A short-lived and possibly ill-conceived promotion offering free copies of Battlefield 3 with Mass Effect 3 preorders on Origin has been brought to a halt.
On or about February 14, somebody at EA came up with a bright idea to promote the Origin digital distribution platform: give away free copies of Battlefield 3 with every Mass Effect 3 preorder made through Origin. There were a few catches – only good in North America, cannot be combined with other offers, PC only, that sort of thing – but for gamers who don’t already own Battlefield 3 it was a pretty sweet deal. The offer was originally set to run until March 5 but, for reasons unknown, it’s been terminated a little earlier than planned. As in, yesterday.
Did EA check the books and realize it was giving away the farm? Whatever the reason, a tweet last night made it clear that the ride on the gravy train, which had barely pulled out of the station, was over. “The pre-order Mass Effect 3 get a bonus copy of Battlefield 3 is over,” it said. “All pre-orders made during the deal will receive a code by Mar. 8th.”
It’s kind of weird that the codes won’t be emailed until March 8 (which is what I take “by March 8” to mean) as that means people will be receiving them just as they’re digging in to Mass Effect 3. Then again, it’s kind of weird that EA pulled the plug on this program after less than two days, too. It’s a great deal for anyone who managed to slip in while it was live, but I suspect that not a lot of thought was put into this promo before the trigger was pulled.
Source: Joystiq, PC Perspective
