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EA Access Goes Live Today On Xbox One
Electronic Arts’ recently announced premium subscription service EA Access is out of Beta and officially available to all Xbox One owners today. The premium service allows members access to downloadable EA games, a discount on EA digital content, and pre-release demos of full games.
For the $4.99 monthly (or $29.99 for a full year) subscription fee, Xbox gamers get access to downloadable games from the EA “Vault” at no additional charge. These games will be downloaded, not streamed, and are accessible as long as the subscription lasts. The games currently available in the Vault include Battlefield 4, FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, and Peggle 2.
EA Access members will also gain free access to full, playable versions of EA games five days before their release date. The full versions of these games will be playable for a limited time. If a subscriber elects to purchase the release version of the game they demoed, the progress they made in their pre-release demo can be carried over. Games that have been announced as playable pre-release for EA Access subscribers so far include Madden NFL 15, FIFA 15, NHL 15, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.
As long as an EA Access subscription lasts, members will receive a 10% discount on all EA digital content, including purchases of the release versions of demo-able EA games, and digital expansion packs in Battlefield and FIFA Ultimate Team.
For more info on EA Access, check out our updated announcement coverage. If you’re wondering why EA Access is available on Xbox One only, read why Sony didn’t want it.
[Source: EA]
Our Take
As we’ve said before, time will ultimately tell whether or not the EA Access experiment is a good value for gamers and a good investment for EA. The subscription fee seems reasonable for the amount of content and discounts it gives, and the ability to play new games early is particularly exciting. What will determine if EA Access works or not is how well EA supports the service going forward, as well as the quality of the gaming experience that the service provides.
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