EA Access for XBox One

[ImJustSerious]

So, EA's app 'EA Access' has gone live on the One this week. By paying $30/year (or $4.99/month-to-month), you get unlimited gameplay access to EA titles, 10% off digital downloads and add-ons, and pre-release access to new titles.

Four games are currently available in 'The Vault' for unlimited play: FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, Battlefield 4, and Peggle 2. Articles and interviews have stated that other games will be on the way. EA has also said that previous versions of games will not be replaced by their newer versions - if it's in the Vault, it stays in the Vault.

You must download the game to your machine to play it. So if you decide to cancel your membership, your game save data is still on your machine. So, re-establishing membership will not require you to start over and canceling membership and purchasing the game outside of the service will use your local data, as well.

It seems like a pretty good service - something I figured GameFly would have done for consoles already. Over time, you'd have a pretty good library of games if EA's claim to not remove games is true. But I feel like I'm missing something. What do you guys think?

 

[borstarhymes]

i think EA is going to steal your money and give you less than you expect

 

[Omoplata]

I think it has the potential to be pretty cool, but my hesitation, aside from the fact that I'd be giving EA more money, is that you have no control over what is in the Vault at any given time. So, I can see people saying, "Ooooh! I can play Madden and BF4 unlimited for $30/year" then ponying up the money for it only to have EA change the games in the vault. Then you would be forced to buy a copy of the game anyway. You ever hear every cloud has a silver lining? Well, it is the opposite for anything "good" EA puts forward. They only have their own wallets as an agenda.

 

[Wes Mantooth 26]

I think it has the potential to be pretty cool, but my hesitation, aside from the fact that I'd be giving EA more money, is that you have no control over what is in the Vault at any given time. So, I can see people saying, "Ooooh! I can play Madden and BF4 unlimited for $30/year" then ponying up the money for it only to have EA change the games in the vault. Then you would be forced to buy a copy of the game anyway. You ever hear every cloud has a silver lining? Well, it is the opposite for anything "good" EA puts forward. They only have their own wallets as an agenda.

I thought the games in the vault were merely demos for all intents and purposes.

 

[ImJustSerious]

I thought the games in the vault were merely demos for all intents and purposes.

From all I've read, the games in the vault are full games that can be downloaded onto your machine and played to your heart's content. I'm hesitant on shelling money out to EA too - if only for the unknown about the availability of old games as this thing gets updated. But I think of Netflix in that respect - most, if not all, of the movies I've added to 'My List' are still there, untouched.

 

[xIx EDGE xIx]

I posted my thoughts on this somewhere in another thread, but I'll repeat it here. This thing sounds too good to be true because it is, and here's why:

EA Access is an evolution of EA Season Ticket. Season Ticket was a program EA offered for all of it's sports titles that costs $25 a year, granted you a small discount on microtransactions, let you download and play the full version of any EA Sports game three days prior to release, and gave you a little ticket icon next to your gamertag in lobbies to indicate that you were a subscriber.

After the three days were up and the game released in retail stores, you become locked behind a paywall and have to purchase the game (physically or digitally) to continue. Once you have, Season Ticket ports over all of your early access saves and settings into the full game that you bought.

Now comes along EA access, which for the most part is the same exact thing. The price increases from $25 annually to $30, you still get small discounts on microtransactions, you are able to play games five days in advance as opposed to three, and they added "the vault" which lets you download and play full versions of games for free as long as you are an EA Access subscriber. Currently, there are four games: Madden 25, FIFA 14, Battlefield 4, and Peggle 2, all of which are, or are approaching, a year old.

A lot of people are going to be tricked by EA into paying for this with games like the new Madden coming out. I guarantee it, someone will sign up, play Madden for five days thinking that the full game is covered under the subscription to Access, and then will be in for a rude awakening when the game becomes locked behind a $60 paywall until it is added to "the vault" around this time next year when no one will care and players will be looking toward the newer Madden being just a few weeks away.

If you're into old games, then sure, it's a nice deal. But don't expect anything current because it won't happen.

 

[Omoplata]

From all I've read, the games in the vault are full games that can be downloaded onto your machine and played to your heart's content. I'm hesitant on shelling money out to EA too - if only for the unknown about the availability of old games as this thing gets updated. But I think of Netflix in that respect - most, if not all, of the movies I've added to 'My List' are still there, untouched.

If this is true, it is a pretty good deal. Even then though, you have no control on what is in the vault. What if the games in there are ones you don't want? At least with a service like Gamefly you have some control over what you are paying for. Plus, how many EA games do you really want to play a year?

 

[ImJustSerious]

If this is true, it is a pretty good deal. Even then though, you have no control on what is in the vault. What if the games in there are ones you don't want? At least with a service like Gamefly you have some control over what you are paying for. Plus, how many EA games do you really want to play a year?

I'm not big into sports games, though being able to play it when I want without buyer's remorse is pretty nice. EDGE makes a good point though; will newly-released games be available? I doubt it, which is where the 10% discount comes in. After you've played it for 5 days, we'll give you $6 off of the full version, OR you can wait until next year when we'll put it in the Vault.

 

[Wes Mantooth 26]

If this is true, it is a pretty good deal. Even then though, you have no control on what is in the vault. What if the games in there are ones you don't want? At least with a service like Gamefly you have some control over what you are paying for. Plus, how many EA games do you really want to play a year?

There is no way BF4 is free.

 

[Omoplata]

I'm not big into sports games, though being able to play it when I want without buyer's remorse is pretty nice. EDGE makes a good point though; will newly-released games be available? I doubt it, which is where the 10% discount comes in. After you've played it for 5 days, we'll give you $6 off of the full version, OR you can wait until next year when we'll put it in the Vault.

Yeah, too much up in the air for me. It is a definite pass. The only EA games I even own are Mass Effect and Battlefield anyway.