EA's 'Online Pass' has only generated $15 million revenue

Andre Yoskowitz
8 Sep 2011 12:52

Since its launch in 2010, it appears that EA's Online Pass has only generated $15 million in extra revenue.
Online Pass, the company's way to kill of the used game market, requires second-hand buyers to pay $9.99 or so if they want to access the online features of a game, on top of the price of the game.
Added CFO Eric Brown at the recent Citi 2011 Tech Conference:

The revenues we derive from that haven't been dramatic. I'd say they're in the $10-$15 million range since we initiated the program.

Online Pass has started a new trend, and other publishers like Sony and Ubisoft have followed, each looking to milk more money from consumers.
Brown says consumers are "ok" with the Online Pass:

The reception of the program has been positive. We thought about [Online Pass] pretty carefully and there hasn't been any significant push-back from the consumer, because I think people realise that if you're buying a physical disc and it requires an attachment to someone else's network and servers, [those] people realise bandwidth isn't free.
So the fact that we're diffusing or covering online costs is not viewed to be unreasonable. We're well into this program and there is no consumer backlash.