Battlefield 3 will probably require an online pass

2 August 2011

In true EA style, it has been revealed that Battlefield 3 will probably require a pass for online play.

The game’s executive producer Patrick Bach told Gamerzines that players will “probably” need to register a code in order to play the game online. Each retail copy will ship with a code, and will only be good for a single activation.

That means that if you buy the game from somebody second-hand, and they have already registered the code, you will have to pay EA for another one in order to get online.

Bach added that he doesn’t like to “think it’s an online pass, I think it’s our own backend. I’m not sure I want to call our system an online pass.” However, when asked whether people who buy the game second hand will have to pay to play online, Bach said “I think we are.”Looks like an online pass, sounds like and online pass…

“The whole idea is that we’re paying for servers and if you create a new account there is a big process on how that is being handled in the backend. We would rather have you buy a new game than a used game because buying a used game is only a cost to us; we don’t get a single dime from a used game, but we still need to create server space and everything for you.

“We want people to at least pay us something to create this because we’re paying for it. It was actually a loss for us to have new players,” which kind of seems fair, except for the fact that when you buy a game second hand, you’re effectively replacing a person who did pay for indefinite access to the online servers.

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