Battlefield 3’s executive producer Patrick Bach has confirmed that the game will more than likely use an online pass in order for players to access the multiplayer content.
This means that gamers will second-hand copies will have to pay extra in order to play online.
He told GamerZines that they will “probably” use the system, but stopped short of calling it an official Online Pass. “I don’t think it’s an online pass, I think it’s our own backend. I’m not sure I want to call our system an online pass.” Whether they will be charging second-hand players extra to buy the right to play online, he said “I think we are.”
Bach went on to defend the move, saying that players of used copies of the game should be expected to contribute towards the expensive process.
“The whole idea is that we’re paying for servers and if you create a new account there is a big process on how that is being handled in the backend. We would rather have you buy a new game than a used game because buying a used game is only a cost to us; we don’t get a single dime from a used game, but we still need to create server space and everything for you,” he said.
But Bach hopes that players will understand. “We want people to at least pay us something to create this because we’re paying for it. It was actually a loss for us to have new players. Hopefully people understand why. It’s not to punish people. To us it’s compensation.”
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
