Ubisoft and the growing ‘online pass’ trend

Ubisoft have announced that they will be following fellow publishers EA, Codemasters, THQ, Sony and Warner Bros in a vain attempt to tap into the elusive second-hand sales market.

The Ubisoft online pass will be coming our way in the form of the Uplay Passport, which will be a one-time code that will come with new Ubisoft games. Second-hand buyers will be able to purchase codes for £7.99 or 800 Microsoft Points. The first game to require the new pass will be the upcoming Driver: San Francisco and it will go on to be included in other big titles from the publisher, in what is for some an unpopular but unsurprising move. As a business model it is very similar to the online pass offered by EA, but as more companies try to regain some income from second-hand sales, can Microsoft continue to charge for the Xbox Live service?

In the defence of the publishers, they are defending their business from High Street stores such as GAME, who are selling pre-owned games and the publisher receives no income from this. GAME in particular have pushed their luck further by instructing staff to buy products on offer at Tesco and then marking up in their own stores. It could be argued that the Publishers and the High Street are involved in a big fight and you, the gamer, are going to be the one that gets hit hardest.

Typically, you could buy a game on release day for £39.99, which includes your online pass. If, after two months and a few items of DLC purchased for around £8, you then decide to part with the game by selling it on an auction site or by trade-in on the high street, you will get a hugely deflated price due to the slowing demand of pre-owned games; all because of the added online pass required to play it online.

So I need a passport to play a game…

High Street stores already struggling to compete with cheaper online stores will slowly lose their more profitable business of selling pre-owned games at marked up prices, and will slowly disappear. Gamers will be out-of-pocket too as the publishers re-gain control.

Over time people will buy fewer games, meaning we will see less innovation and the norm will become the Call of Duty, Battlefield and FIFA cash cows with little else on offer. For those of you that think I am overacting, a quick look at this year’s game market is already showing how quickly games are losing their value.

I remember being at the Eurogamer Expo last October and there was a huge amount of hype for Brink. There was a queue of over an hour-long wait just to get your hands on this hugely anticipated title, and people were walking away very excited. Fast forward to its release in May and a string of poor reviews ensured that the price had fallen to £14.99 within two months. Homefront was another game heavily marketed for months, but is now under a tenner.

All is not lost though, we can fight back. After all, only a huge fan (or some would say ‘fool’) would spend £40 on a game on a second-hand game, when after only two months later, you could buy the game brand new, complete with online pass for between £14.99 and £17.99.

If this happens neither the publisher nor the high street come out of this well and the savvy gamer will be the champion of champions. I fear that even this victory will be short-lived as the next generation of consoles could surely be digital download only, which would allow them to sell games at inflated prices. A quick look at Microsoft’s Games on Demand takes the smile off your face when you see games such as Crackdown 2 can be purchased for £19.99 but can be found for only £5 at an online store.

Will the future see you paying big money for old games?

The biggest fear among gamers is that we are all being treated as mugs and are rapidly being fleeced. We are wise to the fact that despite paying £39.99 a year to Microsoft for Xbox Live, we then could pay £39.99 for a game that is half-completed because several hours of content is held back, just so it can be released as DLC for £9.99. To announce more charges for online passes and bonus material as well? It takes a very mild-mannered person to not get pissed off.

It appears we are caught in the middle of a war that we cannot win. This is a complex issue that is not going to go away, but who is to blame? Are you angry at the High Street stores for encroaching on the publisher’s income? Are the publishers getting greedy? Do you support the publisher’s move?

We would love to hear your thoughts on this hot potato so please post your comments!

Virtual products for real money

Imagine for a few moments that you are a budding entrepreneur and you are about to deliver your big sales pitch on a TV show like Dragons Den, in what could be the biggest day of your life. Your product can reach the entire world’s population and be available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and three hundred and sixty-five days a year and there are no shipping or delivery issues to worry about. Here comes the clincher your product does not actually exist, because you are selling virtual items.

A few years ago you would have been laughed off the stage with nothing but the words “I’m sorry, but I’m out!” ringing in your ears, but the virtual goods market is expected to break $2.1 billion in America alone this year. Between 2007 and 2010, virtual goods revenue increased 245 percent, according to a study released from market-research firm In-Stat and by 2014 the company also reported that providers will generate more than $14 billion.

Although virtual goods have been common place in South Korea for more than a decade, my first memory of this phenomenon was way back when virtual cards were all the rage, but for me the virtual world of Second Life was where this madness all began. Just how quickly masses of people handed over their hard-earned cash in return for virtual furniture and clothes for their virtual selves in the online world. Whilst many looked on and scoffed at what was happening, canny businesses quickly realised the true potential that was on offer.

Moms will hate Dead Space 2

On numerous occasions at This Is My Joystick, I have defended the gaming industry from what seems like wave after wave of attacks from the media that are intent on blaming much of societies ills on our beloved pastime. Sure, there are violent games on sale but they carry an 18 certification so the only issue up for discussion should be that of parental responsibility. With all this in mind it was somewhat of a surprise to see EA appear to be marketing their new 18 certificate game Dead Space 2 at underage children as #yourmomhatesthis became the top trend on twitter recently.

The games website your mom hates this features what I can only describe as mature mum-like ladies being asked to watch video footage of Dead Space 2, followed by their horrified reactions of how nasty the game is and their declarations that people shouldn’t play games like this. You can almost visualise the media types that we all know and love in Starbucks with their low-cut vests and roll-up cigarettes saying “let’s make it go viral” but isn’t it all a little irresponsible?

“It’s Revolting, it’s Violent, it’s everything you want in a game… and your Moms going to hate it!” is what the trailer tells us, and although it is mildly amusing I cannot help but think that behind the fun lurks a sinister campaign to market an adult game to under-age children. Slightly irresponsible and not to mention frustrating when I have been saying ”adult games are for adult gamers” until I am blue in the face for what seems like forever. I wonder how long we get the Daily Mail type headlines of “ban this sick filth” and the same tiresome debate in return again.