EA Access - Inspired or Waste of Money?

[Dave]

Does anyone else have a subscription to EA Access?

Right now, I'm trying to figure out if I should keep it. Don't get me wrong, I've had a subscription for 2 years now and I haven't been let down routinely like many other EA fans. Actually, I've thought the subscription offers good value for the money it demands. Most of the big titles in the EA catalogue are on offer in the vault and there is always something to play if you're stuck. I'm a massive sports fan and have had plenty of hours of game play from the subscription.

That said, it seems as though EA are viewing Access as a bit of an after thought at the moment. The wide criticism that has come lately is their inability or reluctance to add FIFA 18 to the vault, even though the new title is only a couple of months away. The last titles in the series have been added in April but that has come and gone with no success for subscribers. With the World Cup added to FIFA 18, it seems as though EA grabbed all the rveneue they could and left subscribers without their title.

Then again, it's not like EA to put money before their fan base is it? Yeah, right...

 

[Richard Blonoff]

The FIFA 18 deal really soured a lot of people, myself included. They released both NBA and NHL 18 while those seasons were still going on. Yeah, those titles don't bring in the money Madden and FIFA do, but every yearly sports title from those two series had been released around the same time consistently. Madden a couple weeks after the end of the season, and FIFA a few weeks before the summer transfer window.

That damn World Cup mode lead to them not adding 18 to the Vault though, which wasn't even a major add on, it just included the official stadiums, a World Cup mode you could have simply run in the games tournament mod, and updates to FUT with World Cup players (so yay cash grab). It was just an excuse to get people to actually have to buy the game, despite the fact they would have made serious bank if they put it in the Vault anyway and just let people spend hand over fist on FUT coins.

I let my subscription lapse last month because I was using Game Pass a lot more, and I'm iffy on if I will renew in the near future. The 19 series of sports titles are right around the corner and having that ten hour trial would be nice to see if I actually want to drop full price, but aside from Battlefield 1, there isn't anything in the Vault that I haven't spent a lot of time with.