EA Sports launches Season Ticket for Xbox 360
New Zealand Xbox360 owners can now purchase an EA Sports Season Ticket, enabling early access to new games, discounted downloadable and free premium web content.
Xbox 360 owners wishing to sign up to the service must download the free 40MB EA Sports application from the Xbox Live Marketplace. The application, found under 'Game Library' in the 'My Xbox' section of the Dashboard, must then be started. The EA Sports Season Ticket costs 2000 MS Points (NZ$33) and entitles subscribers to access the following benefits:
1. Three days before a game's scheduled release, fans will be able to download and play the full version of participating EA Sports titles. The downloaded game will time out when the game is available in retail stores. If they choose to purchase the game on disc, EA Sports Season Ticket subscribers will be able to transfer over all their achievements obtained from the downloaded version.
2. Subscribers will get a 20% discount on all available downloadable content for participating EA Sports titles. The downloadable content includes Ultimate Team packs, accelerator packs and gear upgrades.
3. All participating titles will feature premium web content that will be free to EA Sports Season Ticket members beginning with the premium Creation Centre pack for FIFA Soccer 12. These packs provide a set of tools within the Creation Centre to build custom teams and tournaments.
4. Exclusive membership recognition badges will be given to all Season Ticket subscribers; these can be displayed both in-game and on the user's EA Sports profile.
Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, had this to say of the new service: "EA Sports Season Ticket is an exciting program for our core fans – it lets our biggest fans play earlier, play more and play better than anyone else.
"EA Sports Season Ticket is an important step in our vision for transforming how deeply fans connect with the sports games they love through digital products and services. We're excited to continue evolving EA Sports Season Ticket as we listen to what consumers want most in their gaming experiences."
EA has yet to reach an agreement with Sony to roll out the EA Sports Season Ticket to European, Australian and New Zealand PlayStation 3 owners, with the service currently only available on the PS3 in North America.