EA Mythic Pass: One ticket for all the rides?

June 11, 2008 – 11:09 am  

Many of you are probably familiar with Sony Station Access - a single monthly subscription service that gives you access to a variety of Sony MMORPGs, including: EQ1, EQ2, PotBS, Vanguard, SWG, Planetside, and The Matrix Online. Station members also receive a number of additional incentives like extra inventory slots, software bonus packs, strategy guides, etc.

EA Mythic will soon be the proud parents of three popular MMORPGs titles, including Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Dark Age of Camelot, and Ultima Online. Electronic Arts, as the parent company is also working on a fourth MMORPG with Bioware (release and title TBD).

Mark Jacobs is still a big supporter of the subscription model and if he’s saying that, I think EA is backing him up. If that’s their direction, doesn’t it make sense to bundle up on subscription fees, giving players access to a number of your MMORPG titles? I think there are a several major reasons for doing so.

  • Breathes new life into your old games - for an extra $x/month/title many people would try them out
  • Makes it easier for people to transition from the older games into your newer ones
  • Many people can’t afford or don’t want to pay $14.99 per MMORPG subscription per month
  • Many people have hardcore play schedules and would love to mix and match what they play
  • The only way EA Mythic can lose money with bundling is if many people are already paying full price for multiple subs per month per title… and I don’t think many people are. Sweeten the deal and many would!

If I’m not mistaken, you still need to buy the original game boxes in order to participate with Sony Station Access. If so, I think this process can definitely be improved upon. It would be very beneficial for EA to take the Valve approach of digital distribution on top of their current distribution model. I would much rather pay $20 per digital download than $50 per box (of which $30 probably goes towards the packaging and promotion anyway) because it saves me cash and means I don’t have to drive down to the shop. Plus, as MMORPG titles get older and expansions come out, the original games drop in price. Digital distribution will probably give EA a higher profit margin!

Sony charges $29.95 per month to access up to seven MMORPG titles. Choosing any more than two titles saves you a fair amount but if you’re only playing two games, the savings are negligible. EA Mythic will only have three titles by fall 2008 (fingers crossed), so I don’t think they can get away with charging as much as Sony. I think a base of $14.99 plus $4.99 per additional title up to $29.96 is fair for an EA Pass. What do you think? Would you participate in a system like this? Why or why not? What sorts of bonus incentives could EA throw your way to sweeten the deal?

I personally wouldn’t participate in this system only because I’m an ultra casual MMORPG player. I have enough money to pay for multiple subscriptions but I lack the time and desire to split my gaming focus. That said, I think this move would be pretty good for EA to make because even though many gamers are like me, many are not, and they would love to see a system like this.

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  1. 18 Responses to “EA Mythic Pass: One ticket for all the rides?”

  2. As long as the regular subscription for WAR is available I don’t care what they do. If I have WAR I won’t care about playing DAoC or UO. The only thing That would make me change my mind is a 40k MMO, or Bioware? Did somebody say Bioshock MMO? With a couple of those on there It’d be more than worth it.

    Also: I miss planetside =[

    By Cicadymn on Jun 11, 2008

  3. EA already does digital distribution with EALink… and they charge full price. :P

    Personally, I only play one mmorpg at a time. They’re too time consuming for me to even imagine playing more than one at a time. But it’s a decent idea for EA to consider. Placing all MMO’s under their umbrella into a big packaged subscription could work… but it’s a ways off still. DAOC and UO are old games so they’re not ones that people should even consider as enticing for such a program. Bioware’s MMO, WAR, and maybe a few others in development would be the big lure, but we’re still so far from such a program even being worth it.

    By Keen on Jun 11, 2008

  4. This is a good point. Currently, the deal wouldn’t be as sweet in terms of enticing new customers to try out their old games. However, I do think it would entice current players of DAOC and UO to try WAR - this would be a good way for EA to retain both subscriptions from a single customer.

    I totally agree that adding newer MMORPGs to this will sweeten the pot.

    By Snafzg on Jun 11, 2008

  5. I also agree that it would make sense business wise for EA to do a package subscription service. I wouldnt personally paid the extra beyond WAR, just cause one MMO is more than I can handle at one time to focus on.

    By Aplex on Jun 11, 2008

  6. I think EA needs a greater variety of MMOs before they go for an all in one pass. Right now they have 2 RvR combat games and a classic game, but SOE has several MMOs that all different.

    By Railith on Jun 11, 2008

  7. i don’t have so much free time for so many MMOs, so only WAR would be enough for me.

    By Greek on Jun 11, 2008

  8. Well.. it might explain just why Mythic has decided to launch that DAOC Origins server so close to WAR’s release..

    By arbitrary on Jun 12, 2008

  9. intristing concept.

    IMO MMO’s arnt like normal games, you dont play then like you do console game.
    When you play an MMO its not a casual thing like a other games. To get the most out of an MMO you rely have to play it like a 2nd life its about going on a adventure with your friends.
    playing an MMO sporadically is just 2 lonely, and if you don’t play it enough to feel good because your character is good then im not sure why you would keep playing.

    so i see having multiple mmo’s 2 play as kind of useless. because mmo’s are such a time investment you cant really play 2 of them simultaneously and give ether one the attention it deserves.

    so short answer if im playing WAR all other games will be obsolete and if they dont it isnt a good mmo

    By logicalmayhem on Jun 12, 2008

  10. @logicalmayhem - That’s definitely how I play MMORPGs. When WAR comes out I doubt I’ll touch any other PC/console games, read any new books, and my guitar-playing will suffer immensely.

    I’ll still have sports three nights a week but that’s only because I’ll need some exercise to compensate for the extra time my ass is parked in the computer chair. :P

    By Snafzg on Jun 12, 2008

  11. I like the deals in general, but this one does not seem to be very good. UO is really old, DAoC is old and will likely loose even more people to WAR. SOE has a wide variety of games in comparison.

    By Werit on Jun 12, 2008

  12. True, but some of the titles from SOE are pretty bad too:

    - EQ1 is ancient (older than DAOC) but still somewhat strong
    - PotBS is new but only shows about 65k subs on MMOG Chart (and I hear it’s actually much less than that)
    - Vanguard… well you know… it’s Vanguard. One of the worst launches in MMORPG history pretty much killed this game’s future
    - SWG had potential and failed… The next Star Wars MMO will deal its killing blow
    - Planetside shows 20k subscribers in late 2007 and it’s old. I can’t see it being viable anymore
    - The Matrix Online - Overhyped - underdelivered imho…

    I don’t mean to suggest that subscription numbers should be the only thing you judge these games by, but it’s a big factor. Both DAOC and UO have low pops too, which supports your previous argument.

    I think the only healthy games SOE has is EQ1 and EQ2 right now, no?

    By Snafzg on Jun 12, 2008

  13. I think the numbers are tough to tell, except for DAoC… as they show how many players are logged in at a time.

    I just can’t see myself picking DAoC over WAR, as they are both RvR, they both are the same theme (midevil/magic) and WAR is much newer.

    On the SOE side… PoTBS is different from EQ2 and EQ2 is different from SWG and SWG is different from Planetside. So I could easily see myself being in the mood for one of those as they are different. Especially if they add the Agency :)

    By Werit on Jun 12, 2008

  14. I would probably drop the extra after a few months of WAR if it was offered. I always have MMO burnouts where I need a change of pace(These days in the form of a TF2), so if I could drop an extra $5-10 to dick around on UO or DAoC for a little bit just to refresh my lust for WAR, I’d do it, but I wouldn’t see many players period dropping down the extra money full time with EA’s tiny and not so diverse catalog.

    By Medrin on Jun 13, 2008

  15. They answered this at the baltimore Q&A with a ‘maybe’.
    They said that they were still in the works for possibly making one of these.

    Check out the rest of the Q&A Session and other Videos/Pictures of the baltimore games day at
    http://alpha-guild.guildlaunch.com

    Under the News Section

    By beowulf on Jun 15, 2008

  16. Nice find Beowulf! :)

    By Snafzg on Jun 16, 2008

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