The Idiots in Charge

VIP

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 provided tons of "free" content for its users.  Free as in give me the code that proves that you bought a legitimate, or new, copy of the game and I'll give you unlock codes for all of the content on disc...and a map pack a few months later.   The question then is:

What happens if I bought the game used or rented it?

The answer:

Give EA more money, to purchase your own VIP code, and you can have this content too.

At first glance, this appears to be a way to give users who purchase the game added benefits.  While in some way it is, what it really appears to be to me is a cheap form of DRM.  What looks like an added benefit is actually a cheap way to prove that you are the owner of a new and not rented or used copy of the game.

Affects on my Buying Practices

I was a GameFly subscriber who recently rented Bulletstorm (loved it FYI).  For an extra $10 I could have access to more Echoes maps and a different leash model.  PASS.   When I rented Dead Space 2, I could have a trial of the online multi-player for two days.  Two whole days! If I give you another $10, I can have my very own code to play for the duration of my time with it.  Again...PASS.  I will give GameFly some credit though; if I would buy the game I do get a unique code, unlike some other places.

The idea behind what EA does seems to be sound from a business owner's perspective:

We don't want you renting or buying out games used, so we slip in this scheme to punish you for doing so.  If you do buy it used, you have to pay us more to have all of the content everyone else has.

However, from a buyer's perspective, I am not going to give EA more money.  I am not going to give them less money in regards to games I plan on purchasing within the first week of release (see Battlefield 3).  What this will do is change how I approach games I am on the fence about buying.  Most games with the two day online pass that I am on the fence about I will skip.

I'm sure some will pay the fee after the trial has expired.  I can understand the desire EA has to recover lost sales from used sales as well.  However, to punish those who use a service like GameFly in order to recover these losses is silly.   Most of them, if they are like me, will not give you that $10.  And most of them, if they are like me, will just skip the game if they are on the fence about it.  So, while you won't get more of my money EA, you will lose me as a potential customer on titles I am unsure about.  And that is the only affect your slick little DRM scheme has on me.