Buy Battlefield: Bad Company 2 used and you'll miss out on some free content, publisher Electronic Arts has said.
EA announced Thursday that it will give two new downloadable levels to players that buy new copies of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The maps will be available on March 2, the same day that the multiplayer shooter launches on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Like most new games from Electronic Arts, Battlefield comes with a code printed on a card that's tucked next to the game's manual. Input this code and the maps are yours. But if you buy used, you're taking the chance that the previous owner already used the code, and you'll have to pay to download the maps if you want them.
We've already seen Electronic Arts use this approach with games like Mass Effect 2, where a squad mate and mission were were excised from the game unless you bought new, and The Saboteur, which offered free titillation to big spenders.
Offering premiums like this to fans who buy the game new is a fairly clever way to discourage fans from buying used games. But the downside, of course, is that budget-conscious gamers feel like they're getting the shaft from Electronic Arts.
The party most affected might be GameStop. Because the $5 discount you get for buying a used copy of a recent game doesn't seem like much of deal when you've got to buy 10 bucks' worth of downloadable content afterward.
Image courtesy Electronic Arts
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