A Closer Look at EA Access

Electronic Arts recently announced and rolled out a beta version of EA Access, a new Xbox One-exclusive program that gives members unlimited access to EA’s biggest games and more for a modest monthly (or annual) fee. Now, after a successful beta period, EA Access is launching live to players in a dozen countries around the world.

It starts with what EA calls “The Vault,” a collection of EA’s biggest games ready to download and play.  At launch, it will include Battlefield 4, FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, and Peggle 2, with more games planned to join over time.  Additionally, EA Access members also receive 10% off digital purchases including full games like the upcoming Madden NFL 15 or Dragon Age Inquisition as well as purchases in FIFA Ultimate Team or on new map packs for Battlefield.  Plus, with EA Access, members have the opportunity to take new EA titles for a spin a full five days ahead of the retail launch – only on Xbox One.

“We’re really thrilled to be working with the Xbox team on this project,” says Michael Lewis, Lead Producer for EA Access. “We think it’s a service gamers are really going to love, and the initial reception has been amazing.”

It’s a service that has been in the works for a while – and, given EA’s stellar pedigree as an industry-leading publisher, EA Access brings unbelievable value to players on Xbox One. “We are always looking for new ways to let more gamers experience our games,” Lewis explains. “The idea of a program like EA Access has been something we’ve been talking about for a while now, but everything really came together with the launch of Xbox One last year. We drew inspiration from some of the great subscription services out there – I couldn’t live without Amazon Prime, Xbox Gold, and Netflix. We’re just at the beginning, but we hope with EA Access, we can start creating something as revolutionary as these services.”

And, in stark contrast to some other subscription-based media services, you can put aside any fear of your favorite games being retired from EA Access. It’s not in the cards, says Lewis: “We don’t have any plans to remove games from The Vault.  As an example, even if Madden NFL 15 were to enter The Vault at some point, you’d still be able to keep playing Madden NFL 25 if you like.”

“We’ve worked very closely with the team at Xbox to build EA Access,” Lewis says of the unique partnership opportunity. “They’ve been absolutely amazing to work with, and I’d like to give a shout out to the whole team. We spent a lot of hours together, bonding on calls late at night, and at indecent hours of the morning. We’re all really excited to see this launch.”

So far, the reaction to EA Access has been fantastic. At $4.99 per month, it’s a diverse, affordable, and user-friendly service (you can even sign up from the same page where you pay for your Xbox Live Gold subscription). And the future will only get brighter, as EA Access expands to more Xbox One games.

Learn more about EA Access at the official website, or look for the EA Access application in the Xbox One Store.