EA's latest endeavor, "Project Ten Dollar", will piss off customers who'll find their games resale value significantly drop without any compensation. With Project Ten Dollar, EA intends to capitalize on second hand game sales by offering a free single-time DLC with new games. Second hand buyers will have to pay for their own copy of the DLC. Project Ten Dollar has been implemented in Mass Effect 2 and EA plans to utilize it in all its 2011 titles. "The person you [EA] are pissing off the most is the consumer," Chipsworld MD Don McCabe warned. "This affects [them] directly - they pay the same amount of money and yet the resale value is much reduced. From a retailer's point of view, they'll just readjust [the price] bearing in mind you have to buy the voucher." Sony has done a similar - if not more aggressive - step with latest PSP SOCOM game which cannot be played in multiplayer mode until an attached code is redeemed online. Second hand SOCOM players have to purchase their own multiplayer-enabling codes for $20. "EA's Project Ten Dollar move is aiming to stifle pre-owned games sales, but what they don't factor in is the damage this could have for them in relation to new sales," SwapGame CEO Marc Day commented. "At SwapGame, the majority of customers who trade in for cash or credit do so to acquire new games they could otherwise not afford. Through trading in, we aim to help the customer make gaming more affordable, providing them with a way to buy new games." "The move to DLC exclusive content is an interesting step, and this obviously provides the publisher with another revenue stream. This move will definitely make the game less valuable on the pre-owned market, so it will be sold cheaper, meaning customers will get less value when trading in."
