Sony has offered an explanation for why EA’s new video game subscription service, Access, was only announced for the Xbox One yesterday. A spokesperson told Game Informer via email that it wouldn’t represent ‘good value’ for PlayStation 4 owners:
“We evaluated the EA Access subscription offering and decided that it does not bring the kind of value PlayStation customers have come to expect.
PlayStation Plus memberships are up more than 200 percent since the launch of PlayStation 4, which shows that gamers are looking for memberships that offer a multitude of services, across various devices, for one low price. We don’t think asking our fans to pay an additional $5 a month for this EA-specific program represents good value to the PlayStation gamer.”
EA Access will cost $4.99 per month, or $29.99 per year, and gives players access to four games during the beta: FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, Peggle 2 and Battlefield 4. More games will be added to the ‘Vault’ over time and subscribers will receive a 10 percent discount on digital EA content for Xbox One, as well as “trials” for new EA games up to five days before their public release.
Sony already offers free games as part of its PlayStation Plus subscription service, which is also required to access online multiplayer on the PlayStation 4. This, combined with its currently in beta PlayStation Now streaming service, could potentially clash with EA’s offering. It’s also possible that the games included with EA Access will feature in PlayStation Plus or PlayStation Now, making an EA Access subscription partly unnecessary.
Sony says EA Access doesn’t represent good value, but for a single month subscribers can blitz through a handful of the publisher’s latest games. Some players will find it useful, although it’s worth noting that everything on offer will be supplanted by sequels later this year.
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