Want EA Sports games 3 days early?!

This is stupid.

With an annual fee of $24.99 or 2000 Microsoft Points, subscribers will receive four all-new program benefits:

• access to play all participating EA SPORTS games via a full-game digital download three days before consumers have the option to purchase a
• disc at retail launch;
• a 20-percent discount on downloadable game content;
• free premium web content;
• and membership recognition.

GameStop will introduce EA SPORTS Season Ticket in North America with an innovative multichannel marketing campaign, including its PowerUp Rewards™ program of more than 11 million members.

Three days before a game’s scheduled release, fans will be able to download and play the full version of all five participating titles on Xbox 360 and PS3™**. The digitally downloaded game will time out when the game is available at retail and consumers have the option to purchase the same full game on disc at retail. EA SPORTS Season Ticket subscribers can transfer all achievements earned during the three-day download period to the purchased disc, resulting in an early edge over the competition.

So they are offering full downloads, that only work for 3 days, which then become timed out memory space, until you go out to the store and pay full price...for $25 a year...huh?

I've been crazy about the next NBA Live or 2K coming out on Tuesday, swearing at the people at OS who got their games early from their "hookup" at Gamestop, when I worked at FYE, I just stared at the copies of Live 08 the weekend before Tuesday, and I made a fake German account to download NBA 2K10 early from Gamersgate.....but I will never pay $25 a year for 3 measly days, especially since you don't get a discount on the full disc.

I reckon it's an OK deal given it covers all five games, includes some premium content and a discount on DLC, but add in the cost of the subscription and it remains to be seen how much the average gamer would save. I'd pass on it as well.

It's the same as their $5 pre-order charge. Pay $55 to pre-order The Old Republic, or pay $50 on release and miss out on like two hats or something.

Best part is making the download version time out so you still have to bother with a physical copy. Thanks GameStop!

I say this with absolutely no EA hate...it's stupid. EA or not, it's absolutely idiotic.

Kotaku breaking it down

That's what you get. Here's what you don't get:

The DLC Discount Doesn't Cover Previous Versions or Other Games
NCAA Football 12 is barely a month old and offers a number of premium boosts in its Dynasty and Road to Glory modes. Season Ticket's 20 percent DLC discount does not apply here. Nor does it extend to titles such as Fight Night or EA Sports MMA. It covers DLC for Madden NFL 12, FIFA 12 NHL 12, and then next year's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 and NCAA Football 13. So if you have this year's Tiger Woods PGA, you can't sign up and use your membership to get a discount on premium downloadable golf courses for it. If you have last year's NHL 11, Hockey Ultimate Team currency for that game is still full price.

No Online Pass Discount
The 20 percent members' discount for premium downloadable content does not extend to purchases of the Online Pass, the single-use code included free in all retail copies of EA Sports games, which may be expired (or nonexistent) in a used version. If it is, you have to pay $10 over Xbox Live or PSN to activate multiplayer features. So Season Ticket is not useful for, say, waiting several months to pick up a used version of one of the five eligible titles and then buying an Online Pass for $2 less if you want its multiplayer features.

It's One Subscription, One Platform
Say you have both an Xbox 360 and a PS3, and you buy Tiger Woods PGA Tour for the Move support, and Madden NFL for the Xbox Live multiplayer. EA Sports Season Ticket is sold on a per-console basis, and will not transfer. Admittedly, multiplatform users are a minority of the installation base. Still, if they want the Season Ticket benefits, especially the DLC discount, for more than one game, those games will have to be on the same console.

This is not an offering that will pay for itself, unless you intend to buy more than $125 worth of downloadable content from EA Sports in a year. For all of the crap EA Sports takes for its microtransaction and DLC catalog, I don't see how that total can be reached normally. All of Madden NFL 12's accelerators can be had for $10. The "Power Pack" delivering everything in NCAA 12 is $25. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 offers the most premium DLC but to buy every additional course offered (through two bundles) would cost $58. Except for Ultimate Team obssessives, the premium DLC discount is a perk, not a reason to buy the Season Ticket.

That leaves the preview weekend as the key reason to plunk down the $25.

Advice from Pastapadre:

If you choose to buy the 'Season Ticket' (something I wouldn't recommend) wait until the last minute to do so. Apparently it runs 365 days and doesnt lock to five titles. Madden 13 will release on August 28th 2012. If you wait until the 26th/27th to buy it, according to the guys at The Gaming Tailgate you'll be able to squeeze in two Madden's (as you'd be downloading Madden 13 on August 25th).

And it will doubtless delete itself on the 26th, resulting in no real gain.

This isn't even pretending to be anything other than a blatant cash-grab. It's ridiculous.