EA gives away free games!

[alanschu]

I had only tangentially heard about this (Thanks Deraldin) before hand but I didn't really realize what was happening until I saw an article about it here.

 

 

I found the comments interesting and quite polarized and heated haha.

 

On the one hand, I see people justifying that it's not piracy since permission was granted (if perhaps abused/exploited), or justifying it saying that it's not their fault a programmer screwed up. Some compared it to others taking money from a cash register simply because the drawer is open. Others disagreed.

 

 

Though the real world cost for EA is not nearly as much as though shipped boxed copies had been stolen (just bandwidth costs), I find it very interesting because it very much echoes the piracy debate, with a twist. One can easily take the position that they didn't pirate anything, since things were legally acquired through a promotion offer that was poorly set up on the server side. Though the justifications for doing so seem to mirror the same ones that pirates use, especially with a big target like EA:

• It's a way to stick it to the man (EA)
  
• It's not like there was a victim
  
• I wouldn't have bothered if I had to pay for it.
  
• It'll get more exposure for these games and result in a boost in sales for sequels and whatnot.
  
• It was convenient and followed the rules (this one is obviously not a perspective used for piracy).
  

I didn't bother with this (as I didn't really have visibility on it anyways). I'm curious what I would have done. I think I wouldn't have taken advantage, though it's easy to say that after the fact, while missing the boat.

 

 

Word is that EA isn't going to revoke any privileges and will let people keep the games (altruism/indifference aside, it probably doesn't make economic sense either). Although I do admit I'd be very curious of the backlash that would occur.

 

 

The closest thing to a "victim" is the survey takers that are now no longer eligible. And I think I stink eye the people that did the survey and then decided to spread the info as something like that wasn't really in good faith and lacks integrity somewhat, although ultimately it's not a huge issue IMO.

Edited October 16, 2012 by alanschu

[Humanoid]

Some time ago I believe there was an issue with the Australian Origin store where a handful of games (about 10) all got marked as being $0. Those 'purchases' were honoured too, so I guess it's precedent of a sort. Though back then, it wasn't any shenanigans to do with discount codes, fake addresses and cookie wiping, it was just a plain pricing error.

 

 

While I had caught word of the latest problem shortly before it was fixed, the list of products it worked with - bearing in mind the code was specifically written and coded correctly to not work with new release games - was pretty underwhelming, so it's not really a huge deal.

 

 

The list:

 

Battlefield 2 Complete Collection [origin.com]

Battlefield 2142 Deluxe Edition [origin.com]

Battlefield Bad Company 2 [origin.com]

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam DLC [origin.com]

Bulletstorm [origin.com]

Burnout Paradise the Ultimate Collection [origin.com]

Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight [origin.com]

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 [origin.com]

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3:UPRISING (Expanison to C&C:RA3 Does not require the original C&C:RA3 to play) [origin.com]

Create [origin.com]

Crysis [origin.com]

Crysis Warhead [origin.com]

Dark Spore [origin.com]

Dead Space [origin.com]

Dead Space™ 2 [origin.com]

Dragon Age™: Origins [origin.com]

Dragon Age™: Origins - Awakening [origin.com]

Dragon Age™ II [origin.com]

FIFA Soccer 11 [origin.com]

FIFA Soccer 12 [origin.com]

Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows Part 1 [origin.com]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 [origin.com]

Littlest Pet Shop [origin.com]

Mass Effect [origin.com]

Mass Effect™ 2 [origin.com]

Medal of Honor [origin.com]

Mirror's Edge [origin.com]

MySims [origin.com]

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit [origin.com]

Need For Speed World ($20 speed boost credit included) [origin.com]

Need for Speed Shift [origin.com]

SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED [origin.com]

Shank 2 [origin.com]

Spore [origin.com]

Spore: Creepy & Cute Parts Pack [origin.com]

The Saboteur [origin.com]

SimCity Societies [origin.com]

SimCity Societies Destinations [origin.com]

SimCity™ 4 Deluxe Edition [origin.com]

The Sims™ 2 Double Deluxe [origin.com]

The Sims™ 3 [origin.com] ->$9.99 (reg 29.99)

The Sims™ 3 'Stuff' EXPANSIONS (too many to list/link)

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters [origin.com]

 

 

Edited October 16, 2012 by Humanoid

[Blodhemn]

I've always held disdain for coupon whores no matter the product. Usually the "honest" consumer suffers in some way because of it.

[Bos_hybrid]

Damn it's easier for me to list what games I don't have on that list, then the ones I do.

[alanschu]

Haha, I don't have most games on that list. Though EA does offer employees a rebate up to a certain value for digital purchases, so I could acquire most of them if I was interested. I snagged me a copy of FIFA for a friend and took a flyer on some super Command and Conquer combo pack with a gajillion C&C games in it

Edited October 16, 2012 by alanschu

[Majek]

Nothing i want on that list, so not missing anything.

 

Now if it would've worked for EA's GOG games, i'd exploit it until i had everything. :D

Edited October 16, 2012 by Majek

[Humanoid]

Wouldn't have been all that profitable for me since there's only two EA games left on GoG that I want and don't already have: Syndicate and Theme Hospital, which haven't been put on sale since they appeared. As it stands, I have 18 of the 26 non-free EA-GoG titles....

 

 

Out of all the stuff that was gettableon Origin, I only have ME, ME2, The Sims 3, SimCity 4, and DAO; but even if I could pick any of them up for free right now, the only one I'd really consider is Spore, which I've never tried.

[Malcador]

Hm, looking at that list I don't feel too bad about not taking advantage of it. Funny on EA, though.

[Orogun01]

No free game is worth installing Origins

[Volourn]

Sounds immoral and illegal. Typical internet pieces of crap.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Volourn

[Deadly_Nightshade]

They're going to mail-out new coupons for those who took the study and did not get a chance to redeem it.

[Hurlshort]

It's still pretty solid of EA to allow people to keep the games. Obviously it would be bad PR to take them away, but they would have every justification to do so.

[DiabolicallyRandom]

Sounds like horrible planning on EA's part - for something like that, a $20 dollar use on anything code, you don't make it multiple user multiple use. You give each user a single use single person code upon completion of the survey. This is basic stuff. Whoever messed this up in their marketing department will likely have a bad day at work.

[alanschu]

Yeah I find that strange too.

 

Unless the idea that it might be leaked was intentional? Could be I suppose. I am surprised that something like this was able to happen.

 

Although I don't think the code was multiuse for a single person (though I think people found ways around this).

[Mamoulian War]

Sounds like PR stunt to me... to get more people to use Origin...

[alanschu]

Which reminds me of the outrage people had that Half-Life games (Half-Life 2 in particular) required Steam! I still remember the "Steam is a steaming pile of ****" when it first came out

[Mamoulian War]

Actually Steam is steaming pile of ****

[alanschu]

Fair that some feel this way, but I feel many changed their tune as Steam evolved.

[Hurlshort]

In a lot of ways I'd say Origin is better than Steam, it seems to run smoother at least.

 

But you can't beat those Steam sales

[alanschu]

Steam sales destroy my wallet

[Orchomene]

It's still pretty solid of EA to allow people to keep the games. Obviously it would be bad PR to take them away, but they would have every justification to do so.

I'm not totally sure it's legal (in some countries at least) for them to take the games back. It may be considered a breach of contract : the contract being selling a game at an explicite proposed price (even 0 is a price).

Of course, it is certainly because it would cost some effort (and thus money) to take back the games whereas it cost them nothing to let things go.

That's not like if they lost anything solid moneywise, only potential/projected earnings.

[Hurlshort]

It really depends on how the coupon was written, but it sounds like it was clearly being exploited contrary to what the intent was. It is perfectly legal for a business to protect their assets from this kind of thing.

[NOK222]

This isn't a cashier being left open, this is a manager coming in drunk to work and sell everything at one dollar at a whim.

[alanschu]

It's more akin to printing off some coupons for a specific group of people, and someone going off and photocopying them all and distributing them of their own volition, which results in the promotion being canceled and really the only people that are actually disadvantaged are those that the promotion is intended for no longer receiving said perk.

[Deraldin]

It's more akin to printing off some coupons for a specific group of people, and someone going off and photocopying them all and distributing them of their own volition, which results in the promotion being canceled and really the only people that are actually disadvantaged are those that the promotion is intended for no longer receiving said perk.

 

It wasn't just the distribution of the codes. Sure that might have been a problem, but the much bigger issue was that it wasn't limited in any way. The fact that it applied to everything in your cart, rather than a single item was the real issue.