I don't get why people commenting on this article feel that EA is in the wrong here. EA makes nothing off the sales of used games yet currently incurs the cost of providing online services.
What would be a better solution?
What would be a better solution?
It would be different if suddenly two players could play at the same time, but this is like lending a book to a friend... you both can't be reading it at the exact same moment.
Book publishers also generally aren't trying to recoup $50-100,000,000 development budgets.
No it didn't
People don't constantly play games. They play them for awhile after purchase, and then their playtime peters off. If that disc stayed in the hands of the original player, the cost to EA would be near zero for most people, who might bring the game out every couple weeks when friends are over.
While there certainly are original players who keep playing games, they're dwarfed by those who stop playing, or stop playing and sell the game.