There are a number of PS3 games that might be influenced by this decision coming out in the near future. This year there’s Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, which is due out this month and puts an emphasis on cooperative play. Going into next year, two of Sony’s biggest releases, Starhawk and Twisted Metal, are both due out within the first few months, and both focus completely on online multiplayer over the PlayStation Network. In other words, they're totally going to require a PSN Pass.
Like it or not, the trend of including Online Passes seems to be growing. EA has been pushing them in just about every multiplayer game it published for the past two years, and THQ has started to do the same since UFC Undisputed 2011 was released. Sony is the first console maker to actually jump on the bandwagon, though, if it’s successful, we’d be shocked if Microsoft didn’t do something similar with copies of Halo or Gears of War in the future. It might be an inconvenience that hurts customers who purchase games used, but it certainly does its job of pushing gamers towards picking up new releases, instead of waiting for someone to trade it in. So... success?
Oct 3, 2011
