EA Access PS4 PlayStation 4 1

It's been over a year now since Sony deemed EA Access poor value for PlayStation 4 players. The subscription-based service – which allows Xbox One owners to pay £3.99/$4.99 a month for, er, access to an ever expanding library of EA published games – was originally pitched to the PlayStation maker and Microsoft, but only the Redmond organisation opted to support it. At the time, the Japanese giant said: "We don't think that asking our fans to pay an additional [fee] for this EA-specific programme represents good value to the PlayStation gamer."

Back then, we argued that the platform holder was looking at this from a holistic point of view. Indeed, on its own, EA Access seems fairly innocent enough – but what if Ubisoft, Activision, Bethesda, 2K Games, and others decided to join in on the fun? It could be argued that consumers will always vote with their wallets, but there is a very real worry that publishers could lock features behind their own specific paywalls, and that would be bad for the PlayStation ecosystem as a whole.

But that hasn't happened yet with EA Access, which also provides members with free trials for upcoming titles and various discounts and promotions. In fact, the service has gone from strength to strength – particularly if you're a fan of EA published games. At the time of typing, the EA Vault – which is where the "free" titles are stored – currently consists of a whopping 14 games, and we're going to list them out so that you can see what's on offer:

  1. Battlefield 4
  2. Madden NFL 25
  3. FIFA 14
  4. Peggle 2
  5. Need for Speed Rivals
  6. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
  7. EA Sports UFC
  8. NBA Live 15
  9. Madden NFL 15
  10. NHL 15
  11. FIFA 15
  12. Titanfall
  13. Dragon Age: Inquisition
  14. Battlefield Hardline
EA Access PS4 PlayStation 4 2

EA's output, in this author's opinion, hasn't really hit its stride on new-gen systems yet – but this is still a compelling selection. And, if the service follows its current trajectory, it's only going to get better, with Mirror's Edge Catalyst, Mass Effect Andromeda, and, one would assume, Star Wars Battlefront all likely to be added to the vault eventually. Naturally, at this point we have to come back to Sony's original statement: does all of this really represent poor value to the consumer – or is the platform holder just being needlessly stubborn?

Peter Moore, one of the more likeable bigwigs at EA, said recently that it doesn't matter that the service is not available on the PS4 – but we have to imagine that the company would rather have it on the market leading machine than not. It's fortunate, then, that while Sony's stance seems unlikely to change, it doesn't appear to have impacted the relationship between the two giant companies – Star Wars Battlefront is being marketed as the Japanese giant's big holiday game, for example.

But outside of the corporate politics, is the PlayStation maker really doing what's right for players of its flagship machine? Moore states that consumer satisfaction among EA Access subscribers is "through the roof", and while he could be lying about such things, that sentiment is reflected across the typically cynical venues of social media and message boards. So, is it time that Sony reconsidered its view? If it is, maybe it's time for you to put the pressure on.


Would you subscribe to EA Access if it was available on the PS4? Are you still irritated that Sony's stopping you from making your own mind up about this service? Lock yourself in the comments section vault down below.

Would you subscribe to EA Access on the PS4? (122 votes)

  1. Yes, I would definitely give it a go27%
  2. Meh, I’m not sure18%
  3. No, I really don’t think it’s worth it55%

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Is Sony wrong to block the service on its system? (121 votes)

  1. Yes, consumers should have the choice47%
  2. To be honest, I don’t care20%
  3. No, it could set a dangerous precedent33%

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