EA Access - Is it still worth the money?

In the early part of summer 2014, EA announced a paid membership service that would allow subscribers to receive discounts on EA titles, play full versions of games on a timed limit and download full games from their vault. All this on XBOX One for $4.99 a month or the better value of $29.99 for the year.

We are now one week away from December 1st and I take a look back at the value of EA Access after using it for over three months.

The service launched in the second week of August with four titles immediately available for download through the vault. NFL Madden 25, FIFA 14, Battlefield 4 and Peggle 2. I still haven't touched Battlefield 4 but I have spent many hours playing Madden, FIFA and Peggle 2.

EA Access put up Need for Speed Rivals the following month in their vault along with a six hour full game trial for NHL 15 and Madden 15. I took advantage of all three games and played many more hours racing the streets, putting up glove saves or scoring touchdowns. The trials come with achievements as well so it really is like playing the full game, just on a set timed limit. Once your limit is up you can purchase the game and all your progress continues on.

In the month following EA added Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare in the vault and this was the sixth title to be added to the vault. In just under three months if you signed up to the year subscription you had five full retail games and one arcade game sitting on your hard drive for $5 each title. This to me has been worth every penny.

With titles like NBA Live and UFC still not available in the vault it makes you wonder when those will be placed in the subscribers hands. I imagine once UFC is an available title in the vault we will see more subscriptions for EA Access, but for now I will continue to recommend it to anyone I know that owns an XBOX One as I felt I recieved my value of the service the second I signed up and anything further in the coming months was just a bonus.

-DP