As we recently explained in one of our previous articles, the trend of including one-time use DLC incentive codes with the purchase of new Electronic Arts titles is going to be expanded with more titles this year. The company claims that consumers like the additional content and they are committed to making it a part of every release, if possible this year.

While the company did not go into the benefit that EA gets by selling a new copy of the game versus a used copy of the game, it is obvious that this has played into their decision to move in this direction. Most recently, the company has experimented with this concept with Dragon Age: Origins, Saboteur and Mass Effect 2. In the past, however, the company has offered incentives for placing pre-orders with select retailers, but this format goes beyond that by offering significantly more content than the typical pre-order incentive.

While EA claims that they don’t see pre-order incentives going away, it would seem that more publishers and developers will follow this model going forward. Some are already complaining that this is comparable to buying 95% of the game and having to purchase the additional 5% online if you buy a used copy. It has been suggested that we could see a slight drop in the prices of titles that use this format until more publishers adopt this model going forward. This will help generate revenue for the developer from used game sales, but at the same time some are going to be unhappy to see things move in this direction.