Are GameStop and EA planning a subscription games service?

Do you love sports games? I mean really love them? Are you such a devoted fan that you buy every NFL, PGA, NCAA, MLB, NBA, and NASCAR game every year, regardless of how marginal the improvements are from year to year? If so, then you may be interested in the new subscription service EA and GameStop seem to be mulling over.

According to the source, the gigantic publisher and retail titan are teaming up to create a "Season Pass" card which, for $20 up front, will grant you a 33% discount on all new EA Sports titles purchased that same year. That’s a savings of roughly $20 per game (assuming you buy the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions at $60 a pop), so if you buy two sports games in a given year you’ve already come out ahead. Sounds like you can’t lose.

Actually, it’s the fact that this seems too good to be true that makes us believe it likely is. Thus far, the program only exists in the form of market research, so it’s hard telling if anyone is actually giving any serious thought to the program. Furthermore, I can’t imagine a retailer and publisher being this generous with a discount program, not when I already pay $15 for an Edge card and still only get 10% off used games. While this could ultimately be a pretty sweet deal for sports gamers, we’ll believe it when we see it.

TGR Verdict: Rumor Unlikely