Earlier this May, EA revealed there would be no more online passes in the company's future. Originally instituted as a way to combat used game sales just a few years ago, the publisher has already decided it's time to move away from the policy. Better news came this week when EA announced current online passes were being discarded, too.

According to a statement given to Game Informer from EA, existing online passes are being retroactively removed, or being offered as free.

As we discontinue Online Pass for our new EA titles, we are also in the process of eliminating it from all our existing EA titles as well.  We heard the feedback from players and decided to do away with Online Pass altogether.

Players will see it first with some EA Sports titles, where a prompt to enter an Online Pass code will no longer appear in-game; with other titles we are simply making Online Passes available free of charge online.

These are rolling updates that are taking effect over the next several weeks. We hope players continue to enjoy our games and online services for a long time to come.

 

Games like Medal of Honor, Mass Effect 2, and Dragon Age 2 have seen content previously locked behind a $10-15 pay wall effectively reduced to the low, low price of free. Currently the Xbox 360 is seeing the changes, but EA plans on cutting the online pass prices across all platforms in the coming days and weeks. It would appear now is the perfect time to play all those old EA games you missed out on at a discounted price.

Of course, the decision to yank the online passes came just as Microsoft announced its extremely confusing used games policies for the Xbox One. Don't think that's not an intentional move.

What do you think of the decision to retroactively remove the online passes for older games? Smart move, or too little too late?

More From ScreenCrush