EA: Online Pass Was A Mistake

EA’s Peter Moore admitted to Polygon in an E3 interview, telling the site that its Online Pass system was abolished because of the negative feedback from gamers, and because it wasn’t profitable. He also concurred that the business strategy was “a mistake”.

We cancelled Online Pass. I was at the meeting. It just wasn’t resonating with the consumer. It just wasn’t consumer friendly. It was hard work and it was as much work for the guy who would never trade his game in, even though we gave him some digital content, because you’re punching numbers in. We just made a decision. I was the chair at the meeting. We said enough of Online Pass. Not saying, you know, it was Austin Powers type meeting of Doctor Evils saying [places pinkie finger on eyetooth, Dr. Evil-style] ‘we know we can get it back down the road’. No. That was not the meeting I was in. Online Pass was more trouble to the consumer than it was worth. It was a mistake. The consumer’s feedback was that this thing gets in the way of a good experience so let’s get rid of it.