EA has teamed up with Microsoft and announced today a new subscription service on the XBOX one: EA Access. The beta is available today to a limited number of players but EA said that it will soon be available to everyone. The membership costs $4.99 per month or $29.99 for an annual membership.
EA Access gives you:
The vault, which lets you play games for free, downloaded straight to your Xbox One. During the beta you can play Battlefield 4, Peggle 2, Madden NFL 25, and FIFA 14. Peggle 2 is more than worth paying five dollars a month for. While you are subscribed to EA Access you can play any of these games and more for free, as much as you want and for as long as you want.
With your EA Access you’ll be given a 10% discount on all your digital purchases made through your Xbox. With the annual membership, spending more than $300 (or 5 $60 games) on EA titles in a year will pay for the membership.
Additionally, with EA Access you’ll have exclusive rights to play upcoming EA games 5 days before they’re released, “for a limited time.” We’re not sure what that means, whether it’s the full game or an exclusive demo.
The reaction on twitter seems to be a mix of positive and negative reviews. As it stands now, this is a pretty good deal considering how many games EA publishes. Having quality games at your fingertips at all times is convenient, almost like Netflix.
While this new system is not as comprehensive as Netflix, as we can only play EA games, and a limited number at that, it’s a step in the right direction. While Steam is, without question, the leading distributor of digital games, but each game has to be paid for. With EA’s new subscription service, we might start seeing a new system of game playing for just a few dollars a month.
