EA have stated that players can play SSX online multiplayer without the need of an Online Pass, yet they will not be able to earn or use credits without it.
For those who are not familiar with the Online Pass phenomenon, it is basically a way for publishers to cash in on the pre-owned games market where they tend to lose out on a significant chunk of potential revenue.
The Online Pass is a single use code which, when entered, allows the player to take use all of the game’s online features. The code cannot be used a second time and therefore anyone who buys a pre-owned copy of the game has to pay a little extra for a new
pass.
The proceeds go to the distributor who gets a share from the resale of the game. There has been plenty of debate on this in the gaming world yet it seems the Online Pass is set to stay with a large number of publishers implementing the system.
As for SSX, it seems that the Online Pass will not be a necessity if one wants to take his snowboarding skills online but, like many things in this world, there is a catch.
There was speculation earlier that the need of an Online Pass was compulsory for accessing online features, yet EA put all of that to rest by issuing the following statement.
“In SSX, players without an Online Pass are able to compete and play in both of SSX’s online game modes, Explore and Global Events with no restrictions.” Before anyone begins breathing sighs of relief though there is more.
“In Global Events, the top finishers from each event are awarded with in-game credits. These in-game credits earned during play will not be awarded to the player if they do not have an Online Pass.”
However, that does not mean that the playing online would be pointless as the statement did give a ray of hope, “these credits will be stored so that at any time, if a player redeems an Online Pass code, all credits they had previously earned in Global Events
will be immediately awarded to them.”
Which, if one was to think about it, is not a bad deal.
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