New EA Sports Premium Pass will let subscribers create their own leagues, playoffs, and tournaments and will provide them with other benefits.
With the budget-priced ESPN NFL 2K5 topping the charts, Electronic Arts is adding another incentive for gamers to pick up its own footballer, Madden NFL 2005. Purchasers of Madden will be given free access to the EA Sports Premium Pass, a new feature set for Xbox Live users or PlayStation 2 gamers who play online.
Despite its name, the Premium Pass is free, thanks to a sponsorship by Dodge. "We are excited to be working with Dodge to bring the largest interactive football community (800,000 strong) an online experience that is second to none," said Chip Lange, vice president of EA Sports Nation. In exchange, the Dodge brand will be heavily promoted on the Premium Pass" various features. "Companies can"t sustain feature development without a sustaining business model beneath it," said Lange. "This is a new business model and that model is a sponsorship model."
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