EA Sports: Skipping out on Season Pass will not affect gamers adversely

Peter Moore has said the Season Pass implemented for EA Sports titles is not essential, and if you decide not to purchase the incentive, it won't cause adverse effects on your experience.

"This is a program that's additive and supplementary to your core experience," said Moore in an interview with GI.biz. "It's not something that, if you don't subscribe to it, all of a sudden is less than optimal. We are very clear on that. There are people who will just say, 'Look, I don't believe in paying extra for content or access,' and that's perfectly fine, but my e-mail box over the last few years has been full of requests saying, 'How do I get the game early. I spend a lot of money with you guys, how can I get a discount like I can with some other kind of, if you will, retailer – and I'm putting quotes around that.

"The program will continue to evolve over the years as we learn more about what the consumer wants. Every time you ask for money for something there's going to be resistance, but it's important that everybody understands that this is aimed at the core consumer

"The idea is that we're allowing people early access to the game, but the focus then is that you still need to go to retail. We're partnering with retailers to drive this program, so we see it as very complementary to the usual process. We have very strong relationships with retailers and that's not going to change. The digital element of what we do has been strong, and you've seen John Riccitiello talking about a billion dollar digital business, but most of our business starts with the purchase of a disc at retail, and this is no different. All of this comes off a disc, and that disc is bought at retail."

EA announced Season Pass earlier today.