User blog comment:Lost Labyrinth/EA to go 100% digital. What does this mean for The Sims series and players?/@comment-26744861-20120925205003

Having used digital distribution in the past, I can tell you that there are some major drawbacks, especially when it comes to developers such as EA, Ubisoft and anyone else that uses the Online Pass system for multiplayer gaming.

While I can't speak for PC (or PSN really, only EA games I got from there don't use the passes), I can safely tell you that downloadable games from Xbox Live don't include online passes. Seeing as Microsoft have been criticised in the past for their XBL pricing policies, this would mean that someone would end up downloading a game from 2 months ago (note that MS don't do day one digital releases) for £50 and would have to pay an additional £8 if they want to play online.

Whilst the premise of the passes was so anyone with a pre-owned copy would have to pay for online access, those who are purchasing a brand new digital copy are being ripped off over what can be a deciding factor between someone wanting and not wanting a certain game. With XBL's pricing again, one could buy a brand new physical copy from Amazon which would include the single use code for the online pass for a significantly cheaper price than that of XBL (and probably PSN too).

I'm all for digital distribution when it comes to convenience but should someone really have to pay more for something when they're already paying enough to support the developer (and Sony/Microsoft/whoever is distributing the content)?