Video games are "disposable media entertainment". There is no shame or fault in someone believing that once they complete a video game they get rid of it where having a completely digital library is ideal for them because the real issue for them is managing the physical stuff. Selling things like books, movies, and game can be a PITA or not be worth it so why bother keeping around what they consider junk?
Madden 25 is not going to be valuable in a few months. In a few years it is going to be mostly worthless. People are squeamish about digital things and claim there is inherent value in disks but I wonder what that is because the value is the data not the disk. They may like the game but that box and the plastic thing it came on is worthless.
A raid size of 6 isn't a big issue because they can tune encounters to match that much interaction (which is the same thing I said about Titanfall). But the lack of match making for PVE content is an issue where it is a different beast than "Ranked PVP Matchmaking" and these days kind of necessary for any MMO style of system. They really need to add a system that says "I"m class X, level Y" or players will have to come up with their own way to do this which is a giant PITA. Especially if there are caps on points earned during a time period, there is a compelling reason to allow the player to automatically be matched into random groups to do this.
Let the consumer decide if its good for themselves. Subscription service gaming has been a long time coming. If the value proposition becomes as strong as something like Netflix, then I see no reason why it cannot succeed. Could be a shortsighted decision by Sony. Xbox one exclusively having subscription services for gaming might be a big deal.
The problem is these closed systems are (duh) closed. EA isn't doing that on the XBox One because it is free or because they have the freedom to do it.
But is having another subscription on top of the subscription you may pay with the console on top of the subscription you may pay for an individual game a big deal? I guess it is because this seems like a badly constructed deal not instead of it is a subscription. Would you pay another $30 for Activision to do the same thing for Activision games? How about Ubisoft? It doesn't matter the vendor where offering access to their games at a discount is a laughable "bargain" because I get that for free anyway.
We often hear that on the Bombcast multiple people are playing the same game anyway and are willing to discuss it. VGK is onto something that a 5-10 minute series with a tightly controlled topic and agenda on a specific game would be stellar if they got the Siskel and Ebert of personality of video games to do it. Throw those two into a video set and lets get rolling!
hmm sorry but it still feels like a good deal. Let's say I want to rent or play BF4. It's gonna cost me 7 or 8$ for a week at my local renting place, maybe a little more. So, for 5$, right now, I can go and play BF4 for a month, get a 10$ discount on another game I want to buy from EA...let's say Dragon Age Inquisition and maybe play other games that might be of interest to me.
What is wrong about that deal apart from the fact that it comes from EA and that it's on the Xbox... 2 companies people are more than happy to crap on?
Besides the fact the deal seems questionable? Just a quick estimate but it seems like you'd have to buy 6 FULL PRICED EA games in a year to make this worth it. The market is struggling because only the crazy hardcore gamers buy 6 games a year at that price level let alone from just EA.
Then two hours later you'll be locked out of the game and counting down the days until you can play any more of it.
How so? From what I understand you get full access to the game 5 days early and your progress carries over?
"Starting 5 days before release, you’ll be able to try the game for at least two hours and then save your progress." [source]
This is a demo and it locks down - this isn't playing the game for 5 days before release and before needing to buy it. It's a subscription that is in part normalising paid access to time-limited demos of EA games, available 5 days before the official launch date (but with a save state that allows you to import your progress in the demo into the full game).
Err...what (asking "them" not you)? This is pretty terrible. I am a fan of pre-release demos as a way for people to "try before they buy". Demos should be freely available instead of a paid feature.
Apparently this is "bad value" but a Sony brand can offer this which is the same damn thing but more expensive with less popular AAA games being offered https://www.soe.com/allaccess?locale=en_US and that's amazing deal huh Sony? Ridiculous. The games offered already cost far more than the entire yearly fee and they promise more games to come... Extremely disappointed by Sony's hypocrisy and clear anti competition move here.
Uh, it is their store. They are under no obligation to host or service any product they are not interested in. If Sony was being anti-competitive they would make moves to have EA not do this on XBox One where just rejecting it on their system is competition.
I suspect part of the issue is that sell or manage this on Sony's or any number of other digital stores. Why should Sony or Valve or GOG or Amazon be forced to re-architect their system without incentive? It sounds like a bad business move to do this without.
So here is a fun question: How does this work on the XBox One? What do you launch or buy to activate "EA Access" exactly? What changes in the store after activation?
I shouldn't have used "big" or whatever negative term for EA or Activision. Using another example, I have no problem with paying extra money to Bethesda to get bonus or deals for Fallout 4. I feel much less enthusiastic about paying ZeniMax Media to get the same bonuses or deals for Fallout 4. It is true that this is all a business and ZeniMax Media does deserve to get paid for investments made to Bethesda but it feels weird doing this way.
Yet another way to look at it: If one is only interested in a small part of the EA library, is this a good deal? Lets say someone is only a fan of Madden, does EA Access make sense of them? Lets say someone else only cares about Bioware games and is specifically excited to get access to Mass Effect 4, does EA Access make sense to them? It seems like a waste and this is exactly what these companies who use subscriptions are counting on. The audience here has been shown again and again not the majority of consumers where they may buy one or two games a year.
As mentioned, I am not opposed to a subscription system but this feels like a poor way to do it where it might be more about EA's structure than the concept. There is so much of EA's library I could care less about that I find almost no use for this service. Maybe it was never meant for me but if it was structured a little differently I would consider going for it. Ultimately the core issue is that the "classic" market system of video game is breaking down where EA Access feels like EA's way of trying to preserve EA's position in the supply chain instead of changing with the times.
Like other subscription systems, it is whether or not you get the value of it over time that they are banking on. Paying $30 a year to get early access to Dragon Age Inquisition (with a discount?) and only that probably not a good bargain.
To be clear I think there maybe something to a "subscription system" if implemented in a better way. If you like a company and want to support them beyond buying a game, which you always and eagerly do, then going with a "$X a year to CompanyCo, Inc" maybe something you want to do where you get rewards from CompanyCo, Inc when they release games. However I don't care for paying money to these publishers like EA or Activision where it just gets lost in the giant corporate structure. I would be far more interested in paying $10 a year to Visceral Games instead of $30 to EA.
Or another way to look at it: This is EA trying to keep themselves a relevant middleman instead of getting out of the way where I'd rather deal with Popcap, Visceral, etc.
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