In the video game industry, an online pass is a form of digital rights management for video games with online functionality. Online passes are commonly in the form of a single-use serial code found in a game's manual (or in leaflets). Although they are used to unlock content for a game, online passes are often required for access to certain online content, notably online play. However, if a gamer buys a game pre-owned or borrows from another person and their online passes are already used, the gamer can either purchase one via their console, or can access a limited (commonly 2 day) trial of the game's online content, which is more useful for rented games. Some games, like Battlefield 3 and Dirt 3, do not have a trial, making renting games difficult.
Most online passes go under different names for a specific game, such as Online Axxess (WWE games), Battle Code (Homefront), Kombat Pass (Mortal Kombat) and V.I.P. Pass (Dirt 3 and F1 2012). PSN Pass is used for all forthcoming PlayStation 3 games published by Sony Computer Entertainment.
It is currently only used on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games. Due to its used of fighting used game sales (A market nearly non-existent for the PC) rather than piracy and the ability of a pirated copy to include the downloaded content alongside the game, the system is not used for PC games. The Wii is also exempt for this system, due to it's lesser online features.
There are several criticisms of the online pass system:
The system actually punishes consumers for choosing to save money. By either buying used copies of a game with the online pass feature or trade in the game towards the purchase of other games for the future. In the case of trade-ins, the fact that a player must pay an additional fee in order to activate the online features for a used copy of the game makes it almost impractical to trade it in because some stores may be unwilling to buy back games that utilize the online pass feature. In addition, a consumer who buys a new copy of a game with an online pass must spend their time inconveniently activating the online pass before getting to play the game online.
In some cases, the code for the online pass will eventually expire if it is purchased too late. What this means is that if a game with the online pass is bought late in it's cycle by a late adapting consumer, the game is bought brand new, but the activation code does not work, then the buyer now must purchase a new code for an additional fee despite having already paid for the game new. Therefore, the online pass feature may not only hurt used-game buyers, but also new-game buyers as well.
Online passes are linked to console profiles, so the purchased game cannot be played on a different console with all the paid-for features made available.