faction Armageddon review (which will now be the poster child for this lame publisher activity)
, the Ruin mode was an extra code that needed to be put in so that it could be accessed. It’s an effort to fight second hand game sales as the codes are one use only.
What’s next? Will DVD sellers include codes to access special content so if you sell the DVD the new buyer can’t access them? Will CDs only have 9 songs on them but come with a code to unlock the other three? It all seems like somewhat shady business dealings and artificially inflating prices.
Plan Could Backfire?
Some might say it’s a different situation but it’s not. Game companies, apparently with the help of Sony now who looks to be ready to offer a ’PSN pass’ which will be required to play Resistance 3,
Uncharted 3 and maybe Twisted Metal online, are pulling content that has traditionally always been part of a game and requiring a code to unlock it so they can make money off of second hand sales which they say is hurting their bottom line. For years they never said a word about it, so is it just ever-increasing corporate greed or just a line to make us all pay more for games instead of a direct price increase? Perhaps it’s both, but it could backfire on them.
The game companies believe that this will give them some extra revenue from games that were sold and then purchased from places like Gamestop. However, a simpler solution would probably just be to make games great so that gamers don’t want to sell them. That seems like the no-brainer that the games industry hasn’t been able to wrap their heads round fully.
