EA Sports today is introducing its long-developed and much-discussed content subscription program, "EA Sports Season Ticket." Aimed at the video game developer's most avid fans, the program will provide early access to five core titles, discounts on downloadable content and free premium web content. The program will be priced at $24.99 per year and at launch is built around "Madden NFL 12," "FIFA 12," NHL 12," and "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13" and "NCAA Football 13" when they are released next year. The "EA Sports Season Ticket" program is the result of more than a year of active development, and the subject of frequent rumors and speculation within the video game industry. "We've been working on this for a long time, but the core question has always been, 'How do we provide extra services to our core community?'" said EA Sports President Peter Moore. "This is also fully in keeping with our continued shift, and the entire industry's shift, to a much more digital future. In five years, this program won't look like it does now, and it's right now a supplement to our core model now of developing and selling discs with games on them. It's classic crawl-walk-run that we're looking to do. But more and more, we're about EA Sports being a place you go and instead of just a thing you buy." Video game retail chain GameStop is also involved as the exclusive retail marketing partner for the launch of "EA Sports Season Ticket."
EARLY ACCESS TO GAMES: Moore declined to project initial subscription sales for the effort, but perhaps most popular to consumers will be the early access provision of the program. Subscribers will be able to download full versions of the five games through XBox Live and the PlayStation Network three days before the retail release of each, a major step compared to limited online game demos normally available prior to release. Those downloadable game files will become unplayable after the retail release dates. But the three-day window will provide a key time advantage for competitive video game players. And for more casual consumers, the window provides another opportunity for EA Sports to market additional games. "This we think becomes a very effective way to get in front of the hardcore 'Madden' audience and expose them fully to 'FIFA,' and 'NHL,' and get them excited about those as well," Moore said.
