EA accidentally gives games away for free in key blunder

Over the weekend EA sent out special download codes as thanks to those who completed a survey, entitling them to one free game download from EA's online store, Origin. But blunder in the code's security meant that the code could be used to download as many games as the user wanted, resulting in a Reddit thread where code recipients exploited the error and passed their codes around.

A Reddit user posts that those with codes could redeem two copies of the same game – one on the website version of the Origin Store and another in Origin itself – and that users could check-out both games at the same time. The code could also be used to shop up any of EA's games on the Origin store excluding any games that were less than 30 days old and Valve titles.

The loophole was closed by EA earlier today with the promo code becoming invalid at approximately 1:28AM PST, but not before hundreds if not thousands of games were downloaded for free. It is believed that the code was usable for 18 hours.

Among the games that were downloaded include Dead Space, Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2, Need For Speed Shift, Medal of Honor, Mass Effect 1 and 2, Sim City 4, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Mirror's Edge, Shank, The Saboteur, and many more. A list compiled by Reddit users can be viewed here.

We have reached out to EA for comment and will update this story when more information is available.