So this has gone live on Xbox One today. I personally love the idea. $30 a year to access The Vault, which already has four games that I was curious about, but didn’t really have any desire to own for the long haul? Sign me up.
I first downloaded an EA Access app on XB1, which let me subscribe, and then queue up my downloads.
I’m currently downloading Madden 25, FIFA 14, Peggle 2, and Battlefield 4.
Another part of this that appeals to me: these are some massive games. The last FIFA game I played a lot was 2006 World Cup, and these sports games and multiplayer games like Battlefield 4 are usually huge time commitments. They’re not ideal for short term rentals, and buying them and then not playing them seems like a horrible value proposition. I guess I just think these first few games are ideal for a long term rental service like this. Already I see more value in these games than I’ve gotten so far from being a member of PS+ and Xbox Live Games for Gold. But that’s just me.
Demos should be free. They exist so customers make a informed decision. Are important because a game may be completelly unfun to you, and games are a expensive purchase. Paywalling these feels to me morally wrong.
Dead Space, Battlefield, every Bioware title since 2007, PopCap, Maxis. Just to name a few examples of unqualified success taken to the next level by EA’s involvement and guidance. I have HIGH HOPES for EA Access.
Well, no, you get time limited access to the games. Which is what many demos used to be. The full games you get for the long term are last year’s games. Which, don’t get me wrong, is still pretty appealing to someone like me (well, someone like me who actually owns an Xbox One, anyway). I like Madden and FIFA but I’m not so obsessive I need the latest rosters. So for me it would just be a cheapish way to get those games every year, with the added bonus of the early access/demos and any other games that happen to get put on the service.
In this case, I don’t understand why EA even created a demo of Madden for the past dozen titles. If there’s a franchise with less chance of sales being influenced by demos, I’m unaware of it.
Regarding all other games, there are multiple sources that have studied demos and come to the conclusion that they generally hurt profitability. Developers and publishers spend resources to create and maintain demos. Fans buy the games with or without the demo. (Imagine a CoD player not buying the next installment because there’s no demo. Preposterous!) People on the fence usually buy the game eventually, unless they play a demo and are put off by technical issues or the game just isn’t what they thought it would be. In both cases, the best outcome is that the person in question never plays a demo.
The situations in which someone won’t buy a game without the demo, or someone who had no intention of buying the game, but changes their mind after checking out the demo are the minority.
Yeah, this seems like a non-story, especially since we basically went through the same weak outcry long ago when MS first started having some demos locked behind Xbox Live Gold access.
I had my first multiplayer battles in Battlefield 4 today. I was accompanied by a friend who has played 541 hours of the game.
Holy shit you guys! What a gorgeous game. I played about 6 different maps today. Played some Team Deathmatch, Obliteration and then lots of Conquest. I’m not sure if I like it as much as Bad Company 2 yet, but I did realize today that I miss playing a good multiplayer shooter with my friends. That was a blast.
We did run into one snag. Once he tried joining a server on one of the new maps, which I don’t own, of course. Apparently there’s already been four map packs released for Battlefield 4, and while the base game is free on EA Access, the “Premium” B4 (aka Season Pass aka own all the expansion packs) still costs $45. That’s 1.5 years of EA Access! Preposterous!
Maybe one day they’ll add Premium B4 to the Vault. But I’m betting they’ll never do that. That way they’ll still have an extra revenue source from games within the Vault too.
Well, they do offer a 10% discount to access customers so shave off a month or so.
Bought this at the urging of my Madden and FIFA loving son, had to let the 50 or so gig download overnight to get everything up and running. Xbone hard drive is already more than half full. I knew 500gb was anemic. MS could have at least thrown in a 1tb drive to help justify the inital $500 price point. I notice they are already jacking up the hard drive size for the COD bundle.
Yeah, I’m using more than half the hard drive as well now that I have EA Access.
According to Eurogamer their integration of the external USB drive is pretty seamless. And that a bargain 2TB drive is the best value for performance and cost. I have no idea what a drive like that costs though. 70 pounds in England so maybe $100 here? Once my drive gets more full I’ll start keeping an eye out for bargains.
I’ve been using a $99 Toshiba Canvio Basics 2TB USB 3.0 2.5" drive on my Xbox One for a couple of months now. Maybe 10% slower than the internal drive – not a big difference. Moving titles between internal and external is pretty easy, so I keep the games I’m playing most on the internal, and move the stuff I play more infrequently to the external drive. Could probably get better speed off a 7,200 RPM 3.5" drive in a USB 3.0 enclosure, but I was going for simplicity.
Cool, now I can play it without fetching the disc. Definitely got my pre-Vault money’s worth out of this, here’s hoping that means more players online.
