Breaking Down the New EA Access Subscription Service

EA Access was announced yesterday and based on the reaction there appears to be quite a lot of interest in the concept of a subscription service which provides a library of older games to play and pre-release play periods for new games. Many who were aware of EA Sports Season Ticket liked what that provided too, which EA Access appears to have improved upon in several areas and offers less in others, but that program was never actively advertised by the company so it never took off. They will likely push EA Access much more aggressively.

Interestingly it seems the exclusivity to Xbox One is not because of a special arrangement with Microsoft, but Sony not feeling that it was a beneficial program to offer. The thinking may be to avoid it becoming the norm with publishers to offer their own subscriptions on top of what consumers are already paying for with PlayStation Plus, and prevent competition with PS Now (which comparatively to Access is an awful value). If EA Access turns out to be popular though, there’s little doubt they would adopt it as well, so as to eliminate what would be perceived as an advantage for the competition. Sony is already getting heat for the decision to block their consumers from having the simple choice to subscribe if they desire to do so.

In the video podcast below I’m joined by T.J. Lauerman (@ThatSportsGamer) to discuss the EA Access program. We explain what it is, how it compares to Season Ticket, and where it could be leading consumers towards for the future.