In what might come as great news for those who’re looking forward to EA’s upcoming Syndicate, the company has announced that this game won’t require an online pass in order for players to access its online features. Developed by Starbreeze Studios, this first person shooter contains a four-player co-op mode, and this is where the online access will come into play.
While more and more publishers these days are restricting the access of online features to a single copy, EA’s move to leave out this option will enable gamers to share their copies with friends without each one of them having to purchase the pass separately. Talking with Eurogamer, one of the company’s producers revealed that it is EA’s policy to include such passes in all its games, but this rule is not valid to EA Partners games.
EA Partners executive producer, Jeff Gamon, appears to have told the website, “We want as little resistance or barriers to entry as possible. The co-op is equal billing in this. We wanted everyone who owns a copy of the game to have access to the entire product. Under normal circumstances it would have had an online pass, but because it didn’t have competitive multiplayer and because we wanted as many people as possible to be playing co-op, we got away with it.”
Last month, we also saw a new model of such online passes being detailed by EA for its forthcoming SSX. Syndicate is all set to launch for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on February 21, 2012. It was announced by EA in September last year as a reboot of the popular franchise of games released in the 90s. This week also saw a demo showcasing the title’s co-op features being outed through PSN and Xbox Live.
Syndicate can be pre-ordered currently for all the three platforms at a price of 59.99 USD (approx. Rs. 2,945).