Thing is, from their point of view, they don’t care if they’re missing out on you because they aren’t seeing your money anyways.
It’s why they can do this and not care if people are pissed, because the ones who are, they wouldn’t be getting money from in the first place.
If you go to a friend’s house, just log on with your account! QED.
yeah, they dont see my money on this title. but by changing my budget it runs the risk of not seeing my money on anything done in the future
it probrablly wont matter to large companies, but when th idea is to get the game into peoples hands, pricing them out of it could be a bad idea
but im not gonna derail anymre, because like i said mk9 is a day one for me any way
The idea is always profit, and lost dollars matters to every company. If a development studio within an EA or an Activision is not doing well, that studio gets closed or merged elsewhere. Origin, Westwood, and Mythic says hi. Those closings and merges lead to layoffs, demotions, and reduced pay. Lets not pretend you are doing them a favor by spending 30 bucks on a used copy when they are not seeing that cash.
I personally do not care about the online pass. I mainly PC game, so this is nothing new to me.
People just like to complain about ever little thing now a days.
This is not really the way economics works. Buying the game, even if its used, is good for the company. It lowers the number of used copies on the market so that anyone else may have to buy the game new. If the market is flooded with used copies for whatever reason (like for instance the game is horrible) then yes buying used does nothing for the company. That’s really not the buyer’s fault though is it?
Additionally, used games can be good advertising for new games. If I go back and play some old game and really like it, I’m way more likely to buy the sequel on release day.
Console developers seem to think that their games should be treated as services instead of as goods. That’s why this is happening. Sure they have to keep their servers up for online to work, but there’s no way that’s costing them $5 per user (100% profit is the expected turn-around on used games for most stores, and $10 is the going rate for an online pass right now). In this case a P2P system would probably work just as well, if not better, and it would lower the server running costs to a negligible amount (and, depending on the P2P style, potentially remove those costs entirely). Even if a P2P system won’t work they should only be charging us each 200% of the operating cost per user at most.
Now, if for some reason they actually do regular balance patches and content updates (like a PC game), then I can see an online pass being worth it. But odds are, besides maybe one or two early balance patches (even with the balance “hooks” they’ve promised), and some locked but on-disk content (DLC characters and costumes), we won’t see anything from the devs after release day.
I was originally going to get this game on release day. I can’t agree with their choice to follow this new trend. Because of this I will buy this game used, if I buy it at all, and I won’t be paying for online play. I suggest you do the same.
Final Thought: Every game I have played with this online pass system so far has had absolutely horrendous online gameplay. Examples include the latest Medal of Honor, and Homefront among others. “Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but it does waggle it’s eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing ‘look over there’.” - XKCD
That’s something I’m worried about. While this is about games that don’t pertain to MK, I’m hearing that every game that had this system on a console had subpar online. I’m already worried about MK’s online, and hearing all this isn’t making things better (though technically it shouldn’t have any bearing).
^if its like SSFIV online Im good.
Online shopping sites would like to have a word with you. There are plenty avenues to go about getting used games cheaply without going to your local Gamestop that are just as cheap, if not cheaper. Besides, it is silly to think that used games stop after one circulation. I’ve personally bought used games only to put them in the used bin yet again. That is a major flaw to your line of thinking, brosky. Used games are just expensive and potentially permanent rentals for the most part, meaning a standard used game will see several users in the long run.
Personally, I stopped buying used games when I would rather just limit my purchases to what I want rather than impulse buy used crap. It is kinder on my wallet.
That is if there is a sequel, you know, because of actual sales and all.
They are treating their games as both goods and services, cuz they are. Granted, I have no idea what the fees for server maintenance is, same with balancing, patching, data collecting and organization, content development, and testing, but I assume it is a pretty penny and it IS a service gained from purchasing a good. Also, this online pass is also a reassurance that they will be making back their development fees.
It is nice to assume what people will do when they have no real history outside of defunct management under a different name and company. By the way, Kenshi and Skarlett is not on disk content.
I said this before and I will say it again, you are not doing any favors by purchasing a used copy = No one at NRS will give a shit if you do buy.
Product A from Company X is red, Product B from Company Y is also red, therefore Product C from Company Z will also be red. Sorry? Besides, what are we talking about when it comes to online gameplay? The lag? The content? The balance?
Everyone is going this route so get used to it. Until the developers and publishers see some of the money Gamestop and other places who sell the games used makes, this will be the norm.
Right or Wrong, this is path. Either get over it or find another hobby.
Should have posted sooner and save me a long post. 
and that’s what it’s all about. it’s not about server maintenance, pirates, or development costs. it’s the same reason why sports team hate ticket brokers. they can’t wet their beaks in the ticket brokers pot.
great analogy. spot on.
Technically is about all of that. Cover all that crap, generate profits faster. I mean, that is why companies exist to begin with, right? Besides, you cannot equate the used gaming market to scalping. A scalped ticket is only good once, a used game is good until everybody is tired of the game. Imagine a stadium system where you have tickets that can be used for every event forever. Shit be bonkers.
Being someone who played NHL 11 online and NFS:HP online, both with online passes, I’m going to disagree.
Mind you, they are EA games. The online codes that you hear people complain about is from THQ, and THQ were always terrible with online play.
The only ** TRUE** down side to this is it wrecks players who have multiply people under one roof who would like to play Mk9 on there own account/s.
When I said “market” I meant “world market.” The statements I made are a generalization of the processes discussed in most college level economics courses. Sure, a single purchase doesn’t make that much of a difference, but it does make a difference that compounds with all the other transactions to change the state of the economy of the product.
Yes I agree with you. Nobody should buy a used game just because they feel like spending money. But, given the chance to buy the same game used versus new (same day and everything), I find it difficult to justify spending the extra money. I have on occasion done this in order to support a company I particularly like. In that case buying through the company’s personal store is the way to go.
I’ll agree to disagree on this one. This is actually something that is kind of an opinion. According to Wikipedia you are correct. But, the last time I spoke to an econ prof about this one, I’m pretty sure she admitted that about 50% of the econ community would agree with me and 50% with you.
I have a pretty good idea of how much this costs, but its kind of irrelevant… Anyway… Half of the services listed are used in producing the game and are never sold as services. The other half are services which are generally guaranteed (verbally or in writing or through advertising) as part of the sale of the good (in which case they actually become part of the good and can no longer be considered a service [this is one of the points that the econ community argues over]) or are provided because the company feels it is necessary (in which case the user never paid for it and the company never asked the user to pay for it).
The obvious question here: So they think their game is so bad that initial sales won’t cover dev fees? No… I agree with you. They are covering their profits. They’re just using a method that I find to run counter to the interests of their customers.
True. But I can make assumptions about them based on the collective actions of the entire console video game industry. If they behave as expected based on all current data, then I will be right. If they actually do some cool post-release support, then they will be awesome.
The DLC character on disk argument was something I pulled out of everyone else’s complaints. Its not actually something I disagree with. I never should have said it.
This is exactly why I’m choosing to do what I’m choosing to do. I was going to buy a new copy, but I disagree with what they’re doing. So, now I will be buying a used copy, if I buy a copy at all. This limits the money they will make off me, as a means of protest. I know its not much of a protest, but I’m only one man.
That’s why I included my quote from XKCD. Correlation does not equal causation. I thought it was funny… No, this is not the way probabilities work. But the human mind is wired to think this way. Therefore, no matter what the stats say, I still can’t help but expect this to occur. That’s why I included the quote. Cause this line of thinking is incorrect, but I can’t help it.
For the games I mentioned, I would say all of the above.
I play neither sports games nor racing games. Therefore I bow to your knowledge on this. Its not like it matters anyway, correlation and causation being what they are.
Final Thought: I’m trying really hard to not be an ass here. I’m pretty rude in general so this is kind of hard. I’m sure some of this will come down as condescending and I tried to remove those parts. I started out with some ad hominem remarks. Those should be gone (I did my best). I’m going to leave this thread behind before I say something really rude. I tend to get very possessive of my opinions. That attitude got me through my education, but it sure as hell hasn’t helped me in my social life.
I am personally against charging people the extra $10 just because they want to buy it used. Being cheap shouldn’t be something someone should get bashed for buying a game. I can tell you this much you are going to see alot more games use this implemation.
Diablo 2 is pretty good online.
I’m all for companies trying to discourage used game sales to increase profit, but I disagree with this approach. There are other avenues they could have taken, like exclusive content or maybe even additional characters for buying the game new. Personally I think restricting access to a large portion of the game is a mistake. I can say that I’ve rented a game on gamefly and then turned around and bought it because it was great.
That being said, within the next few years digital distribution will probably completely take over thus negating the need to do these silly shenanigans as you’re now forced to buy it new.
the online pass code works for the console and every acount on it!