Jimquisition: EA Access ... Denied


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Nothing that some people already know.  The problem is that its that majority don't know any better.  Its the same thing, games cut into pieces and sold individually for more money.  People need to stop paying for them, at the very least full price.  If the majority would do this, the gaming industry will have to chage.  All that nonsense Season Passes, skins for $1.99 each, paint jobs $.99 each, etc.  Borderlands 2 is a good example.  The DLCs themselves cost more than the game itself.  How sweet would have been if they had an editor for skins?

 

The problem gamers face, is that if they want the full experience, to play with their friends who already have all DLCs, they need to pay up.  So I'm force to get all the DLCs for the games I love, but I do wait for sales, and not waste, more importantly, not give in and pay full price to the gaming industry.

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47 minutes after he posted this video, EA announced that it will no longer publish free public demos for Madden. Though "demos" will be available to Access subscribers.

 

Another nail in the coffin for my favorite hobby. /sad

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No, he really isn't making any good points.  He talks about spending money on Live/PS+ and EA Access and whatever Ubisoft et al come up with and talking about "hundreds" of dollars.  Guess what?  I'm spending hundreds of dollars buying games now!  If I could pay, say $90 more a year (EA, Ubisoft and maybe one more) to get various publisher's content available I'd be spending less than 2 new games!

 

Everything else in his video is conjecture about the dystopian future of gaming as he sees it.

 

Frankly, I've watched a couple of his videos and he seems like a classic click baiter.  Whine about something controversial in order to get people to watch.  He's just plain annoying.

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I disagree with him on his conclusion.  Yes, game companies have become really bad at taking content out of their games and bringing them to DLC to make more money.  If this subscription model also includes the DLC for the games as part of it, then really it's a better deal.  You get the old content, and the new, for a single flat rate.  Time will tell.

 

He also talks about "what happens when the game industry start competing with each other to make the best subscription service" but doesn't realise that that's going against his argument?  If it means that these big publisher subscriptions get more features and more content then that's a good thing.

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47 minutes after he posted this video, EA announced that it will no longer publish free public demos for Madden. Though "demos" will be available to Access subscribers.

 

Another nail in the coffin for my favorite hobby. /sad

 

All valid points and with the demo news just goes to show that if something is too good to be true yadda yadda yadda.

 

Speak with your wallets at the end of the day.

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Speak with your wallets at the end of the day.

This.

 

At least I can tell them what I do and do not want, rather than subscribe to Mediocrity 20XX. I think BF3 was the last EA game I actually bought.

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This.

 

At least I can tell them what I do and do not want, rather than subscribe to Mediocrity 20XX. I think BF3 was the last EA game I actually bought.

 

See, that is the great thing about a capitalist society. If you don't like EA games, you don't have to buy them.

 

For those who do buy EA games, this is a pretty good deal. I haven't signed up for it because none of the offerings interest me yet, but as the catalog grows, I will consider it.

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He makes some fair points, but ultimately, the value of this service is up to each one of us.

Its not a universally bad deal, its just not for everyone. I think its silly to attack people that want to pay for a service like this. If gamers out there usually buy the same EA games each year that EA is now offering, then its clearly a good deal for them. What is the down side?

I think this is a case of different factions within the gaming community coming to different conclusions. Some will outright reject any such service, some will fully embrace it, and some will be cautiously optimistic.

I'm very interested to see what sales look like after 6 months. If EA is successful, then you bet that other big groups like Ubisoft will not be far behind.

Not putting out demos is silly though, so I hope that does not become a trend. That is a huge minus for EA's service. Although this is not the first service to use demos as a benefit. Both XBL Gold and PS+ offer early access to demos as a perk, so that has already conditioned many gamers to seeing demos as something they pay for.

Just release a new NCAA game and I'll buy whatever the hell EA wants me too

Not after the lawsuits EA went through. It just too costly to make another NCAA game for now.

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He makes some fair points, but ultimately, the value of this service is up to each one of us.

Its not a universally bad deal, its just not for everyone. I think its silly to attack people that want to pay for a service like this. If gamers out there usually buy the same EA games each year that EA is now offering, then its clearly a good deal for them. What is the down side?

I think this is a case of different factions within the gaming community coming to different conclusions. Some will outright reject any such service, some will fully embrace it, and some will be cautiously optimistic.

I'm very interested to see what sales look like after 6 months. If EA is successful, then you bet that other big groups like Ubisoft will not be far behind.

Not putting out demos is silly though, so I hope that does not become a trend. That is a huge minus for EA's service. Although this is not the first service to use demos as a benefit. Both XBL Gold and PS+ offer early access to demos as a perk, so that has already conditioned many gamers to seeing demos as something they pay for.

Not after the lawsuits EA went through. It just too costly to make another NCAA game for now.

 

People who don't subscribe are now losing a staple part of gaming since the CD was the medium of choice. It's bad enough when MS bend over for the publishers to remove demos from XBLA and leave it "optional".

 

In future? Who knows. Maybe they pull another Origin stunt where you can only access a game if you subscribe to Access.

 

It's been years since XBL or PSN locked demos (not betas) behind their paywalls IIRC. It's a ridiclous suggestion. You're actively blocking people from spending money on games they'd otherwise buy :no: Hopefully the geniuses who came up with that are gone.

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People who don't subscribe are now losing a staple part of gaming since the CD was the medium of choice. It's bad enough when MS bend over for the publishers to remove demos from XBLA and leave it "optional".

I was talking about those that do subscribe. There is little down side for them. I'm not sure what else there is to say about it. For those of us that don't subscribe, we just have to hope that enough of us still exist to warrant publishers to cater to us and release disc based versions of games. I'm not saying its a good thing, but if most gamers buy into it, then that is the future we will have to live in.

In future? Who knows. Maybe they pull another Origin stunt where you can only access a game if you subscribe to Access.

Yep, it could get a thousand times worse. That's the future for you, always room for the worst :laugh:

It's been years since XBL or PSN locked demos (not betas) behind their paywalls IIRC. It's a ridiclous suggestion. You're actively blocking people from spending money on games they'd otherwise buy :no: Hopefully the geniuses who came up with that are gone.

Not locked demos, early access to games in any form. Call them betas, etc, etc, but what it boils down to is a demo. A perk of having Gold or PS+ is early access to some games. If you don't want to call it a demo, fine, the result is the same.

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47 minutes after he posted this video, EA announced that it will no longer publish free public demos for Madden. Though "demos" will be available to Access subscribers.

 

Another nail in the coffin for my favorite hobby. /sad

 

there was no demo for madden 25 last year for xbox one or ps4 either. where was the outrage? :rofl:

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From his points what I'm worried about most is the cornering off of content or exclusive content only given to subscribers.

It really is crappy these days trying to buy a game and experience it all with 10 different stores getting exclusive pre-order DLC, then each console getting exclusive content, and now subscribers probably getting exclusive content (or content first).

The feeling of having to pay or you'll miss out is what sucks most about this industry. Thankfully the games I like most don't happen to be the COD, BF or FIFAs, but I wonder what EA have in store for Dragon Age, a game I am interested in...

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there was no demo for madden 25 last year for xbox one or ps4 either. where was the outrage? :rofl:

 

The game and demo came out 3 months before the new consoles. There's a good chance if you wanted the game you bought it at the start of the season, played it on 360/ps3 and then upgraded with the $10 program.

 

Either way, not having demos != locking demos behind subscriptions.

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Speak with your wallets at the end of the day.

 

And the wallet tells you that $40 / year for a whole publisher's catalogue is better than $40 for a single new game. The rest is irrelevant.

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And the wallet tells you that $40 / year for a whole publisher's catalogue is better than $40 for a single new game. The rest is irrelevant.

 

Except you have no control over the games included nor is it access to the whole catalogue.

 

You can play what they offer and have to spend more to get content that isn't included.

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And the wallet tells you that $40 / year for a whole publisher's catalogue is better than $40 for a single new game. The rest is irrelevant.

 

It's not the whole catalogue though. Titanfall is excluded and i doubt you'll get the latest FIFA/Madden/etc. There could be other games excluded as well. So it's not as clear cut as you make it seem.

 

I think the best thing to do is to keep an eye out on it for the next few months and see what happens with regards to content and then make a decision.

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Except you have no control over the games included nor is it access to the whole catalogue.

 

You can play what they offer and have to spend more to get content that isn't included.

 

Well, yes, of course, that you would only get it if it includes the game that you want.

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Well, yes, of course, that you would only get it if it includes the game that you want.

 

But you just tried to sell it as a complete catalogue service :rofl:

 

"The rest" is suddenly relevant and small details paint a bigger picture. EA have twice now made it harder to play and own their games/demos with Origin and now Access. It's not a case of scare mongering as Jim says, it's looking at history and how it's repeating itself.

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But you just tried to sell it as a complete catalogue service :rofl:

 

Sigh.

 

Whole catalogue, as in, everything that is included in the service.

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Sigh.

 

Whole catalogue, as in, everything that is included in the service.

And EA is not the only, or even the first, to lock content behind paid DLC walls.

 

One example comes from Sony Online Entertainment (the game-publishing arm of SCEA) - it is, in fact, DC Universe Online.  (It's a free-to-play MMO with paid DLC, and just celebrated another anniversary.)

 

There is some anger (and angst) over certain mid-level content (specific alerts and raids) being locked behind paid DLC walls.  (The anger and angst is specifically over the "Coast City" raid - it requires not just a character combat rating of 53, but either an AllAccess membership OR the "Fight for the Light" paid DLC - oddly enough, there is far less anger OR angst over the locking of Central City ("Lightning Strikes" paid DLC) or Thermyscira ("Amazon Fury Part I" paid DLC).

 

Part of that anger/angst is quite understandable - if you are honing to bulk up for later content, certain content/loot becomes critical on the road.  Central City (and the "Lightning Strikes" paid DLC that it requires) is quite critical if you also have the "Battle for Earth" DLC - however, I did not realize that until afterward.

 

Still, what THAT means is that the paid DLC has actual VALUE to the purchaser if he or she is thinking "down the road" - however, how many gamers actually THINK "down the road" when it comes to games that have DLC?

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Jesus this moron gives me a head ache.

 

I'm not EA's biggest fan (do they have any?) but frankly if you look at what's available and even one game in there is something you want, then you've already got your monies worth.

 

So what if other publishers start doing it? Where's the down side in that?

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