EA Gives Free Game to All Points Bulletin Buyers Left in Dark

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Multiplayer online games are addictive, fun and at times extremely time consuming. Thanks to these three elements they have turned into literal gold mines for the game’s respective developers. Just take a look at Blizzard’s World of Warcraft which amasses well over 11 million subscribers paying $15 each and every month.

However, the online multiplayer gaming industry is extremely cut throat. Unless a game is able to amass a huge following like the above mentioned World at War it has pretty much no chance. Massively multiplayer online RPGs, in particular, are extremely hard for game developers to start from scratch. Just imagine trying to convince a buyer to purchase a $50 game and then pay an additional $15 monthly fee just to play it.

In order for a developer to continuously improve upon a game (as is normal within massively multiplayer online gaming world) this monthly fee is crucial. Due to the cut throat nature of the industry and the difficulty of gaining a following, several games have met their early demise regardless of whether or not they are loved within the gaming community.

If we look back to 2009 we can see a prime example of this with The Matrix Online. Despite being based off a hugely popular franchise, MxO failed to gain the following it deserved and ultimately had its servers shut down leaving those who had purchased the game out of luck.

While this story is nothing new, it’s quite difficult to not get upset over a game developer making a $50 game unplayable months or even years after it’s original release. More recently, this happened with Realtime Worlds’ All Points Bulletin. After running into some financial troubles, the game servers powering All Points Bulletin were permanently shut down roughly 4 months after the title was made publicly available.

Normally, gamers would be quite annoyed by this occurrence but EA is here to make things a bit more palatable. According to reports, the mega publisher will be offering gamers who purchased APB a free title from their more recent line up. This includes Dragon Age: Origins, The Saboteur, Spore, Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, Mass Effect 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and more.

Of course, to get down on this reimbursement you’re going to have to call EA and complain a but it’s a hell of a lot better than letting your $50 go to waste, right?