EA Sports Season Ticket Subscription Service Launches

Electronic Arts today launched the EA Sports Season Ticket, a yearly subscription-based service that provides users with benefits and discounts on classic EA Sports titles. The service is available in North America via the PlayStation Network for $24.99 and Xbox Live for 2000 Microsoft Points. Subscribers will receive special benefits for future releases in five of the main EA Sports franchises: Madden NFL Football, NHL Hockey, FIFA Soccer, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf and NCAA Football. When new titles in this range are launched, Season Ticket holders will be able to download the games digitally a full three days before the retail disc launch day. Subscribers will also have access to a 20 percent discount on downloadable content for these EA Sports titles, and will be provided with free premium web content that, the company said, extends the games beyond the console experiences. Finally, subscribers will be given special membership recognition badges both in-game and on their EA Sports profile, so that other gamers can see that they are a subscriber. Starting from later this month, Madden NFL 12 will be the first title to take advantage of this new system. Peter Moore, president at EA Sports, explained in a statement, "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 also announced an exclusive marketing partnership with games retailer GameStop, who will be introducing the Season Ticket system in North America through its PowerUp Rewards program. "We are excited to be selected as the exclusive retail marketing partner for the roll-out of EA Sports Season Ticket," said GameStop president Tony Bartel.