EA Access will arrive on Steam shortly

[HEXUS]

Valve has announced EA's game membership subscriptions will be on Steam "very soon".

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[Saracen999]

I imagine a lot of people will like this, but it embodies three of my least favourite (gaming) words in one sentence - Steam, EA and subscription.

Thanks, but no thanks.

[Ttaskmaster]

Not a fan of subscriptions either.

Some of my gamer friends got the EA Vault subs thingy they do and tried to sell me on it, before realising they rarely used it and really weren't getting their money's worth.

[Saracen999]

Not a fan of subscriptions either.

....

I suppose they have their uses.

For instance, right now, I'm subscribing to both Amazon Music Unlimited and Kindle Unlimited .... and, obviously, Prime.

During lockdown, and for other reasons, I'm spending a LOT more time than would normally be the car at home, so I'm certainly reading loads more than normal. A lot of it is stuff I doubt I'll ever read again, unlike my library of printed books much of which has been read and reread over the years. Similar logic applies to music, so right now a subscription suits me. When it doesn't, I'll turn it off.

But though, at the moment, they suit me, some items in both music and books I still buy in order to get permanent access.

That, I guess, is why gaming subscriptions aren't for me. When I discover a game I really like, I'm likely to go back and replay it time and again, over a long period. But I don't have vast amounts of time for gaming these days, so I'm not looking to keep trying loads of new stuff all the time. Buying stuff I'll repeatedly reuse just makes better sense for me.

[cheesemp]

I suppose they have their uses.

For instance, right now, I'm subscribing to both Amazon Music Unlimited and Kindle Unlimited .... and, obviously, Prime.

During lockdown, and for other reasons, I'm spending a LOT more time than would normally be the car at home, so I'm certainly reading loads more than normal. A lot of it is stuff I doubt I'll ever read again, unlike my library of printed books much of which has been read and reread over the years. Similar logic applies to music, so right now a subscription suits me. When it doesn't, I'll turn it off.

But though, at the moment, they suit me, some items in both music and books I still buy in order to get permanent access.

That, I guess, is why gaming subscriptions aren't for me. When I discover a game I really like, I'm likely to go back and replay it time and again, over a long period. But I don't have vast amounts of time for gaming these days, so I'm not looking to keep trying loads of new stuff all the time. Buying stuff I'll repeatedly reuse just makes better sense for me.

You see in the inverse I'm almost the opposite. I also have little time for games but rarely replay/complete something. I usually pick up a game then either play it for 10 minutes, hour, 5 hours or until completion then never touch it again. Most games end up in the 10 minute to one hour category as a lot of games just don't catch with me. I ended up spending a fortune (even though it was all cheap stuff) on games I never really played. I found gamepass has solved the problem for me. EA access on the other hand has been less useful (I had it on the xbox) - outside of a go at the battlefield single players and Mass effect I barely touched it but hey I'd have spent the £18 it cost me to join for a year on say 3 of those games when I got to try about 10 instead. With game pass I've spent maybe £50 playing about 20+ games, 2 of which were new out to completion. Both of those would have been £30+ on release so it works for me. If I had more time it would be even more value.

[Ttaskmaster]

For instance, right now, I'm subscribing to both Amazon Music Unlimited and Kindle Unlimited .... and, obviously, Prime.

I can see how they work with other things... but gaming subs specifically do not work for me.
I'm more likely to find I'm not playing games (not in the mood, life too busy, work too imposing, etc) and cancel the unjustified and hefty expenditure.

It's only months or even years later that I'll actually want to play the game, but because I had to end the sub I no longer have access to it.
That's the biggest issue.....
Also, with the likes of Uplay and Humble subs, there actually is nothing in their catalogue I want to play! Absolutely zilch, even for 'free'. EA is slightly different, but still only has a handful of titles that catch my eye, and I've already got most of them... probably in a Steam sale, for less than one month of subs, too!

[big_hairy_rob]

If games companies are offering this, then they have worked out that they will get people to pay them more money, for a longer period, in much the same way that they used loot boxes and pay-walls to generate huge revenues at peoples expense. I'm not looking to get exploited thanks. The move to these pay to borrow services and away from paying to own something worries me greatly...

[Gentle Viking]

When the text on my screen read "subscription" my eyes and brain combined read submission, and i submit to no one, and i sure as hell are not going to pay to submit.

I am submissive to the cable company for internet, and for my phone provider, i hope that soon i will only be submitting to the cable company,,,,,, and since i am a Dane the big brother state which have taken upon itself to nanny me for a vote every 4 years or so, and only asking a hefty price for doing that.

[Ivanhoe123]

I'm not a massive fan of gaming subscriptions, but I think anything that merges them together to make it easier to log in/manage various accounts, is a good thing. It's become quite messy from what I understand and it would be nice if all of the games available to you, could be accessed via one central login.

[Iota]

That, I guess, is why gaming subscriptions aren't for me. When I discover a game I really like, I'm likely to go back and replay it time and again, over a long period. But I don't have vast amounts of time for gaming these days, so I'm not looking to keep trying loads of new stuff all the time. Buying stuff I'll repeatedly reuse just makes better sense for me.

That pretty much sums up gaming subscriptions for myself, I've tried Origin Access, however unless I'm getting to keep those games I would like to play over a period of time?

I don't see much value in it when I can wait until they're on sale and have them on a more permanent basis (online services within a game are something else entirely).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The only gaming subscription service I actually use is the MS XBox Games pass. There are shorter FPS and story games,for example,which I will only play once and last only a few hours,and there were some major releases on it. I calculated it would be cheaper to use the service than buy them,as many of them costs over £40.

[Saracen999]

....

I don't see much value in it when I can wait until they're on sale and have them on a more permanent basis (online services within a game are something else entirely).

Yeah, that too. Even back when buying games on CD or DVD disk was how things were done, I save a fortune by waiting a year or two then paying £5, or even £1.99/2.99 for something that was £40-£45 on launch. The number of times that happened. Wow. And now, GOG etc.

I'm not really one for 'in-game services', though. Most of my games are of an earlier era and I played either standalone, or LAN mode. My games machines haven't even had net access for, oh, probably 15+ years.

[Psihomodo]

Subscription and mandatory use of Origin client?

Double no!

[Ttaskmaster]

It's become quite messy from what I understand and it would be nice if all of the games available to you, could be accessed via one central login.

You can have that.... you just have to give Steam 100% market dominance. That's why everyone is struggling to become the ruler of the gaming industry, so that they have all the logins, accounts, business and thus the money. Same for Amazon, Walmart, and all the other big companies in other industries.