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Sony Exploring Own Version Of EA’s Online Pass
A variety of publishers have explored ways to get money from the used-games market, and Sony could be among them. In an interview with GamesIndustry, Sony’s European president, Andrew House, says that Sony supports backs publisher efforts to recoup money by charging players who don’t have a code included with new games.
"On the principle of making online portions of the game available or unlocked from the disc-based release for a fee, we're broadly supportive of that," House said. "And we're exploring actively the same option for our own content," he added.
While Sony might be flirting with the idea of an EA Sports-style Online Pass, House says that flat-out charging for online on a game-by-game basis doesn’t line up with PlayStation’s business model.
"In terms of just a charge for basic online play, that's something that we have to talk about a lot more and we struggle with a little bit because we feel very vindicated and base a lot of the success of PSN today – a 70 per cent connection rate across consoles – on the fact that we've removed that major initial barrier to entry."
Check out GamesIndustry for the entire interview here.
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