Over the weekend, Electronic Arts released a survey to many of its Origin customers that, for a few moments of their time, awarded them with a code for $20 off on certain titles on the Origin store. Many of the games in question were, themselves, at the $20 mark, meaning that an individual could receive a given game for free.
It was quickly discovered that the codes were, in fact, universal. They could be used by multiple people on different Origin accounts, meaning that, as soon as the code was posted on a forum, anyone who popped by could use it. Further, it was valid for multiple games in the same transaction. Gamers swarmed to this and, over the weekend, EA gave away thousands of free digital games.
This did not go unnoticed, and EA invalidated the codes and stopped giving any more out on Sunday, but has since gone on the record as stating that those who took advantage of the error will be allowed to keep their games. This last has caused an uproar by those claiming that EA is “punishing loyal customers” since it had promised a reward for the survey (which did remain up even after the codes had been invalidated), which was then unavailable because it had been abused by the Internet’s unscrupulous masses.
It’s a valid perspective, but, in the end, everyone had the same opportunity to use the codes, whether in their intended manner or in an abusive one, and EA’s reaction is decidedly the high road in this situation. They’ve fixed a mistake, but have accepted the consequences without turning to punitive measures.