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Comment by dm2 | Hacker News Reader

This seems like a pretty great deal, what's the catch?

I'm guessing that the games will only be available for a limited period of time, then if you still want to play them you'll have to purchase them, which would be very different from Netflix.

I doubt these games have any of the DLC. You might be able to purchase the DLC, but then when the game is no longer offered on the service you'll be left with worthless DLC until you buy the full game.

Some people also purchase all services of this type, even if they already have the full games, because it's also offering exclusive content and betas, so it's basically a free $30 for each of those people to EA, millions of people times $30.

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If you click through to EA's site - the catch is very apparent: new games aren't included: "If you’re an EA Access member, you can download upcoming EA games five days before the release date to play for a limited time."

"For a limited time" = play for a few days before the game comes out, then wait 3 months? 6 months? longer? for this year's game to be available on EA Access while being stuck with last year's game. EA was never going to cannibalize their top games' sales - just make their customers pay $5 / month to play for 5 days pre-launch.

A good example may be to look at the PS+ service offered for Playstation owners. Basically, you get access to games only while you subscribe. If you let the subscription lapse, then the contents becomes locked, even though it is still installed on your machine.

Part of the catch may be that they are bidding to cut out used game stores like Gamestop. Through this system, they get paid directly, diminish the supply of used (substitute) goods and can combat rental outlets like Redbox and Gamefly, by having less capital costs.

Playstation Plus is a great value, particularly if you own two or more consoles. (Say a PS3 or a Vita) You don't get the latest games but you get the last version of the new game that is out now.

I found being in Playstation Plus has gotten me into the downloadable habit, even though I almost always buy games when they are on sale, but again, that keeps me away from the used games from Amazon and Gamestop.

I definitely see this as their attempt to capture the used-game revenue stream.

From a financials standpoint, this makes the same case as SaaS software does -- recurring revenue stream, predictable income, and so on.

It also increases the consequences of getting banned by the XBox staff. Not only can't you go online for multiplayer, you can't play your subscription games either.

"It also increases the consequences of getting banned by the XBox staff. Not only can't you go online for multiplayer, you can't play your subscription games either."

Sounds like a classic case of "this is feature not a bug". With this system the stakes will be significantly raised for those who are verbally abusive on Live. Although admittedly I don't know if increasing penalties for the riff raff will improve their behavior or not.

The goal is to wipe out the used games market.

They've determined that it's more profitable to suck $30 out of people every year and pummel them with DLC and kill the used market.

Uh, yeah, if I wanted any confirmation that this console generation should die, this is it.

Maybe, although blasting the secondary market can have effects on the primary market by directly and tangibly increasing their lifetime cost. I'd hazard to guess that the most valuable consumers don't hang onto their games until they reach $0 residual value.

I'm a collector. I don't really buy any games unless I plan on holding onto it forever. Steam is really the only exception, and hopefully I can pass that on after I'm dead too.

> I'm guessing that the games will only be available for a limited period of time, then if you still want to play them you'll have to purchase them, which would be very different from Netflix.

Actually that'd be exactly the same as Netflix. Netflix takes content down all the time. I have quite a few movies in my queue that are no longer available for streaming.

Netflix takes down content when they fail or decline to renew licensing terms with the content owner. In this case EA is the content owner. It will be interesting to see if they introduce their own artificial scarcity when they control both content and distribution. A situation which Netflix only enjoys for a handful of shows.

> In this case EA is the content owner

For now. If their service gets enough uptake, though, it's not hard to imagine other publishers wanting to get in on it as well. And why build your own service (and go through all the hassle of getting it on all the devices in the world) if you can just piggyback on EA's work? (As long as the fees and contracts are reasonable, of course.)

When Steam started out it was only a delivery channel for Valve titles, remember...

EA rep told me "we have no plans to remove any games from The Vault at this time." Hedging, certainly, but there you go. DLC is not included but Acccess people get 10 percent off it and new titles.

I don't think it's a bad deal if you don't mind playing a vanilla best-of library. Got a new Xbox One? Get this and you have a few games to start with. It'll probably be bundled soon - 6 months free. $30 for a year of proven mainstream games may strike many as a bargain.

At $30 per year, I truly fear this is going to turn games into rapidly devolving teasers for DLC that will carry the majority of the game content.

It's like "free-to-play" with a guarantee you won't lose money.

Well we're already a good distance down that road!

Honestly, I haven't bought an EA sports game in years but I will subscribe to this. And if they do have additional content you can purchase, well they might just squeeze me for more than $30 by the end of the year. :)

other possible catches:

-Microsoft is subsidizing this to help Xbox One sales (fair enough...)

-It STARTS at just $4.99 a month (where does it END?)

-"Free" games appear to limited to games they put in the "EA Vault" which is as vague as possible. Will all new games enter the vault? Probably not!

-DLC doesn't appear to be included (but you get 10% off any purchase!)

FWIW, it doesn't make me want to buy an Xbox One.

The "Vault" part sounds a lot like the Disney Vault:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Vault

... which is Disney's polite way of explaining why only a segment of their most popular animated titles are available to buy on home video at any given time. Each title has a window of time when it's available for purchase, and at the end of that time, it goes "into the Vault" -- meaning that Disney deliberately stops selling it for several years.

This strategy ensures a pop of sales from pent-up demand when the title rotates back "out of the Vault" into circulation again; and, since titles spend years in the Vault, it puts pressure on potential buyers to buy now or potentially lose the chance to do so for a long time.

You mean aside from them being EA games? :)

Doesn't matter to me, I got sick of EA's antics and stopped doing business with them years ago.

I'm currently locked out of ~4 games I purchased legitimately because they changed my password after a hacker broke into their system and their customer service department can't seem to figure out how to let me back into my account. One of them wasn't even through Origin (it was Steam), but since they have a separate login process once you launch the game, I'm locked out of that as well.

Fuck EA.

Sorry that the best I can do is a sympathy upvote. Anyhow, yeah, once a company starts treating customers like that, I stop doing business with them, as I also did with Sony.

The sad thing is, though, that sometimes they buy up the good name of decent companies, as happened to Speakeasy (now Megapath), who was once a wonderful company before succumbing and earning a ban.

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