It's safe to say that Online Passes are unanimously despised. Designed to stymy the value of secondhand games, the uptake of the initiative by major publishers has been met with scorn by consumers. So much so that EA will discontinue the program for all forthcoming titles, according to EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg.
In a note to GamesBeat , Reseburg confirmed the program will be scrapped, admitting that negative user feedback is to thank for the move. "Yes we're discontinuing Online Pass," he wrote. "None of our new EA titles will include that feature.
"Initially launched as an effort to package a full menu of online content and services, many players didn't respond to the format," Reseburg continued. "We've listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward."
This means that major EA titles going forward - including Battlefield 4 - will do exactly what they say on the tin, whether you bought secondhand or not. Meanwhile, Ubisoft and Activision - among others - have not made public any plans to remove the functionality.
