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by w0rd-driven 4342 days ago
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?

1 comments

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.