EA Sports Release New Subscription Service “Season Ticket”
EA Sports has announced and released a long rumored subscription service called “season ticket” for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
The season ticket service offers subscribers extra benefits to all of EA Sports releases this year with the exception of Tigers Woods’ PGA Tour ’12 and NCAA Football ’12 as they have already been released.
According to the press release this is what subscribers to the service can expect:
•Early Full-Game Digital Access
Three days before a game’s scheduled release, fans will be able to download and play the full version of all five participating titles on Xbox 360 and PS3. The digitally downloaded game will time out when the game is available at retail and consumers have the option to purchase the same full game on disc at retail. EA SPORTS Season Ticket subscribers can transfer all achievements earned during the three-day download period to the purchased disc, resulting in an early edge over the competition.
•Discounted Downloadable Content
Subscribers will get a 20-percent discount on all available downloadable content for participating EA SPORTS titles. Downloadable content, which enhances and refreshes the core game experience, includes such items as Ultimate Team packs, accelerator packs, and gear upgrades.
•Free Premium Web Content
Premium web content extends the game experience beyond the console to a web browser. All participating titles will feature premium web content that will be free to EA SPORTS Season Ticket members beginning with the premium Creation Center packs for FIFA Soccer 12. These packs provide a deeper set of customization tools and abilities within Creation Center to build your own teams and tournaments, and will be available to the consumer until the membership to the program has expired.
•Membership Recognition
Subscribers are easily identifiable with an exclusive membership recognition badge displayed both in-game and on their EASPORTS.com profile.
The Service costs $24.99 for Playstation 3 or 2000 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360 per year.
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- Personal Analysis:
- Early Full-Game Digital Access: Ok, so you get the game 3 days before release, but unless you have a high internet connection speed, it will take you at least a few hours to download the game as it will be atleast 7gb, even after the download, if you’re still on a 60gb Xbox or PS3 hard drive, you most probably won’t have enough space on your drive for the game anyway. Another problem is that after the game is released, the downloaded copy becomes useless (unless someone finds a way to hack it). Personally i think i would rather wait 3 days to get the game, instead of paying cash to download something which will become useless in 3 days.
- Discounted Downloadable Content: Well ok, who doesn’t want a 20% discount for DLC, especially when the prices are between $8-12 per download. So you would be getting about $1.5-2.5 dollars off each download, and considering EA Sports doesn’t release that much paid DLC for games (ever since Ultimate Team became free) and that in the end everybody has to pay full price for the game after the 3 day trial. Then the discount is still covered by the $24.99
- Premium Web Content: That’s cool and all, getting extra features for the creation center for FIFA, but what about other games, and so far I’ve found the FIFA ’11 creation center to be great, what else can they add to it?
- Membership Recognition: Seriously?! Nobody cares about a little badge next to your name, especially when it costs you money…
If you’re going to subscribe to this service then good luck to you, Personally, I’m not into all these “subscription services” companies are beginning to offer, I think it’s just a way to get a few extra bucks out of customers’ pockets. So as you may already have guessed, I’d rather keep my cash in my pocket for now.
