Fans and gamers of the upcoming reboot of the series of racing video games “Need for Speed” are up in arms over the required always-on internet connection to be able to play the game on the gaming consoles and the PC.
The always-on internet connection has been a bane to the gaming community and one gamer actually warned game publisher Electronic Arts (EA) not to take the same route as Microsoft did to some of its games in Xbox One.
Aside from having the 24-hour access to gamers, the always-on internet connection also allows publishers to accurately measure who is playing the game and for how long. They can also check who among gamers are playing illegally copied versions of the game so that they can prevent it, notes Cinema Blend.
EA responded to the tweet of the gamer through the “Need for Speed” Twitter account by saying that the benefits of an always-on internet connection are nice.
A long-time problem
But gamers who have been into gaming for quite some time know that the so-called benefits of games that required an always-on internet connection have caused a lot of controversies and problems in some video games in the past.
Blizzard Entertainment generated a firestorm of frustrations and anger from its gamers for the game “Diablo III” because of its need for an internet connection.
EA also had its fair share of complaints with such when it partnered with Maxis and they implemented the always-on internet connection with “SimCity.” Eventually, gamers found out that the game didn’t have to have always-on internet connection and modders found a way to crack through the barrier to play games offline.
EA and Maxis eventually offered an offline experience to gamers for “SimCity” but it proved to be too late as fans have already moved on to other games and practically left the duo in the cold.
Ubisoft also had the same problem with “The Crew,” whose always-on internet connection was supposed to be the bridge between single-player cross-country racing and a massively multiplayer online game (MMO).
But it turns out that the title was below par, the driving mechanics quite mediocre, the racing uninspired, and also an online community that appears not intent on staying too long. “The Crew” also had its fair share of bugs and glitches that pretty much sealed its doom.
History repeating itself
Despite all the unsavory records of video games with always-on internet connection including one where it also had a participation, gamers are still wondering why EA would thread the realm once more.
EA has recently announced the shut-down of many of its free-to-play MMO games, including the “Need for Speed World” and yet here comes the publisher again trying to repeat history.
The publisher has yet to disclose all the details of the “Need for Speed” reboot but gamers are already worried and unhappy about the idea of the always-on internet connection requirement.