EA Access- Suspicions Confirmed

I knew EA Access had to have some sort of loophole. Today, a "Xbox evangelist" (wtf is that) did a podcast and an interview with Gamespot. Here's a direct quote from the article concerning the length of EA Access Game Trials.

"Rubenstein also shed some additional light on this last point during the podcast, saying that early access to upcoming EA games will offer "at least two hours" of gameplay. In addition, he said he thinks "pretty much every [upcoming EA] game" will be available to play ahead of time if you're a subscriber.According to the official EA Access FAQ, early access for upcoming EA games will vary by game. For some games, you'll be able to play one mode for a limited time, while other games will allow you to play a full version for a limited time. In all cases, if you decide to buy the game when it is released, your progress will be saved, allowing you to pick up where you left off.
When asked for greater clarity on the limitations for EA Access trial games, an EA representative told GameSpot, "Each EA Access trial will be different and the amount of time you have with each free trial will differ depending on the game."

So, there you have it. Gamers are only guaranteed 2 hours of trial/early release gameplay.

However, as you will see below, Dub makes a great point that I foolishly overlooked. EA Access is a much different service than Season Ticket when it comes to early releases for one simple reason. Some EA games are single player titles. So, it only makes sense those games would have to have extremely limited trials. Starting with Madden, we will see how long sports games will be playable for.

What's going to be the deal breaker here for me is when EA gets into specifics about whether or not downloading the trial game serves the purpose of a pre-download. That is, you download the whole game with early access, you get to play said game for x amount of time, the game locks once your trial is expired, and then, once the game releases at 12:01 on the release day, you can buy the game digitally and be able to play it right away.

If EA Access works that way (and there is every reason to believe it does), it is a worthwhile buy regardless of how long you get to play early releases. Actually, when you do the math, you find that you are essentially saving yourself a buck or two by subscribing for a month because
1. You get a 10 percent discount on all downloaded EA content, which I have been told includes games
2. There is no sales tax on digital game downloads
3. EA Access only costs 4.99 per month

What are your thoughts? How long do you think EA Sports trials will be?

ARTICLE- http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-access-on-xbox-one-is-a-game-changer-microsoft-/1100-6421601/

 

They can't give full days for single player games. Hopefully the more online oriented games get closer times to season ticket. Still a good deal.

 

That's a pretty good point. I kind of forgot about Dragon Age, Star Wars, etc. I'd be content with 2-3 days of NHL, Madden, FIFA, and Battlefield.

 

[MENTION=1330]TINO45REAPER[/MENTION]

 

I'm guessing 3 days for sports titles.

 

Seems like a ripoff ill pass

 

$5 to basically rent the game early, get 10% off a digital copy of the game, and 10% of all boosts...

Just buying the game digitally covers the $5

so explain why it's not worth it

 

^ Exactly this. So long as they provide you with Digital pre-downloading (Which MSFT has gone on record to say should happen 'by holiday') then it's totally worth it and anyone playing more than one EA game should take advantage of it.

And an Xbox Evangelist is one who is paid by MSFT to promote the brand. Every company has them and I'm currently being considered for that role next year.

 

My question...

Are they still charging full price for digital copies? Manufacturing, reproducing, and shipping should reduce price significantly. What is the word on this and if so how are they defending doing this?

 

They can defend doing it because of convenience.

 

I do not understand EA's logic if they create a program that allows you to play the game 5 days early, but then proceed to limit you to how much you play it over those 5 days.

I understand the limitation for single player games, because most people can sit down and beat a single player game over the course of the weekend (with some exceptions i.e. Skyrim). So it makes sense to offer a level or two as a trial.

But when offering a sports game early, a game that relies on a person to continuously repeat the same gameplay over and over again, I do not see the point in limiting it.

 

Like I said in the old thread this program allows EA to control the sales on their games like they can with Origin on PC or Steam. The games will still be $59.99, no taxes (Yes some American's don't pay sales tax anyway in their respective state). EA has sales for games all the time and you can see the sales drop a games price to $10.00 or even below $5 depending on the game and this will carry over to the console. It essentially has too with Steam coming out with their Steambox "console" because like I've said in the past thread regarding this, Steam puts on mega-sales for games for prices that you probably would doubt and question if you're purchasing the game legitimately (Console ppl that is because you're not used to seeing all these sales). I talked about the Steam Summer/Winter/Fall/Spring sales, those sales last for usually a week with minimum 8 games on sale every day for great prices from ALL game companies that it supports (Including collections of games i.e. Bioshock Series, Activision series). If Steam was the only console to have/come out with a program like this like it has on PC the console market would be heavily shifted into Steamboxes favor just because of their ability to control the prices (Besides the fact that you build your own, change and upgrade the hardware at will, install your own software etc).

#ThankYouGaben

BTW This thread just confirms what I said in the last thread again about there being reports about a set amount of time for playing a game pre-released. Just confirmed it.

 

Ok. So, a couple things. I overreacted when I made this thread. Read my answers (especially number 1) below

1. I agree with Dub and JMC. You will get at least 2-3 days of free gameplay (if not all 5) for sports titles. It will be the single player games that will get the really short trials.

2. As Geiss said, the deal is 100 percent worth it irrespective of trial length. Read my OP

3. Penguin, EA Access does serve the purpose of a pre-download right now. In fact, season ticket (the old service) did too. The problem with the 360 was the inconsistency of digital game releases. If you had EA Season ticket, kept the early release file, and bought the game digitally, you only had to download a little 5 MB-1 GB file to unlock the game. With EA Access, you will be able to do the same thing starting at 3 AM EST the Tuesday the game releases.

4. Sloshy, I agree 100 percent with your point

5. Ozzy, they could never charge less for a digital version. It would run GameStop/EB Games out of business.

Plus, they'd be stupid to charge less. After all, whether you have a disc or not, you are playing the same game.

 

I understand its a business but this also implies "if they aren't being stupid, we will assume our customers will be". It's the same old story, people will pay just because. So why not charge them?

There is never enough people to stand up for their rights and not care about GameStop/EB Games. These are companies making money and I shouldn't have to pay over fair value (but I will) so they can continue to stay in existence. "Specialty Markets" have come and gone over the years depending on trends and technology. If video store rentals are still alive, how long do they have left? (just to mention 1 on the recent endangered species list). I'm sure I can dig up quite a few over the decades, but just trying to make a point. I just don't see a lot of talk about it and see people just sitting back and "letting" people take advantage of them.

Guess this sums it up
[video=youtube;oBIxScJ5rlY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBIxScJ5rlY[/video]

 

I don't think it's so much going to be sales, rather if you're subscribed to the monthly/yearly service you're just going to get the games for free after a certain amount of time.

One thing I'm curious of, is will the early release time limit be lifted (for games like dragon age) if you pay it off in full.

 

But that's the thing. Gaming is a completely different entity than things like watching movies, etc. People with subpar download speeds still prefer buying discs instead of downloading games. If those people who have <5 MBps download speeds had to buy games digitally, they could potentially skip games with bigger download sizes. That means game developers lose money. Much like with the movie industry, the gaming industry will need to wait until 80-90 percent of its base is ready for the full digital switch before it will happen. Right now, I'd be surprised if that number was higher than 55 percent.


Until that happens, you are going to see discs and digital versions of games be the same price.

 

I was basing it in limited play or game modes, possibly only hut or gm connected or something. I've never been a fan of the boosts but it obvious why it was brought to the title.

 

Everyone is focusing on the early release, and digital copy. I just purchased my Xbox One this week, so the only game i have is Forza 5 that came with it. Having access to the Vault for 5$ is an incredible deal, even more when i purchase NHL 15 digital copy and save 6$ and a couple more $ on the DLC. The Vault is not to attractive at the moment but once it grows, it should be a good deal for 30$ a year.

 

I would like to think the online games like FIFA and NHL wouldnt fall into the 2 hour category.I think thats more for dragon age type games.Either way its worth it. 30 bucks for 12 months which is 2.50 a month in which you get free games from the vault that you can keep.No brainer even for all the cheap fucks out there.

 

FYI Madden announced today a 6 hour time limit for EA Access.