Quote Originally Posted by rajpoot View Post
Harsh DRM or intrusive software like Origin can be blamed on piracy, but I cannot see how you blame Day One DLC on piracy.
Playing pirate copies (or indeed, buying the games second-hand or renting them) results in both publishers and developers losing money; I recall a quote from the Heavy Rain team that claimed a few million people played that game without them getting a penny for it due to these problems.

To combat this, the base price was increased but that just perpetuates the problems, so publishers have taken to using incentives to those who buy the game new, but leaving the content to be purchased for $10 for those that want it. The thing is, how many of those people playing second-hand go on to buy that content? And what of the pirates who cannot buy it due to DRMs, Microsoft banning their console or whatever?

How does the company make money when people are experiencing their product for nothing? People may be irked by Online Passes and Day One DLC, but I feel the blame for it falls to piracy and second-hand sales more than it does the greed of publishers.

Quote Originally Posted by johnhughthom View Post
My opinion is that calling it "immoral" or similar is rather naive, EA is a business and free to charge what they want, when they want, how they want. Like has been mentioned before, if this becomes the norm it's gamers to blame, not developers and publishers. Personally I'll not be bothering with ME3, simply because I'm not overly enamoured with Bioware's recent releases.
If people weren't fortunate enough to get the Collector's Edition, and thus the From Ashes content, they'd be complaining about missing out on a major storyline and character arc; instead, EA opt for making this content available for purchase for those without the CE, and there's still complaining. What are they supposed to do in this situation? What would people prefer?

As for the fans boycotting the company by not buying Mass Effect 3, that's their loss. It's like watching two thirds of a film and then walking out. They'll all cave in eventually, once they start hearing about the game.