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Sony Turned Down EA Access For PS4, Doesn’t Think It Is A Good Value

By Scott Grill
Published on: 03:27 PST, Jul 30, 2014

Electronic Arts announced the EA Access subscription service Tuesday, but it is only available for the Xbox One. Sony responded to the announcement by making it clear that it sees it PS Plus premium subscription service as the better 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,” a Sony representative told Game Informer. “PlayStation Plus memberships are up more than 200% 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.”

Not mentioned by Sony is that a PS Plus membership is required to play most online titles for the PS4 (with the exception of free-to-play titles and MMOs). This is a change from the PS3 where online play is 100 percent free.

EA Access offers two pricing tiers – $4.99 a month or $29.99 for a year ($2.50 a month). It includes access to The Vault, EA’s collection of older Xbox One titles to download. The initial offering in the beta will include FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, Peggle 2, and Battlefield 4. More titles are expected to be added later. Those that subscribe to the service will also receive 10 percent off digital purchases of EA games such as the upcoming Madden NFL 15 and Dragon Age: Inquisition or older titles from the Xbox Games Store. This discount also applies to other EA subscription services like Battlefield 4 Premium.

Finally, EA Access subscribers will also be able to download trial versions of new games five days before they are released. How much access to the game you get depends on the title. Some will only let you play for a limited time (Microsoft’s Major Nelson says at least two hours), while others will be more open.

By comparison, Sony’s Playstation Plus service is $49.99 a year and offers access to the Instant Game Collection as long as the membership is active. It adds two free games a month for the PS4 plus two for the PS3 and two for the PS Vita while rotating out older titles. These games are provided from multiple indie and mainstream publishers, but the PS4 has only featured indie games so far. PS Plus members also get discounts on new and existing games through regular weekly sale and special event sales.

So what do you think Playstation gamers? Was Sony right to pass on EA Access or would you like the option to participate in the program on the PS4?

[Image via Electronic Arts]

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