

EA Launches a $30 Per Year Netflix for Games on Xbox One - aashaykumar92
http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/29/ea-launches-a-30-per-year-netflix-for-games-on-xbox-one/?utm_campaign=fb&ncid=fb

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nkozyra
Anybody else old enough to remember the Sega Channel?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Channel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Channel)

An early harbinger of streaming services, the Sega Channel was amazingly
decent - dare I say "good" \- for the time. As this system likely will be, the
"play all you want" model relied on a few dozen games at a time being
available and then they'd cycle out every month or so.

For someone who was a kid that played a lot of video games, this was ideal. My
father once relayed to me that we'd rented Super Mario Bros 2 enough times to
have purchased it 3 times over.

The resale market for video games is pretty absurd. Here, of course, is where
I admit that even though I've cracked 30 I'm still playing a lot of video
games. If I plop down $60-$70 on a game it's not a recoupible expense in any
way, and in the days of all digital everything, this feels ludicrous.

The fact that consoles are still relying on DRM media is an amazing but
predictable anachronism, and it feels like it exists solely because the game
companies cannot figure out how to properly handle this model.

Having used the new Adobe Creative Cloud for a while, I find it's a really
nice approach that doesn't end up costing any less but gives me some
flexibility.

~~~
jerf
I can never resist linking this whenever this comes up:
[http://classicgames.about.com/od/history/p/Playcable-For-
Int...](http://classicgames.about.com/od/history/p/Playcable-For-
Intellivision-The-First-Video-Game-Portal.htm)

~~~
nkozyra
I retract my "anybody old enough to remember" comment then. :)

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dm2
This seems like a pretty great deal, what's the catch?

I'm guessing that the games will only be available for a limited period of
time, then if you still want to play them you'll have to purchase them, which
would be very different from Netflix.

I doubt these games have any of the DLC. You might be able to purchase the
DLC, but then when the game is no longer offered on the service you'll be left
with worthless DLC until you buy the full game.

Some people also purchase all services of this type, even if they already have
the full games, because it's also offering exclusive content and betas, so
it's basically a free $30 for each of those people to EA, millions of people
times $30.

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BrianEatWorld
A good example may be to look at the PS+ service offered for Playstation
owners. Basically, you get access to games only while you subscribe. If you
let the subscription lapse, then the contents becomes locked, even though it
is still installed on your machine.

Part of the catch may be that they are bidding to cut out used game stores
like Gamestop. Through this system, they get paid directly, diminish the
supply of used (substitute) goods and can combat rental outlets like Redbox
and Gamefly, by having less capital costs.

~~~
chiph
I definitely see this as their attempt to capture the used-game revenue
stream.

From a financials standpoint, this makes the same case as SaaS software does
-- recurring revenue stream, predictable income, and so on.

It also increases the consequences of getting banned by the XBox staff. Not
only can't you go online for multiplayer, you can't play your subscription
games either.

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GVIrish
"It also increases the consequences of getting banned by the XBox staff. Not
only can't you go online for multiplayer, you can't play your subscription
games either."

Sounds like a classic case of "this is feature not a bug". With this system
the stakes will be significantly raised for those who are verbally abusive on
Live. Although admittedly I don't know if increasing penalties for the riff
raff will improve their behavior or not.

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aashaykumar92
Almost every parent comment so far contains "What's the catch?" or something
similar. Speaks volumes of EA's lack of transparency with their customers.
They make great games, but seem to have some sleaziness when it comes to the
pricing/terms of their products.

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rayiner
I think EA's continued popularity is a damning indictment of consumers. They
complain incessently about DLC, DRM, 0-day patches, unimaginative games, yet
line up, year after year, to plunk down $60 for the next Madden.

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Karunamon
I think the people who are loudly complaining about these things aren't the
same ones purchasing the next vers^H^H^H^H itera^H^H^H^H full price expansion
pack for the existing game.

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slg
As someone who has generally bought 2 or 3 sports titles a year from EA, this
seems like an awesome deal. But since it is EA afterall, I have to ask "What
is the catch?" I just don't see what exactly they get from this type of
system. At $30 per year it is the cost of one game every two years. I have to
imagine most of EA's customers who would be interested in this type of program
make a lot more frequent purchases than that.

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vegardx
Knowing EA there is always a catch.

I'm pretty sure that they just want to push more downloadable content on to
you, and start releasing less and less complete games. Just look at the
Battlefield-series, you have to buy four individual extra packages in order to
play it (more or less), or you're basically stuck with the single player or
empty servers. They also offer a "premium" service, where you get all the
packages at a better price, but you have to pay up front.

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bentcorner
The end result is that EA goes F2P for AAA games and makes it up on DLC/IAP.

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vegardx
Yeah - or almost F2P. You can get AAA titles for $10-15, so they're almost
there already. I think they've realised that releasing often is much more
profitable. People are more inclined to pay a little fee many times, than one
big one time fee. Even if the total adds up to more.

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shmerl
Nah, I prefer GOG with their DRM-free games. EA has some games there, but not
a lot:

[https://secure.gog.com/games##search=electronic%20arts](https://secure.gog.com/games##search=electronic%20arts)

"Undying" is one of the best examples. But they never allowed re-releasing
Neverhood and many other great games.

All those DRMed services are a no go.

~~~
dm2
I had problems purchasing with the about a year ago (it was my first purchase
from them) and never tried again. There was just a generic error message after
I entered my credit card info saying "sorry, your order cannot be completed"
but it still charged my card and their support didn't get back to me for over
a week. I'm not even sure I ever received the game key.

It seemed to be common with them when I searched for that error message and
their site (from what I can remember), but just not a good way to treat a
first time customer. They might be better now, I see they have good deals on
steamgamesales.com all the time.

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danielweber
Their website is often unreachable, and it's been like that for over a year
for me. I give up immediately if I can't get to them and do something else.

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shmerl
It was hard to reach a while ago when they had a huge spike in visitors, but
they already increased the capacity.

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lukasbarton
Will be very interesting to see what impact a successful model here would have
on the trade-in/re-sell revenue of brick and mortar. I believe these numbers
have been hovering in the 25% range for the past few years.

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mabramo
I despise EA's business practices as much as or more than the next gamer, but
this seems great for any Xbone owner. What is the catch?!

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davexunit
The catch is that you no longer have the physical copy of the game or the game
data on disk. When this service goes away or your account is removed, no more
games. You will be completely dependent upon EA, just like they want you to
be.

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DrMcFacekick
I wish I had something more poignant to say other than this is dumb and EA is
dumb.

They're nickle and diming their customers into oblivion. I guess there will
always be the diehard sports game console-only fanatics, but there is no way
EA can keep up with the trend of indies and on-demand on Steam.

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heyheyhey
> They're nickle and diming their customers into oblivion.

You're right. Instead of forcing customers to pay $60 for each game, they're
allowing them to pay $30 for 1 year to play various games.

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67726e
That's not exactly an accurate analysis. In all likelihood, new releases will
not be immediately available on this service. Just like Netflix. I can't see
the new Planet of the Apes on Netflix and I probably cannot play the latest
"Call of Honor: Medal of Warefare" sequel.

A good deal of games start to get in the $20-$30 range after six months to a
year. So long as EA isn't trying to pull any other BS tactics, this is
probably going to feature lesser know/desired titles and old releases of their
"blockbuster" titles once they reach that "Bargain Basket" price. This is
pretty much the Netflix streaming model.

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w0rd-driven
The Netflix comparison falls apart a little bit. You don't see a new movie for
the most part because a DVD/Bluray release hasn't dropped or the studio is
holding it back for some marketing/whatever reason. The primary reason you
don't see a TV show season is for the DVD release there as well, they seem to
always coincide.

EA is in a completely different scenario with what they're proposing. Any
delay is unequivocally artificial. You may get to play a game 5 days earlier
but to even be pressed and certified to the media they come on, the game was
"final" well before that. When I completely understand how a typical console
game release works, I realize I'm not really getting any added value from this
proposition. At least not when it comes to new releases. The largest value add
is probably from a backlog of previous titles that I likely would never play
otherwise, or wait until their price drops to absurd levels. It's pretty clear
to me that EA is doing what is in EA's best interest and while that seems like
a captain obvious statement, I fail to really understand as a gamer what this
actually gives me as a benefit. I'm likely not the target audience but I
seriously wonder who is? EA executives? Anyone?

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67726e
Honestly, this service would probably be a good fit for someone like me. I own
a console but rarely, if ever, buy a game. As a result I rarely play anything.
I don't want to spend the time and effort to research games and figure out if
something is worth my $30 or $60 or is just a steaming pile of crap.

I could see myself paying $5 a month to play a back catalog of games I would
otherwise have not found. Discovery is a key aspect, but you know what, if I
spent a week or two playing a less than stellar game I wouldn't really care
all that much because it cost me what, $5 or so? No biggie. I don't care about
the latest AAA shooter or playing the same Madden year after year with
different uniforms. Just give me some decent entertainment at a decent price
and I'll pay. Hell, I pay $50/month to run on a treadmill and sweat. I'll pay
$5/month to sit on my ass and be entertained.

