Home Gaming EA’s Origin Access Premier service is now live, but not worth it just yet

EA’s Origin Access Premier service is now live, but not worth it just yet

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Origin Access Premier is now live, but not worth it yet

If it isn’t clear already, the retail aspect of purchasing games has been shifting for years now. Even as companies continue touting how most of their sales are moving over to digital spaces, a new frontier is already encroaching on that business model. With Xbox Games Pass last year, Microsoft proved that there’s a hunger for a subscription service in place of final purchases. The deal was sweetened further when brand new Xbox One titles were added to the mix, letting anyone with a $15/month subscription get their hands on the latest exclusives on the day they launched. EA is no stranger to services like this too (EA and Origin Pass have been around for a while), but their Premier Pass is a bolder step in the same direction.

But it’s not worth it just yet.

EA launched Origin Access Premier just yesterday, and already folks are signing up to the new $15 a month subscription (or a flat $99 for a year) for unfettered access to the whole EA library (and some smaller third-party titles). The idea is simple; the subscription gives you unlimited access to all past and upcoming EA release, including early access to games before they launch. There’s no ten-hour limitation on what you can play, which is unlike what regular Origin Access still offers for new titles. Instead, it’s just open, as long as you maintain your subscription.

Origin Access Premier is now live, but not worth it yet 2

But it is strange that EA chose to launch the service now. Being PC-exclusive for the time being, there’s not a whole lot at the moment that can help really drive home the usefulness of the package. Sure you could pick up older EA titles such as Mass Effect Andromeda or Battlefield 1 to play right now, but it’s likely you’ve either snagged them on sale already or had access to them with the cheaper Origin Access program before. Premier is offering the world of EA titles, but their two big heavy hitters are still months away. especially since EA’s even bigger sports titles have rarely been the domain of its PC gaming space too.

For the monthly fee, trying games such as Anthem and Battlefield V nearly a week early and not having to worry about a purchase suddenly feels incredibly enticing. And it’s likely then that the true value of Premier will be tested. There’s sa ense in just paying what is essentially a quarter of a retail price to give a new release a go, and properly test it out if you’re in it for the long haul. After that the Premier program will let you purchase the game outright with a discount, or just continue giving you access as long as you keep paying. Giving consumers that amount of control is welcome.

Unlike Origin Access, Premier doesn’t feel like a paid advert in an attempt to give you a taste of a new game and then yank it away until you pony up more. Instead, it’s just another avenue to enjoy games on your own terms. It might be live right now, but its true impact is still a few months in preparation. And all we can hope for is even more similar services from publishers and platform holders alike to start giving customers more choice when it comes to how they want to play games in the future.

Last Updated: August 1, 2018

15 Comments

  1. As the article says, I can’t find justification for the service now. I will also definitely take a look when it draws closer to the release of BFV. Before then – nope. I wish they would include the DLC, because then I would jump on the bandwagon now. I have returned to BF1, but never originally invested in the Season Pass, so all I get to play with are the vanilla maps, and there aren’t that many official servers for vanilla BF1!

    Reply

  2. G8crasha

    August 1, 2018 at 13:49

    As the article says, I can’t find justification for the service now. I will also definitely take a look when it draws closer to the release of BFV. Before then – nope. I wish they would include the DLC, because then I would jump on the bandwagon now. I have returned to BF1, but never originally invested in the Season Pass, so all I get to play with are the vanilla maps, and there aren’t that many official servers for vanilla BF1!

    Reply

  3. G8crasha

    August 1, 2018 at 13:49

    As the article says, I can’t find justification for the service now. I will also definitely take a look when it draws closer to the release of BFV. Before then – nope. I wish they would include the DLC, because then I would jump on the bandwagon now. I have returned to BF1, but never originally invested in the Season Pass, so all I get to play with are the vanilla maps, and there aren’t that many official servers for vanilla BF1!

    Reply

  4. MaSeKind

    August 1, 2018 at 11:50

    I’m sure some people will find this to be worth it, but then you need to be interested in and play more than one EA game coming out every year. (Doing some quick math the yearly sub price is about the same price as their Ultimate/Deluxe/Pay-To-Win-but-actually-get-crap Editions they usually sell)

    But for someone who is only interested in Bioware games on Origin there aren’t enough of them to make me want to spend my monies on this. I was signed up for the old Origin Access but eventually realised it wasn’t worth it for me

    Reply

  5. SagatatiaRZA

    August 1, 2018 at 12:04

    As someone who rarely ever plays any game for longer than a month, this is perfect for me! Sign up for a month, play the one or two games I like and cancel when I’m done. Already on the basic service so I guess the greatest value would be for someone like myself.

    Reply

  6. Kromas

    August 1, 2018 at 12:08

    Yawn … call me when EA makes real games again.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      August 1, 2018 at 14:02

      EA doesn’t make games. They just publish them.

      Reply

      • Kromas

        August 1, 2018 at 14:22

        I wish that was true but how it works is EA owns say Bioware and thus they make games and publish them. So …. call when they make good games again.

        Reply

        • Pariah

          August 1, 2018 at 16:27

          No. Bioware makes the game. EA owns BioWare. EA does not make games by proxy. EA may call the final shots, but it isn’t EA making the game, it’s BioWare.

          Think of it like Activision. They own Blizzard. WoW is a Blizzard game, not an Activision game. But by your reasoning, WoW, Diablo et. al. are Activision developed games.

          Reply

  7. Sir Faulty

    August 1, 2018 at 12:19

    I signed up in a heartbeat of it going live. I think it offers great value for money. Purchasing Anthem, FIFA 19, Battlefield V and Madden from the store would set a person roughly back around R4000. For a single anual payment of R1199 (or R199 a month) you get to play all of them , and with a 6 day lead before they are available to purchase in a brick and mortar shop.

    Also I am not really in the business of going back to replay games (crazy Steam and PSN backlog and all) so if I do decide to one day cancel the sub I can always buy the game outright when it significantly cheaper if I must replay it out of a subscription (although I can’t ever see that happening).

    I love this model to be honest I wish Sony and Steam would offer something similar. I have already signed up for XBOX game pass and enjoying the heck out of that one as well.

    Not to mention its not only EA games. Every month 5/6 games are added to the vault/xbox game pass from other publishers that are yours to play when and whenever.

    I have Madden NFL 19 all installed and ready to unlock this evening (6 days before you can purchase and play it) which I think is pretty cool and niffy perk.

    Reply

    • I_am_Duffman!

      August 1, 2018 at 13:17

      agree with you. I am loving gamepass and will activate this as soon as BFV comes out.

      Reply

  8. konfab

    August 1, 2018 at 12:22

    I will most likely get this when Sony offers Playstation++

    Reply

  9. G8crasha

    August 1, 2018 at 13:49

    As the article says, I can’t find justification for the service now. I will also definitely take a look when it draws closer to the release of BFV. Before then – nope. I wish they would include the DLC, because then I would jump on the bandwagon now. I have returned to BF1, but never originally invested in the Season Pass, so all I get to play with are the vanilla maps, and there aren’t that many official servers for vanilla BF1!

    Reply

    • Shaun Carr

      August 1, 2018 at 20:28

      they have implied that each game will be the games full experience including dlc. sims 4 includes all of its dlc for sure

      Reply

      • G8crasha

        August 2, 2018 at 07:36

        I’ll double check. When I investigated this, I couldn’t find any mention, but if so, then I’m sold! [EDIT] Well, I took out the subscription, and I unlocked all BF1’s DLC, but it seems like it didn’t unlock all the DLC for The Sims 4. I guess with some games it would unlock the DLC, but others not.

        Reply

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