[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.

[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.

[free2rhyme214]

There is a saying I was taught: the devil is in the details.

The reason why others are skeptical is because EA has a history of "nickle and diming" customers for quite some time now.

In this case it sounds too good to be true. I mean really EA is saying you get 4 games for $7.50 each.

My only guess is that under this program games are released quite late or the quality the games degrades based on these small updates.

[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.

[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?

[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.

[shmerl]

Well, EA is quite dumb, sitting on many games and not letting anyone to re-release them or to create sequels (Neverhood for example). Rarely they have sober moments and release some games DRM-free, but that's about it.