PlayStation 4 owners will soon be able to take advantage of EA Access, EA’s subscription and early access program, according to a recent EA announcement.
The program will make its way to the PS4 sometime this summer and costs $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year.
EA Access offers early trials of new EA games — both those that have launched and those that aren’t yet out. The program lets players carry their save data over if they decide to purchase the game when it launches.
Subscriptions also include access to EA’s “Vault,” a library of the publisher’s most popular games, such as Star Wars Battlefront 2, several NHL, Madden, and FIFA games, Burnout: Paradise Remastered, and more.
The announcement webpage shows a wide range of Vault titles, including those listed above. However, EA hasn’t yet provided a list of Vault games that would be available to PS4 owners.
It’s also worth pointing out the selection would be slightly more limited compared to what’s available for Xbox One owners. The Xbox One EA Access plan includes Xbox 360 games, but the PS4 architecture doesn’t support backwards compatibility, unlike its successor.
EA Access doubles as a discount program too. Subscribers get 10% off on fill digital game purchases for the PS4, DLC, season passes, and in-game items (think Apex Coins, for example).
The announcement comes as a bit of a surprise, given Sony’s statement on the subject in 2014, shortly after EA Access debuted on Xbox One. At the time, a Sony representative said the cost wouldn’t be good value to PS4 owners.
It also shows that Sony isn’t completely opposed to reversing its isolationist stances. Whether that means we’ll end up seeing Sony also reverse its stance on cross-platform play or if this new move is simply in response to more anticipated third party support in the coming fiscal year is another story, though.
