Electronic Arts has ended the recent offer of a free copy of Battlefield 3 with every pre-purchase of Mass Effect 3 on Origin. The termination of the offer has been seen as quite jarringly abrupt by a number of users, alongside news that those who qualify for a free game won’t receive it immediately, but must wait for a code to arrive between now and March 8.
The offer was supposed to last until March 5, but it seems that EA had a rapid change of heart for some reason. One can only assume the promotion was a bit more successful than the publisher had anticipated.
The publisher’s also been pretty sketchy on its terms. Originally, the offer said that anybody who already owned a copy of the game would not qualify for a code. However, Origin’s official Twitter later told somebody that if they already had it, they’d still get a code mailed to them and they could give it to a friend. The change of terms annoyed one Destructoid reader, who hadn’t pre-ordered at the time because of the original terms, then logged on after the new terms were confirmed to find the promotion dead.
EA, you need to stop running free game promotions like this. You only end up pissing people off.
[Thanks, Brian]