I like owning stuff, so no by default.

It's the reason why I think PS Plus is poor value. The online systems are relatively poor compared to XBL or PC and the Instant Game Library just means you are renting games. And you don't even get to choose which games you want to rent. Without the option of looking at the backlog. I'm one of the few people that thinks PS Plus is a terrible value. But of course I'm way into games, so any game I want to play that makes an appearance on the IGL months later, I already own anyway. More money than time. So I'm not interested in playing games just because they are free.

Same deal with this EA Access stuff. The idea is neat though, as people seem to really like stuff like IGL.

My brother in law has an xone and subscribes to EA Access and really enjoys it. He likes being able to play some games that he doesn't need to own and it also introduces him and his family to games they otherwise would never look at. It is a solid value to him and anytime it is brought up between us he tells me I should sub to it...where I then remind him I have a PS4 and thus don't have EA Access.

But I would not sub to EA Access if I had a Xone. The games they offer don't really interest me and while the play a coming soon game for a few hours seems cool, I would rather just buy the game after doing research into videos and reviews on whether it is a game for me.

I do agree Zevvion in that I like to own my games (even hard copies still) and not a big fan of the renting that these programs offer. But I really do like the PS+ "free" games as I've gotten to play some games that I wouldn't check out because I didn't think they were worth it. I would've never played DmC, Tomb Raider or Brothers without PS+.

I would not trust them to do well by it.

I've had ea access since day one and I have gotten a lot of value from it. All the games in their vault have been better than most of the games from the "games with gold" so far. Also I love sports games but only really play them couch coop when friends or siblings come over, so the 5 hour trials for new games they give is more than enough for me. As someone who doesnt have a lot of time or money for gaming these days, I would gladly sign up if other publishers did this.

I don't like the idea of paying someone for a service, only to be at their mercy in terms of what services they actually provide back to me. Yeah, it may be great if a game you want to play is on there, but they pick what they think should be in "the vault". It's a gamble, and you're gambling that what EA decides you will get is what you actually want, when you actually want it. I don't like that concept on principle. Also, let's say EA has a big game coming out that you may want, like Battlefield: Hardline or Star Wars: Battlefront. My understanding is that they'll allow you to play it for a small window of time before it's released to give you a small taste of it, but you'll have to buy it on release day if you want to keep playing it. Yeah, they'll probably add it to "the vault" several months after release, once they think the interest has waned and people aren't playing it as much, so your options become A) pay damn near full price for the game on release day on top of your EA access fee, or B) hold off and hope people are even still playing the multiplayer by the time it makes it to "the vault". Being patient enough for option B, or finding enough value in the games already in "the vault" to justify the $30/year or $5/month is pretty much the only way to beat the system. They're counting on people paying for EA Access and then also taking option A to buy their new games when they're released. Hence, why games with heavy multiplayer components and annualized sports franchises will be on the list. A large part of the appeal of those games is to play with that year's sports teams or to play the new shooter along with everyone else. Yeah, it sounds great that Madden is on there, but it's Madden 25. Who wants to play with the 2013 NFL rosters now, especially when Madden 15 is out?

EA Access essentially boils down to pre-paying them to play their games later than most do. In certain circumstances for people that would already buy a bunch of EA games, but don't care about playing them when they come out, value can be had. Even that, though, can probably be done in the used game market similarly or perhaps even cheaper. Or I guess it could pay off for someone who has the time to binge play the new games in their pre-release window, who can be satisfied with that as their time with the game. In most cases, though, EA will win because they'll get people to pay them both a subscription fee and near-full price for their new games. Don't be fooled into thinking they're doing consumers a favor here; they're pretty much just trying to capture the market for their used games. It's a fairly brilliant business tactic. It can be outfoxed by some patient and/or crafty consumers, but it will mostly serve to exploit those who "have to have it now".

I don't own an Xbox One and am not interested in subscribing to EA Access

I think some people are too stifled by EA to really consider it. It doesn't have to be a long term commitment. When it launched, I paid $5/month, played Peggle 2, Battlefield 4, and a decent chunk of Need For Speed: Rivals and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and then cancelled it. I only paid for 2 months and got 4 games for $10. I don't own them, but if I used Gamefly for two months I would have paid $30 and wouldn't own them either. I look at it as a cheap rental service for The Vault. If they put out something interesting in The Vault one month, I'll pay $5 to play it for a month. That's way cheaper than buying it and disliking it. With Peggle 2 and PvZ Garden Warfare, I knew I'd play them for awhile and then never touch them. So instead of $15-20 each for games that would go stagnant in 3 weeks, I got them both for $10.

If you quit thinking in terms of "they don't let me own these games!" or "I don't get to choose what's in the vault!" and just pay for the month that has a game you want, it's a great deal. I wouldn't pay $25 for a year because you don't know what you're going to get. But $5 for a month, even if there's only one game in The Vault you want to play, is a great proposition.

I don't own an XBox One and I keep wondering "How does it actually work?" where no on really has an answer to that.

I just think it's a good value product. Granted I wanted Battlefield and FIFA anyway, but it's effectively $25 for a bunch of great games, as most people will get what they want out of the games in a year. You would be hard pressed to buy above two of the vault games for that price. I just think people are a little blinded by "EA sucks" paranoia. I bet if EA sold a BF4, PvZ:GW, NFS and Peggle together in a combo pack for $25, people would be all over it.

@extomar said:

I have an Xbox One and EA Access if you'd like a specific question answered. The short version is that it works exactly like Games with Gold does because all the rights management and payment stuff is practically identical.

So it is just a "subscribe and get a freebie games of the month thing?" Then EA Access was hyped totally the wrong way. As described it sounded like you had to do some management where questions would be like "What happens when you hit the limit?" constantly got handwaved.

I like it cause it allowed me to play Fifa 14 for about a month while I waited for Fifa 15 to come out on PC. So, for that specific use case it was great since the price was similar to renting a game once a month.

@extomar: You get access to a "vault" of games, which currently includes Battlefield 4, Peggle 2, last years Madden and FIFA, Plants vs. Zombies, NFS: Rivals and probably something else I can't remember right now. Even if you sign up for only one month you get access to all of the games in the vault. They haven't removed anything from there yet, but it seems likely that at some point things will get pulled as new stuff is added.

In addition you get access to soon to be released games, for example the new NBA. These come with a time cap of a few hours, I think it was six with NBA. Then I think there's a 10% discount on all new EA releases and you get some games a few days earlier if you pre-order them and have the pass.

The original pitch to the "The Vault" was that you were allowed a certain number (5) from their vast library (I guess it currently isn't that vast) at any time while subscribed to EA Access. The issue is what happens when you have the limit and want to switch? There isn't a particular problem with a limit but the question is how is that managed: Is there a status page or tool to check to see if you can even take another game from "The Vault"? What happens if you are at 5 and want to install the recently added to the vault Mirror's Edge? Do you simply uninstall Peggle 2 if you want to install Mirror's Edge? Do you have to go to an external tool or web site to remove Peggle 2 or/swap for Mirror's Edge? There are a lot of details about managing a "check-in/check-out" system which is what "The Vault" part of EA Access sounded like.

If it turns out it is just a "freebies of the month forever" system then that is cool and actually better than what they originally pitched which is why I and others were skeptical and asking questions.

When Dragon Age comes out, that 10% discount on digitally purchased EA titles will pay for the month of EA Access by itself, plus I get to fuck around with a couple other games for 30 days.

I wouldn't subscribe long term, though, the library is far too small.

@extomar: The games, currently six of them, are pre-determined. You can not choose which games you want to add to the vault. You can download any and all of the vault games to your console and play them as if they were normal digital purchases. When EA adds games to the vault you do not have to delete your old ones. From what I understand, even if and when EA removes some games from the vault you can still keep playing them as long as you have downloaded them before they've been taken out of the vault.

In practice, when I go to download a game from the vault the EA Access app brings up the normal XBL store page. You get prompted similarly as you would when buying a digital release, but the price for the game is marked "free" as with any Games for Gold game. I hope this clears things up a bit.

It's not a bad service, all things considered. I don't find myself playing a lot of EA games personally, so I'm probably never going to subscribe to it, but so far it seems like a decent value.

I think most of the internet spite is just because it's EA and Microsoft.

As someone who got an Xbox One recently it's an awesome service.

£20 a year is good just for access to Fifa 14 for me (which I would have bought anyway). Being able to play everything else is a bonus.

I use EA Access, and its worth it just for getting FIFA for free alone. They've recently added PvZ Garden Warfare, and that's been pretty great co-op that with a friend. I'm looking forward to see when they end up putting FIFA and NHL 15 in the vault for free next year. I'll likely be using the 10% discount next month to get DA Inquisitition cheaper, anyway. Its just a service that adds games to your collection. And free FIFA and Madden for whenever you just really want is very useful to me. I already bought Battlefield 4 beforehand anyway.

I looked at it this way, early Dragon Age plus BF4 for $30 (along with whatever else within 1 year), seemed like a good deal to me. Now that it's been seen that the early dragon age was simply a demo... I'm kinda disappointed cause I thought the original wording was the game unlocks 5 days early, not I get a few hours to play for a bit. It's still great, just I set myself up to expect something that it wasn't, and I do think the wording at first must have leaned into what I thought probably because they didn't know what actual form the early unlock would take at the time.