Ben-DutkaThe Online Pass program is always capable of inciting arguments.
And when it was revealed that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning , a single-player role-playing game, would feature EA's Online Pass, gamers were a little miffed.
It's designed so that those who purchase the game new will receive seven extra House of Valor faction quests, plus a Mass Effect 3 -themed in-game item (if you're wondering, they teamed up with BioWare in a cross-promotion deal). If you buy Amalur used, however, you have to pay for this stuff.
Many gamers are saying it shouldn't have anything to do with an "Online Pass," so 38 Studios boss and ex-Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has been forced to explain in the Reckoning forums . In a lengthy post, he first clarifies that we should view the content as Day 1 DLC, which is free for anyone who buys the game new (and of course, they all would on Day 1). He went on to add:
"It's clear the intent right? To promote early adopters and MUCH MORE IMPORTANT TO ME, REWARD fans and gamers who commit to us with their time and money when it benefits the company. Every single person on the planet could wait and not buy Reckoning, the game would hit the bargain bin at some point and you could get it cheaper. 38 Studios would likely go away.
That's just how business works. We MUST make a profit to become what we want to become. THE ONLY way we do that is to make games you CANNOT WAIT TO BUY! If we do that, and you do that, we want to reward you with some cool free stuff as a thank you."
Schilling also tackled the thorny subject of the used game market, and simply asked if it was wrong for publishers to figure out how to make money on such a gigantic piece of the pie. The bottom line is that it takes cash to succeed and grow-
"Again, you can argue with methods, or process, and you absolutely can bitch and gripe about ANY DAY 1 DLC you are charged for, because I think I agree with many on that, but we are trying to create something here, product and company wise, and it takes dollars to do that."
Related Game(s): Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
