EA Sports' "Season Ticket" subscription will offer free downloadable content that otherwise would be paid, modestly sweetening the sales pitch for a service that hasn't generated much buzz since its debut a year ago.
According to EA Sports' updated Season Ticket page, first noticed by Operation Sports, subscribers will now get free packs of cards in the Madden, FIFA and NHL Ultimate Team modes, worth $30 each, plus free content for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 and NCAA Football 14 when those two titles release next year.
The freebies seem to address the biggest problem with Season Ticket: It just didn't put out enough. The real value it offered—the 20 percent discount on premium DLC—couldn't pay for itself unless you were a heavy Ultimate Team player, or buying up golf courses, sponsorships or premium items in Tiger Woods PGA Tour, which easily has the biggest DLC catalog of any EA Sports game. The 20 percent discount had a conceivably infinite benefit if you were someone who consistently bought lots of "coins," for real money, to spend on building out a card collection in the hockey, football or American football games.
In its first year, the $25 Season Ticket provided early access to full titles (but deleted them from your hard drive on the day of release) and a 20 percent discount on premium downloadable content for five titles. When it launched in August 2011 with Madden NFL 12, about 6,000 people were online playing the game in the preview weekend given to subscribers.
Though the value of the free DLC stands at $90, pending whatever is coming with Tiger 14 and NCAA 14, this still isn't much of a bargain unless, again, you're a committed Ultimate Team player. Otherwise, it's nice to get Madden, FIFA and the like the Friday before they release, but it's still more of a rental service than anything else.
EA Sports Season Ticket [Official site via Operation Sports]