Subscription (Sports) Gaming - Pared's Blog

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Pared's Blog

Subscription (Sports) Gaming Stuck

Posted on November 18, 2008 at 12:40 PM.

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Lately there have been reports of EA and 2K both looking towards and experimenting with different revenue streams to increase profit. One of those ways has included an EA "Total Access" pass where you must pay a fee up front (perhaps $20 or so) to join but be allowed a percentage off any EA Sports brand game that you purchase from GameStop.

Analyzing this further, it seems like a fantastic deal. EA ultimately gains more sales. With, lets say... a $45 price tag, there would be more inclination by the casual gamer to try those "well received" sports games that you would not have tried in the first place. GameStop would certainly see increased sales since this would be exclusive to them. You can't get this discount if you purchase the game at some other store, such as Best Buy. Lastly you, the gamer, would be paying less up front for each title you buy. It would also allow you to try other titles you normally would not have purchased.

There are some negatives to this entire process, however. I currently avoid buying games at this chain because of the simple fact that most stores keep a low stock near release and tend to only sell pre-orders. If you don't pre-order a game, you can't get it. What's the problem with pre-ordering games, you ask? I don't like GameStop earning interest off of my $5 I would need to pre-order a game. 1000 gamers pre-order a game at $5 a pop... and you can already see the interest this company begins to earn, even with such a small example. I can see the company cornering customers in this way. If you don't pre-order, then you have to wait until the "next shipment" of games come in, usually a couple of days later, depending on the size of the store you visit. Eventually you could be stuck waiting on a game that is widely available... or else you risk losing the discount to go elsewhere and purchase the game. These are just sample scenarios of what could happen.

As I mentioned earlier, I would certainly be willing to give something like this a shot, even if it would be confined to ONLY EA Sports games and a GameStop store. If they were to open it up to other EA games... heck, that's even better.

Would you be willing to pay for your EA GamerCard for a discount on games?

Comments

# 1 RaychelSnr @ Nov 18

Great blog man. I think the concept is a great idea but as I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I sincerely believe the rumor is a pretty big fake if the main bit of evidence is that "poster" that was floating around. The poster included games which EA doesn't own the license to anymore (UEFA) or games that they haven't even announced yet and may not exist (FIFA Street 4). Plus, the language on the thing seemed incredibly unprofessional compared to what you'd expect out of an EA/Gamestop production.

So while the rumor may have some credence, and the deal is certainly a good idea by whoever did think about it, I'm not so sure we'll have anything close to what the rumor would suggest.

# 2 rudyjuly2 @ Nov 18

I'm assuming this is just a rumour as well but I think most people would do it. Who wouldn't want to save money? I just don't see a big reason as to why EA would do this. Families and friends would piggyback one subscription to save a ton.