Should Sony Get EA Access Onto PS4?

Ever since it was launched 18 months ago, people have been wondering about the lack of EA Access on PS4. At first Sony said that it didn’t represent value for money, now my first observation there is, could that have been down to the way that EA pitched it to Sony?

£20.00 a year and a bunch of free games, trials and discounts, how could this not prove value for money? At first, there weren’t that many games available, and the ones that were, were over a year old, most of which if people wanted to play, probably had it already in their games library.

With this then, could Sony have looked at it and thought, nah you’re alright. The question now is, are Sony kicking themselves? Seeing how many subscriptions that are being taken up on Xbox One, as well as the amount of games that are now available through the Vault, and for £20.00 a year, you can’t go wrong!



Would I like to see EA Access venture its way onto PS4 with the library that it has on Xbox One?

Yeah, of course I would, especially now that my PS4 Pro is my primary console, I would be very tempted to get a subscription to it, especially as there are games on there that I haven’t got round to playing yet such as Dragon Age Inquisition and Mirrors Edge: Catalyst.

It does seem to me to be a very strange decision indeed that Sony was offered the service and turned it down. Especially when the reason that they gave was that they didn’t think that it represented value for money.

OK there are some games in there which are the usual yearly iterations such as FIFA, which you know are going to be added 6-9 month down the line, but when you think of other upcoming games which will be added to the service, such as Mass Effect Andromeda and other unannounced games, I don't see anyone who doesn't see the value in the service.

The fact that Sony feel that their PS+ service can match up to it? Sorry, but no. The games that are presented each month with PS+ are simply dire at best 99% of the time. Indie games which most people probably wouldn't bat an eye lid at. I can't remember the last time there was a game on there I saw which I wanted to play or piqued any kind of interest for me. Compared to the Games with Gold program, PS+ is a poor addition and I personally don't feel that the games offered warrant the value you pay for the service.



Another angle to look at things is that if EA Access was to be widely accepted on consoles, what is stopping other major developers from doing the same? What would happen if Bethesda, Ubisoft, Activision, TellTale all locked their games behind a subscription system? We would have them coming out of our ears, but say for example, you paid £100 a year to the 5 mentioned to play their games... Would you have anything to spare afterwards for other developers/publishers?

The answer there might be that yes, you do, you can afford to pay a little bit more here and there for other games, but there are people who wouldn't be able to afford anything else on top if they paid £100 a year. Leaving a massive gap and gulf in the amount of money being spread across the industry.

There may be people out there who would only afford to pay 1 or 2 subscriptions, and would have to think very carefully about the ones they chose, and which games would benefit them the most.



This to me is why I think there are pluses and negatives to both sides of the argument with the EA Access to PS4 chat. Where it would be great value and there would be an amazing amount of games for people to play, if others jumped on the bandwagon, I think it would start to isolate people from playing more games and a bigger variety than they would like, especially if gamers have to budget and pick their games carefully throughout the year. Constant subscriptions to developers/publishers could use this budget up. I also understand people have a choice in what subscriptions they take out, but if their favourite publisher/developer came up it can be a hard prospect to turn down. Knowing that for just a little price you will end up getting your favourite games and more.

So, should EA Access come to PS4? Well, it's kind of a yes/no scenario... For me it does provide value for money, well over what PS+ brings in terms of games, but I think an overall acceptance of this type of program will bring others into it, and personally I don't feel it would be beneficial for the industry as a whole.