14 DAY TRIAL // EA Access has already been live on the Xbox One for more than one full month and it seems that the team in charge of it at Electronic Arts has clear plans to expand it while enhancing the core elements that are making it a success among players.
Andrew Wilson, the chief executive officer of the publisher, is quoted by Gamasutra as saying that his team explored a number of pricing schemes before the service was launched and settled on the current one because it appeals to the psyche of gamers.
He states, “What we want is to make you feel like what you get is worth more than the money you have in your pocket.”
The executive adds, “It’s really about saying that there is a player that wants to engage in our games at a huge value.”
Basically, EA Access offers a lot of content for a low price, set at 5 dollars or Euro for a month or 30 dollars or Euro for one year, because that makes the player feel like he is gaining an advantage over the company that’s offering the games.
EA Access still has a line-up issue
At the moment, EA Access has a rather limited selection of titles on offer, including FIFA 14, Madden NFL 14, Battlefield 4, and the recently-added Need for Speed Rivals.
Electronic Arts has said that the Vault area will include more than 100 games soon, but it’s unclear how fast they will be added to the service.
Those who are ready to subscribe also get price cuts for upcoming major releases and for all DLC that is being introduced, although Wilson is probably not referring to those offers when he talks about the extra value that gamers get access to.
No word on a potential PC launch
Andrew Wilson hasn’t offered any information on whether there are plans to bring EA Access to any other platforms in the future or whether it will only remain an option on the Xbox One.
Sony has already said that it will not give it the greenlight on the PlayStation 4 because it does not deliver the same value as PlayStation Plus.
But Electronic Arts already has a digital distribution solution for the PC in the form of Origin, and EA Access, maybe with a few tweaks to pricing, would offer some interesting choices for those who use it and might be more appealing in the long term than the dominating Steam concept from Valve.