Ubisoft starts 'Uplay Passport' in effort to profit from used game sales

Ubisoft has announced their "Uplay Passport" this week, a system similar to EA's and Sony's "online passes."

The online passes work to profit from used game sales, a market the publishers have been looking to act upon for over a decade.

EA started the online pass system in 2010 with the introduction of Mass Effect 2. The first owner of the game pays full price from retail and has access to online and all features. If that consumer then wants to sell the game online or back to the store, the second buyer will need to pay $9.99 to the publisher to access online multiplayer and other features, on top of the price they paid for the game.

In this way, the publisher can "double dip" on their games, leading to extra revenue.

Ubisoft's first title to use the system will be "Driver: San Francisco."

Uplay will "provide players with access to bonus content, exclusive offers, and online multiplayer play for many of Ubisoft's popular core games," for a price of $10.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Jul 2011 15:05

drumbeats

*sigh* next thing you know, EVERYONE will start doing this. And it really hurts people who don't have that much money. I usually don't buy games new, I buy them used to save a few bucks. But now I'll either have to wait for the price to drop lower (which in turn means waiting longer) for me to justify paying the extra $10 just to get the full experience out of the games, or wait (seems like a recurring theme) until I can afford a new copy of the game and not a used one.

15.7.2011 22:19 #1

KillerBug

F**k off Ubisoft...your customers are only your enemies because you have made them so. This is one of the few companies that I actually hope will get pirated to death; anyone who makes it so that the pirated versions of their games are much better than the legal ones deserves that fate.

15.7.2011 22:26 #2

21Q

**** that ... I'd rather not buy the game/pirate if I have to pay to access content I've technically already paid for.

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16.7.2011 16:09 #3

LordRuss

Dependent on where I buy the used games, I have a hard enough time paying for those as well... I thought the whole reason for using a 'turn off' word was so most folks wouldn't want to be associated with the action. Like "double dipping"... One of those phrases alluding to an action that folks might not to be associated with...

Frankly, I've always been a little leery of 'pay to play' online games to begin with anyway. Nothing like cramming that fear right into home plate now is there?

http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

16.7.2011 17:17 #4

KillerBug

Originally posted by LordRuss: Dependent on where I buy the used games, I have a hard enough time paying for those as well... I thought the whole reason for using a 'turn off' word was so most folks wouldn't want to be associated with the action. Like "double dipping"... One of those phrases alluding to an action that folks might not to be associated with...

Frankly, I've always been a little leery of 'pay to play' online games to begin with anyway. Nothing like cramming that fear right into home plate now is there? That is an interesting idea...I wonder how much piracy would decrease if the name was changed to something like, "Boyrape".

http://www.killerbug.net

16.7.2011 21:46 #5

LordRuss

Originally posted by KillerBug: That is an interesting idea...I wonder how much piracy would decrease if the name was changed to something like, "Boyrape". OH HELL!!! It just stopped me!!!

http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

17.7.2011 13:26 #6

buxtahuda

Originally posted by KillerBug: anyone who makes it so that the pirated versions of their games are much better than the legal ones deserves that fate. This is my largest problem with all this. It hurts the paying customer. That happens, you stop. You don't keep making different versions of the same thing.

I could be ok with this if it was somewhere less than $5. But $10? After already paying up to $50 on a (newer) used game? No way, unwrapped product does not equal the same as wrapped product. Next they'll keep this, but charge another $10 on the game itself to triple dip? Really, this company is awful. It's so sad, I don't dislike all their games, would love to show (some) developers some support but I can't do that when buying the game also supports the DRM and now this.

They get no more of my money. In attempting to stop piracy they totally are driving so many people to it just to have a functioning copy. Pirate it, play on private servers, f*ck Ubisoft.

~*Livin' Electronicallly*~

18.7.2011 17:04 #7

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