Take Two Jumping on the “Online Pass” Bandwagon

EA Sports was the first to introduce the “Online Pass”, a one-time-use code included in new copies of games granting online functionality leaving those who buy the game used to pay for online access. THQ rolled out their own program, Sony was next in line to support it, and other companies such as Activision and Ubisoft have expressed a desire to do the same.

Take Two has now revealed plans to institute their own version of an “Online Pass”, which means expect it to be a part of all 2K Sports games in the future. It is unclear whether they will follow the same structure as EA and THQ with the pack-in code and $10 charge for those without it, and there was no timetable for a roll-out set.

NBA 2K11 is due out in less than two weeks so it would seem unlikely that the “online pass” would first arrive with that title. It seems as though the company is just in the planning stages at this point. However as we learned with THQ and how they handled their first implementation with UFC Undisputed 2010 you never really know how much a company may value keeping their consumers informed. I tend to think though that 2K would have been upfront about it so we may see its first use come MLB 2K11.