As gamers began to receive the many EA titles they ordered over this past holiday weekend, some were surprised to find that the Online Pass contained within those games had expired. For example, one gamer tried to redeem their pass for Need for Speed: The Run and ended up with a message saying that Online Pass had expired.

After having contacted EA said gamer found out that the Online Pass for each EA game does have a shelf life, but will never officially expire. All one needs to do is contact EA for a new Online Pass or the ability to re-download one.

Essentially, those Online Passes that gamers have come to know oh so well have a time frame in which they can be used. After that time frame passes, it’s a minor inconvenience, but the Online Pass’ validity still remains. For example, as revealed by EA, Dragon Age 2’s Online Pass expires on March 31, 2012.

Now, that would be all well and good, except the gamer in question — the one who brought this problem to our attention — purchased a copy of Need for Speed: The Run, a game that was released in mid-November. If Online Passes have the potential of “expiring” that fast, perhaps EA needs to re-evaluate their time frames, or suffer some serious gamer backlash, backlash beyond just the Online Pass complaints that already exist.

It also seems possible that, rather than being expired, the NFS Online Pass was simply a misprint, but either way there is a grander issue at play. Parents could out there as we speak, shopping for gamers they know absolutely nothing about, potentially picking up games with expired Online Pass codes. Hopefully EA can put together a quick source for rectifying this problem, one that is simple and can get players into a Battlefield 3 match in no time.

Have you encountered an expired Online Pass with any EA game you’ve purchased? Have you encountered the problem with any other publisher’s Online Pass?

Source: NeoGAF