Current Events > Remember: Online passes almost became the standard.

(+) Yeah! (+)

In case you were fortunate to not remember, online passes were included in new games to combat used game sales, allowing only those who bought the game new to access the multiplayer or some other content.

Imagine how many ded gaems we'd have today if that still existed. How many devs would try to punish used game purchases by tying large parts of the game behind that pass

That would be way worse than any loot boxes tbh
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Imagine how many multiplayer games could survive for a lot longer if crossplay was a thing.
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The only reason we dont have them any more is because dev's oh so benevolently announced they would stop about 3 days before Microsoft announced the xbox 1 would be a DRM machine. And then they couldnt take it back once Microsoft had to backpedal.

And tbh, considering loot boxes are part of an online service and their games are an unlivable slog without them, to say nothing of the huge DRM resurgence and the fact that so many games may as well be online only... they'll still prolly be unplayable in a few years.

Not much has changed. We're being fucked at least just as hard
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Darmik posted...

Imagine how many multiplayer games could survive for a lot longer if crossplay was a thing.

This
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I'm not too familiar on why they stopped happening, but wasn't because Gamestop fought it? I don't think the companies cared too much about the gamers.

I remember, army of two 40th day, had a code with game in case that allowed you to play the online portion, sold separately as dlc for $5.00. They did one other game I believe before the backlash made that idea disappear.

And then loot boxes and season pass's started to appear.

Theres a lot of minor details, but that's a basic picture. I think mass effect 3 had to be one of the first titles on consoles to contain loot box's
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Womp_Womp posted...

I'm not too familiar on why they stopped happening, but wasn't because Gamestop fought it? I don't think the companies cared too much about the gamers.

The announcements all happened very suspiciously close to Microsoft's "always online" xbox 1 announcement.

Very likely that had something to do with it.
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The only reason they stopped is that they discovered that it's much more beneficial to make money from microtransactions instead. An online pass limits their potential audience.

The last one I remember doing it was The Last of Us.
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