EA Access subscription service for Xbox One: Is it worth the trouble?

Tech Times: "EA went ahead and announced its "EA Access" subscription service for the Xbox One. It's exclusive to that console because Sony doesn't view it as a good deal for PlayStation 4 owners. We're going to look at whether or not this service is worth its weight in gold, can it be successful, and should Sony reconsider its decision to give it the cold shoulder."

[nicksetzer1]

Worth what trouble? It took like 3 minutes to apply to the beta and try it ...

"Is it worth it's weight in gold?" Well, I think it is. As of right now the back log is a bit underwhelming, but in a year or two it will be an insanely good deal, even now the price seems extremely fair and the presentation is pretty nice as well. Just download the full game as if you own it and play it, simple as that. Obviously not everyone will be akin to this though, that's just the nature of any market.

[Bigpappy]

I like the early access and discounts on all digital downloads. The rest of it is gravy. Some will prefer the access to old games. That may come in handy in the summer draughts, but not my main interest, as I mostly only have time for what I make time to play. So I only play what I find intriguing, and not many games meet my needs... even when they are reviewed at 9 and 10 out of 10.

[Eonjay]

Sony rejected EA Access because of Titanfall. EA will bring it to their service. Its simple. EA is not Activision. There IPs have different outlooks.

[Deadpoolio]

EA already confirmed that NO Titanfall will not be added to EA access period....

and that discount LOL, people cry about $55 dollar games from gamestop. Yet a $5 discount YES 10% of $60 is about $5 on a digital game you'll never be able to trade..Pretty funny that suddenly people are praising a $5 discount

[Grown Folks Talk]

Depends @Deadpoolio. I only buy digital if it's a game I know i'll keep forever due to replay value, so paying $53.99 vs $59.99 isn't bad to me. All of this value is subjective, just like game X is better than game Z.

[blackout]

Not to knock anyone. But if Sony would have been down with this it would have been the best thing since sliced bread. If you look at past articles and comments the PS fan want a subscription service as well (PS Now) . This is just the start PS+ did not start out with four games, early trials. It took time for + and now GWG to get started. I really don't understand the hate, if your a gamer the $30 subscription pays for itself with more to come. Rome was not build in a day neither will this but in time this may be a thing of the past. This is something publishers and developers want, especially since this gen is supposed to be more expensive than what it was in the past. When others get down with this (and believe me there will be more) us as gamers need to show our support and stop crying for EVERYTHING to be FREE.

[Sm00thNinja]

^^^ this. I know its EA but ps4 gamers would be ecstatic if it were them and currently PS NOW isn't a worthy substitute. I say give it a shot until EA jacks up the price or reveals "the catch". Right now it's a real deal and if this is microsofts model for publishers in the future we all win

[objdadon]

I have no interest in paying a subscription to play games that i would already have 9 months ago on release. It makes no sense and if other publishers follow suit then we are headed to the end of gaming as we know it!

[Sitdown]

@objdadon
How would it be the end of gaming, when as you stated, you still have the option of purchasing games at release date? That's like saying it will be the end of theaters because you can subscribe to cable and watch the movie 9 months later.

[Sm00thNinja]

Freedom of choice and Microsoft is letting me choose rather than decide what's best for my wallet

[MorePowerOfGreen]

Agreed with most of what you said.

"But if Sony would have been down with this"

Sony's PR released a damage control spiteful reactionary comment that was spun into Sony being offered the service and rejected EA.

Until Sony Higher ups come out and say what the supposed Sony rep Email says it's just comforting spin. Sites wanting click bait or to do damage control and downplay ran with the spin(every article about it is based from the email)

Maybe a PS4 fanboy can link me to where Sony officially tells us what happened.

Lots of things being spun into fiction lately.

*If Sony had the service too* it would have been the best thing since sliced bread

[Eonjay]

Actually its pretty clear what happened. If you read between the lines, they consider the subscription fee an affront to Plus and whatever PSNow subscription they are selling.

If PSNow is a success, what are the profits that could be seen by EA as a participating publisher; VS a EA specific sub fee. It is completely plausible to say, that EA looked at potential revenues from an almost certainly PSNow subscription service and decided to cut out the middleman. The did have Titanfall after all...

And Titanfall leads to another plausible situation. One assumes that EA will leverage Titanfall to increase subscriptions to their service. If Sony had allowed this on their console, you wind up with a situation where the value of EA Access on PS4 is less that what PlayStation members would appreciate.

[shinrock]

If they fess up wont they have to fess up to backing out of the drm plan as well?

[ziggurcat]

@MPOG

Everything is a conspiracy with you, isn't it...

Does it pain you that much to know that Sony turned down EA's offer that you have to make up some BS conspiracy? There's plenty of information online that points to Sony turning down the offer because it doesn't offer very much value. What good is a service like that when EA has games that aren't available on playstation consoles?

Seriously... Pull your head out of misterx's rear end, and get a clue.

"Lots of things being spun into fiction lately."

Yes, and you're guilty of a good majority of that fiction.

[Shaner_Bock]

@ Eonjay

Titanfall is excluded from all EA Access features per the fine print at the bottom of the official web page.
http://www.ea.com/eaaccess/

I was interested in EA Access, also, but after reading the terms of service I've changed my mind.
Here's why:

As part of the EA Access Services, members with an active subscription are offered (1) the ability to play a limited trial of certain EA Content 5 days prior to the date that EA Content is otherwise available on the Xbox Marketplace (“Play First”), (2) discounts on EA Content offered through the Xbox Marketplace (“Discounts”); and (3) access to a limited library of certain EA Content (“Vault Title(s)”) for unlimited online play (“Vault Access”) for the duration of their availability in the Vault. Limitations and exclusions may apply. For upcoming EA Content eligible for Play First and Discounts, and for current EA Content available in the Vault, and current details on other membership benefits, see http://www.ea.com/eaaccess. Certain EA Content may be excluded from Play First, the Vault, and/or Discounts; see http://www.ea.com/eaaccess for details on such exclusions as they become available.

Long story short, "The Vault" titles will change when EA wants them to. You can play BF4 all you want until they pull it from "The Vault" and replace it with something else. However, you can still buy the digital copy for 10% off.

[yarbie1000]

Do you have the games offered? Do you want the early access and discounts?

Is it worth it to you?

PS...there is no wrong answer

[chrisarsenalsavart]

A 10% reduction on psn or xbl means nothing since most of their prices are already 10 to 15% higher than on any high street shops. Fact
Example
Fifa14 psn/xbl£59.99 GAME £52.00

[Dark_Overlord]

And if you avoid GAME, you can find it even cheaper still :)

[objdadon]

We already get early access, they're called demos!

[itisallaboutps]

Early access is just simply delaying the game for everyone else. Kind of like dlc already made for a game. You don't know it but you are being shafted

Discounts on digital games. Where they get more profit than out a full hard disk copy even with the discount.

Ot just doesnt do it for me. I wanted to csncel my psn destiny pre order and i can't no more digital titles for me.

[Bonkerz]

Sorry but what exactly is the trouble? lol, it literally takes seconds to sign up and your downloading the games.

[Sm00thNinja]

It's not on Playstation

[objdadon]

Don't want it on playstation and haven't and won't sign up on my xbox one! Tell ea to kick rocks with last year's version of madden and fifa! Lmao! !!!

[Brim]

@obj

shut up

[cfc78]

I don't see what's bad about it so far I'll be giving it a go but I do have a sneaky suspicion that EA will raise the price once the library starts to get bigger.

[WeAreLegion]

We don't know yet. We'll find out soon enough.

[mrpsychoticstalker]

What are you afraid of?

[Razjin]

First of all let me put this out there is that EA access has just EA games. Second 4.99 a month. I wouldn't want to see this on a console at all since you're already paying subs to play multi-player games. I see this being a success on pc because you're only paying for internet and not online features unless you play mmo's. lets not forget ps plus and xbox live gold giving out free games essential some of those tittles have been ea games as far as ps plus but for this EA would be getting revenue from their games on plus/gold. Overall yes it can be a good service but it's not for the average console gamer.

[mhunterjr]

It's not like you have to pay every month... You would only pay when the vault options interest you, or when you want a discount on some EA games or content. A savy shopper will easily find a way to make this program work for them.

[Chris12]

@razjin

Of course it's for the average gamer. The hardest part of new console ownership is the cost of buying games once you have bought the console.

You handily quote the monthly cost, not the uber cheap annual cost. In the UK Access is £19.99 for a year. If you just bought an X1 then paying £19.99 for access to the initial 4 games for a year is an absolute bargain, that's without anything new they add during the year.

It may not be good for you, but it will be good for an awful lot of people.

[LoneWolf019]

I see no problem with EA Access. If you like Sports games right now its a no brainer :P I for one cant wait for more ea games hopefully like mass effects and dead spaces

[chrisarsenalsavart]

It sounds great but my only concern(and I hope I ll be proven wrong)is the vault which as far as I understand can be altered whenever they choose and once the game has been removed from it, it cannot be reloaded on your console again(compares to PS+ & GWG which u own for as long as your membership last)

[AutoCad]

good to me enjoying fifa and madden right now before the new 15 version

[Lucreto]

Are you going to wait for Fifa 15 to appear in the vault next year or are you going for the discount?

[AutoCad]

buying the digital version,i tend to not trade any sports games so going digital on sports games doesnt bother me..Only thing i wish is they put the ultimate team edition up too.

[Funantic1]

EA access is better than PS Now for sure and that's sad because it's one publisher vs a few.

[Lucreto]

The best way to use it is to subscribe and then do nothing until more titles arrive a year down the road.

Playing for 2 hours demo 5 days early is not a good service and paying the 10% discount you won't get the game free in the Vault later. There are only 9 games than can appear in the vault until they the newer games finally appear.

So far it is being Beta tested on Xbox but I am sure it will appear on PS4 no matter some faceless rep says.

[system22]

i think ea access is a better deal as of current pricing (that will most likely change), though i also don't really think its fair to compare EA's first party locally executed software service paid by subscription to Sony's first and third party rental streaming service paid by usage. they are two completely different models. that said, i think the ps4 will be fine without ea access and i don't really think people will freak out about it on the x1 side. i think it could be popular but i personally don't see people buying x1's for ea access alone.

[iNFAMOUZ1]

i guess, i think theres far too many subscriptions to everything now, what happened to you buy the game and that's it.

[FAT MAN GO BOOM]

Knowing EA there is way way more to this and for the bad.