Syndicate will not use an online pass

EA has been very supportive of online passes. Though these restrictive little bundles of frustration are a ripoff for anyone hoping to buy a used game, the publisher has included them in plenty of titles. EA will even be including an online pass with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a single-player game, which is just a stupid thing to do.

It would be hard to blame anyone for assuming that the company will also be including an online pass in Syndicate, its upcoming first-person shooter. In a wacky turn of events, that actually won't be the case. Say what?!

That's right, there will be no online pass included with Syndicate when the game hits retailers. I know, I still can't believe it myself. "Under normal circumstances it would have had an online pass, but because it didn't have competitive multiplayer and because we wanted as many people as possible to be playing co-op, we got away with it," said EA Partners Executive Producer Jeff Gamon in a statement to Eurogamer.

"We want as little resistance or barriers to entry as possible," continued the exec. "The co-op is equal billing in this. We wanted everyone who owns a copy of the game to have access to the entire product."

Hey, how about doing that with all games? Just a thought.