Electronic Arts subscription service EA Play is to raise its prices from the middle of May with a notification box on the EA Play client notifying users that the increase will take place in the first billing cycle “on or after May 10th”
EA Play has two tiers, a basic one and a Pro offering which contains the latest EA games on launch but gets slightly more confusing as this is not available on consoles. This means that the latest EA Sports games such as Madden and EAFC are not included for console owners but are on the PC. Still with us?
Also, to throw into the mix the basic EA Play tier comes as part of the Xbox Game Pass subscription, so you don’t need that if you already have Game Pass. However, the cheaper tier only offers older games, although about six months after release the newer games will make their way to the basic EA Play, meaning if you can wait for a game, it is pretty good value.
However, regardless of all this, prices for both tiers are heading north and that includes both monthly and annual versions with the price hikes listed below.
EA Play
Monthly
$4.99 / £3.99 per month increasing to $5.99 / £5.99,
Annual
$29.99 / £19.99 increasing to $39.99 / £35.99
EA Play Pro
Monthly
$14.99 / £14.99 increasing to $16.99 / £16.99
Annual
$99.99 / £89.99 increasing to $119.99 / £109.99
These price rises clearly show the UK price being hit harder than the US dollar version with the annual version of the standard tier rising some 80% and the EA Play Pro annual seeing a rise of over 20%. These prices EA believes, according to gamesindustry.biz are being made to reflect currency value changes and to bring them in line with market value.
The total cost for a user paying monthly for a Game Pass/PSN account, an EA Play Pro, and a Ubisoft+ subscription is getting to around $60 per month, and that is before you start throwing in the likes of Netflix and Disney +, all of which have also increased their prices in recent months.
It seems that the other unpalatable option of having to stump up $130 dollars for a game like Star Wars Outlaws subscription services may be what the industry is pushing players towards in the hope that most do not simply subscribe, leave, and resubscribe when the big games come out. They likely know though that the majority of people simply will not do that.
Hopefully, this new improved income stream will help the big publishers not have to make so many layoffs in the coming months… ah the sweet sound of uncomfortable silence.
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