EA Giving Online Passes Away on Xbox Live

Not too many people were in support of EA’s Online Pass system that started this generation. To purchase a pre-owned game and find out that half of it is locked behind a pay wall can be frustrating, but thankfully, the mega-publisher decided to drop the charge from future games earlier this month. However, the EA good will doesn’t just end there. It’s been discovered that a handful of Online Passes for games released over the past few years no longer have a charge on the Xbox Live Marketplace, with no real explanation given as to why.

It’s a pretty extensive list of games, but the majority of them are two, three, and even four years old. Take a look at all your current options:

·         Alice: Madness Returns – American McGee's Alice FULL GAME (was 800 MSP)

·         Bad Company 2 VIP (was 800 MSP)

·         Bulletstorm Online Pass (was 800 MSP)

·         Dragon Age: Origins – The Stone Prisoner (was 1200 MSP)

·         Dragon Age 2: The Black Emporium (was 800 MSP)

·         Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Online Pass (was 800 MSP)

·         Mass Effect 2: Cerberus Network (was 1200 MSP)

·         Medal of Honor Online Pass (was 800 MSP)

·         SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED ONLINE PASS (was 800 MSP)

·         Skate 3: Skate Share Pack (was 800 MSP)

Why give all of these away? It’s possible that the servers will be shutting down soon and EA just feels like doing a small good deed for the fans. The bigger question, though, is why this is only happening on the Xbox 360 and not the PlayStation 3. This could be a sign of an ever-improving relationship between EA and Microsoft, which was hinted at during the Xbox One reveal. However, it's still possible that these deals will make it on PSN at a later date.