EA Sports announced today a new program called the EA Sports Online Pass. In simple terms, the Online Pass is a one-time registration code that must be entered by the user in order to play EA Sports games online. Once the code is entered, you will have access to online multiplayer, online dynasty modes, and well as promised “bonus additional content”. The upcoming Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 will be the first EA Sports title to use the Online Pass program. All future EA Sports titles will follow suit. Tiger 11’s first announced bonus content is a special, advanced driver available only to those who redeem an Online Pass code.

If you plan on buying your game new at retail, your experience should be pretty much unchanged, save for the slight hassle of having to enter a code before going online. However, the key phrase here is “one-time” registration code. After a retail copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 is entered, it cannot be used again. So, if you buy a used copy of the game, you’ll have to buy another Online Pass for $10. In the press release, EA announced that prominent used game retailer GameStop [Game Informer’s parent company – Ed.] will sell Online Pass cards for $10. This new program will also affect gamers who rent games from services like GameFly. Again, once a code is used, it cannot be used again. So, unless you are lucky enough to rent or purchase a copy of the game that has an unredeemed code, you’ll be shelling out another $10 if you want online play. Each game has an individual code – a code you got from a copy of Tiger Woods cannot be used for a copy of Madden.

In his blog, EA Sports president Peter Moore called the Online Pass “an important inflection point in our business because it allows us to accelerate our commitment to enhance premium online services to the entire robust EA Sports online community.”

However, in an interview now posted on the EA Sports site, Andrew Wilson, senior vice president of worldwide development was more direct: “In order to continue to enhance the online experiences that are attracting nearly five million connected game sessions a day, again, we think it’s fair to get paid for the services we provide and to reserve these online services for people who pay EA to access them,” commented Wilson.

A representative for EA Sports informed us that the Online Pass would only be available for EA Sports titles on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

For more information:

http://www.easports.com/onlinepass