And you thought requiring everyone who wants to play online pay a fee was bad? In a thoroughly underwhelming announcement, EA Sports told the world this week that they would be creating a Season Ticket program, where members could get early access to their titles and discounts to downloadable content for a $25 yearly fee. Fans of Madden, FIFA, NHL and their other titles are known to be fanatical, with the yearly release of the Madden franchise almost a national holiday at this point.  But it seems that EA is really banking on the obsessive nature of their fans with this subscription service, since the actual details of the service are not really all that great.

For your money, you get to download the full title to your system of choice a whole three days before the release date. Once the game comes out, the download becomes useless and you must use the disc instead. You get 20% off any EA Sports DLC, free premium web content, and a special badge that people can display next to their name. This is pretty lame for a Special Edition bonus, let alone a service you are paying money for every year. You are basically getting an extended demo for several days and a minor discount on downloadable cards. To me, this looks like a money grab by EA, plain and simple. On a positive note, nothing that is offered here should really be in the game in the first place (looking at you Call of Duty Elite), so if you like the idea of early access and discounts and don’t mind paying the money, than this service is perfect for you. It is available now, so if you want to get early access to this year’s Madden, sign on to Xbox Live or PSN and sign up!