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EA Play Has Already Failed Where Microsoft Game Pass Succeeds

EA Play is coming to Steam, but if it wants to be a real competitor it shoudl probably start copying Game Pass more.

EA Play Has Already Failed Where Microsoft Game Pass Succeeds

EA Play is the rebrand and it is coming to Steam - but it needs to do a whole lot more to be a compelling subscription service for gamers. | Source: Steam

  • EA Play is coming to Steam at the end of August.
  • EA’s subscription service seeks to compete with other subscriptions like PS Now or Game Pass.
  • While it tries to compete with Game Pass, EA Play just isn’t varied enough to match up.

EA’s gaming subscription service, EA Play, is making its way to Steam on August 31st. The service includes access to a vast number of EA-owned games, and for the first time, you’ll be able to use it via Valve’s storefront rather than EA’s.

While this is excellent news for any current subscribers to the PC-version of EA Play, the subscription still leaves something to be desired.

Is it time for EA to just wholly copy gaming’s most popular subscription service?

Some of the responses to the rebranding of EA Play goes to prove the adage “There’s no pleasing some people.” | Source: Twitter

EA Play Needs to Be More Like Game Pass

The big bugbear that is hanging over EA Play is that it is restricted to the system you bought it on. That means if you pay for the PC version, you won’t be able to use EA Play on consoles, and vice versa.

Compared to Game Pass, this restriction is a huge disadvantage. If you buy Game Pass Ultimate, you have access to a wide variety of games on both PC and Consoles.

If EA Play wants to compete with a service like Game Pass, it has to become more easily accessible. EA’s subscription is already at a disadvantage for only offering games from a single publisher, vs. Xbox, who offers various developers and publishers’ games.

The service’s website does a lot to sell potential subscribers on the number of games available. | Source: EA Play

EA Just Want Their Populist Cash Cow

The real reason that EA Play exists is so that EA can use it to make a lot of money, and it’ll probably work for that. While they don’t have the breadth of games that Game Pass offers, EA does have access to some of the games with the broadest appeal.

The FIFA series alone pulls in some insane player numbers, and that doesn’t even start to cover stuff like Star Wars Battlefront. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that the subscription managed to draw in a large number of subscribers.

Then again, everyone who wants to play the latest FIFA will probably just buy it and later regret their life choices.

You’ll only be able to play FIFA 20, not FIFA 21, on EA Play. | Source: AP Photo/Martin Meissner

Either way, for EA’s cash cow to compete with the likes of PS Now and Game Pass, something has got to change.

Last modified: September 23, 2020 2:26 PM

EA Playsteam
August 21, 2020 11:20 AM
William Worrall

William Worrall is a professional writer based out of the UK who has been writing about video and tabletop games for over a decade and has covered industry events such as EGX and UKGE. Contact him at william.worrall@ccn.com, see his LinkedIn profile here.