
Believe it or not, it's now been over three years since EA Play was added to Xbox Game Pass for Ultimate (and later PC) members. The partnership was announced alongside the launch of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in November 2020, and since then we've seen some truly amazing EA titles join the Game Pass library.
Thanks to EA Play, we can enjoy the likes of Dead Space, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Need For Speed Unbound, Battlefield 2042, Skate 3, and so much more with our Xbox Game Pass memberships.
However, given that we're into the fourth year of this EA Play inclusion, we're starting to think about how long the Xbox partnership will last. It was mentioned back in 2020 that EA Play was going to "remain in the service for quite a while", but how long are we talking here? Is there a chance 2024 could mark the final year of EA Play on Xbox Game Pass?
And if that's the case, how much of an effect will it have on Xbox Game Pass subscriptions in the future? It's hard to gauge just how interested Game Pass members are in EA Play, but we're willing to bet the majority of Ultimate subscribers have at least enjoyed a few EA games over the past few years, if not a whole bunch of them.
So, how often do you engage with EA Play on Xbox Game Pass, and would you be disappointed if the partnership came to an end this year? If you could choose between Ubisoft Plus and EA Play, which would you pick?
Tell us your thoughts on EA Play down in the polls and comments down below!
How Important Is EA Play To You On Xbox Game Pass? (1,981 votes)
- Very important!
- Quite important
- A little bit important
- Not very important
- Not important at all!
How Often Do You Engage With EA Play Games? (1,743 votes)
- All the time!
- Fairly often
- Now and again
- Rarely, but it's been known
- Never!
When Do You Think EA Play Will Leave Xbox Game Pass Ultimate? (1,609 votes)
- 2024
- 2025
- 2026-27
- 2028-29
- 2030-onwards
- I don't think it'll ever leave to be honest
Comments 42
I think it’s a nice little bonus. I even pay for it on PlayStation too. £1.60 a month to access all those games seems like a no brainer to me.
@Kaloudz no Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Jedi games for you? I thought those are kinda the highlights
I honestly can’t recall off the top of my head the last EA game I even played. I’d have to look it up. It Takes Two was EA, wasn’t it? I rarely play EA titles, which seems sort of odd, given how big the publisher used to feel. I couldn’t even tell you much of anything they’ve released after Mass Effect 3.
Having it as part of GPU its important to me, adds extra value to the service. An as the article mentions there were/are some great games on the service over the years.
Me personally i play the starwars and dead space games
But EA is very important part of GP ...FiFA is a ver very popular games in around the world and i know load of people playing it on GP
Not a factor for me since EA usually has good sales.
I think that its value is probably going to be bigger than what will show up on a gamer website like this. It has a bunch of games that are very popular with the masses, but don't seem to ever draw a lot of interest in online spaces: they have the most recent versions of Madden, NHL, UFC, and F1, as well as a bunch of Battlefield games
For me personally, there are a handful of games on there that I want to play still: Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Unravel, Wild Hearts...and after all these years I still enjoy Fight Night every once in a while
EA Play > Ubisoft Connect. At least to me. That said, not a huge fan of either.
I enjoy it don't ever see it going looking forward to jedi survivor 2 coming out on it and wrc eventually it's good if you like sports games aswell ea make decent games it's not like they are ubisoft
Being a racing fan I use it quite regularly for Codemasters’ games, either for the trial or waiting for the full game to go on there. I was on the fence over the recent WRC game, but the trial convinced me to buy it (in a sale mind you). Saying that, I wouldn’t subscribe to EA Play on its own if it ever left Gamepass Ultimate.
I would assume the Game Pass deal is meant to last for a generation.
It adds a good bit of value and I would be disappointed to see it leave. Like Ubisoft it's not a service I'd ever pay for directly though.
How often do you "engage" with EA games? What's wrong with the word "play?" Weird robotic marketing jargon.
Personally I see little real value to the EA added on to game pass ultimate. Sure you get a handful of older EA titles but no day 1, and most EA titles can be bought on sale reasonably cheap.
@luke88 I know right and there's sexual undertones all over that wording aswell sick minds we are dealing with here I tells you ha
I've been playing Crysis quite a bit and am looking forward to jumping into Crysys 2 and 3, so I'd be a bit sad if EA Play left the Game Pass service. I've also never played Mass Effect and wanted to dive into that series eventually. Would EA Play leaving be a Game Pass deal breaker? No, but it sure would be a bummer.
Surely it won't go doesn't playstation get the ubisoft one with their ps sub? Dont use it that often tbh but theres some good games the jedi one dead space etc
@Kaloudz lost in random is a great game and can’t recommend it enough…
I don’t think it’s going anywhere. When the current contract is up, Ms will just sign another. And it’s somewhat important for me, but not massively important. There have been a few big games I have enjoyed but all In all, it’s probably made up less than 5% of the overall games I have played on Game Pass the last few years running.
@gollumb82 What's Ubi Connect?
@eire-shabba Whats Ubi+ like?
There's very few EA games I'm interested in playing and on PC I can't be bothered with their rubbish app, so don't bother with them through Gamepass
I probably play 2-3 ea games per year on gamepass. I definitely wouldnt unsubscribe if it was lost but i would be sad.
I guessed 2026 on the end of the deal. No real reason besides the new console rumored to be coming then. It probably has nothing to do with when the deal ends but who knows.
I can't think of a single thing I've ever used EA play for.
I have nothing nice to say about EA so I won't say anything.
Oops. I guess I just did.
It's time for Ubisoft+ to hop on board
I don’t play EA games often but when I do they are usually quite big AAA like Dead Space, Jedi, Mass Effect. As well as some smaller titles like Unravel. It’s a nice addition to Game Pass
I don’t see EA Play leaving Game Pass within this generation of consoles. So I think it’s locked in until ~2028 at least. Removing EA Play from Game Pass at the start of a new generation would be bad PR, so that’s why I voted for 2030+. I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon.
My favorite EA game is Haunting feat. Polterguy.
Ea had a lot of sega exclusives and I wish they made a way to play them currently.
If EA keeps going on their current trajectory, funding games like Jedi: Survivor, Dead Space Remake, Lost in Random, It Takes Two, and more... then I think EA Play leaving Xbox would hurt quite a bit.
Unfortunately, Madden has fallen so far that I can't even bring myself to play it. Not even for "free."
This marketing to test the waters for either charging us more money or if EA can start making their own subscription Either way PureXbox trying to make our lives more expensive..just like they made video games more expensive..even though game companies no longer need to make a case, booklet or a physical copy anymore!! It's all profit. PureXbox actually said they should take away are 2-4 free games a month because it's irrelevant. Also return video games anymore..if they suck and you only played them for an hour. You're stuck with them and out 70 dollars!! That was the whole premise of buying digital was the ability to try before you buy.
I usually just pay the $30 a year for EA play and use game pass every now and then. That has saved me a ton on the racing and sports games I play. I play F1, Dirt 4 and 5, Grid Legends and sports games. I'm usually patient and wait til they come out on EA play. EA Sports pga is the only game I bought in 2023. So EA Play is valuable to me. Whether it's on gamepass or not doesn't matter though.
*EA Play is better on Xbox than Playstation cause they have 360 games and Playstation doesn't have ps3 games on it.
To be honest I only really use it for the Madden games. It saves me from having to buy Madden games every year and then trading them in. Everything else in their catalogue I either played already, have or don't have an interest in.
@SoulChimera that makes little sense really. If you're doing it for just multiplayer it would end up being cheaper to buy the game. EA games pretty much always go on sale within the first couple months and there's generally no reason to play them at launch plus they have cross play so if you want to play some on PlayStation then use PC.
I mean to each their own but I can't think of a single ea game from the last 5 years besides DeD Space that was worth purchasing let alone paying an extra subscription fee especially when it's already built into one that's $9.99
I guessed 2026/2027, I'd probably say 2025 if earlier. I don't use the service but open to guessing. And said well never or don't use it to the other two polls. I just don't have a need for them personally. It could go away and I wouldn't notice. We with family that have Gamepass no need for EA Play.
Well I have Grid Legends physical on PS4, Titanfall 2 on PS4, I have Burnout Paradise on 360 (played it a bit on Xbox One back compat of 360 and a lot more on 360, wasn't for me but I appreciate it) probably before or around the time of the Remaster and I bought up Burnout 1 & 3 for PS2, I bought up NFS 2 and Road Rash on PS1 physical in the last few weeks.
Same with Grid Autosport on PS3 in the last few weeks. I'll get the other Battlefields or other games in the meantime I'm in no rush.
Many versions of the Sims on PC, some console versions (2 and Pets on PSP, the story ones on handhelds like 2 or the GBA/DS ones are always weird but cool). Not Sims 4, why would I it just didn't make the series better and the expansions/stuff and more are just so eh handled content. Even Sims 3 I started dropping off, prefer Sims 1 & 2 and 3 had fine ideas like World Adventures or Medieval as standalone ones but otherwise eh. I've bought some console standalone ones since like Castaway.
EA I always think I don't care for their games and then I look at their older games and go oh some fair stuff there. They are still a company I just don't find their games that appealing. The variety is there sure but many games I don't immediately think of really.
Like I'll get WRC 2023 way later I got MotoGP9/10 recently on 360, I got WRC 4 on Vita out of curiosity and to have some of it's type on Vita, to test a licensed game on an eshop still up before it goes and well to have it before the PS3/VitaPS Store goes down. I'll find many games over time physical in whatever condition for cheap and if I find a copy and just have fun doing that.
If EA has a new game I care about sure but most times they don't really.
Underground Rivals/Prostreet, Shift 1 & 2 were fair to pick up I enjoyed Shift, 2 was eh, other two are fine games. I don't care for the open world NFS games only the highway/circuit ones hence my particular choice of entries in the series.
Mirror's Edge 360 and Catalyst PS4, have a few of their old shooters for Medal of Honor/Battlefield I love 2 Modern Combat's swap ability around the map. I don't have DICE's Xbox racing games yet but do want to play them.
Good Mass Effect series already on 360 (1 & 2), got 3 on PS3 and bought a copy 1-3 on PS3 version. We have Legendary Edition. All the Dragon Age games on 360 (1 & 2) or PS4 (Inq).
They don't really have many old games on their service I want.... even if some 360 era stuff is a thing on Xbox for many third parties they just don't have much I want. Let alone new games..... They offer what they offer and IPs they want to push more.......
That's the problem with subscription services. If your a newcomer to gaming or any EA products or want sports/sims or other EA games sure by all means.
If not I don't have a reason to subscribe or care what EA offers. They need to offer more things. If they want us old school game collectors to join let alone other types of players (besides the sports fan, into other EA games or just anyone to join to give EA money and your data for an EA account) well give me a reason to.
If their new games aren't doing it for me or their IPs/game quality isn't enough or I don't trust the company why would I join their service right?
So why should I bother, even if they aren't back compat I'll still play them on the old console anyway if I have it or get an OG Xbox eventually but for 360 no back compat, no problem still got a 360 on me.
Sure It Takes Two I bought on PS4 physical, Unravel is cool but I mean like do I need an EA service no, do I trust modern EA no, do I care for their old games they don't offer on the service yes. So why would I need their service?
Even if they offered Theme Hospital or other Bullfrog games on there would I still join? No. Got the OG version for PC and the Two Point series continues those elements well enough.
@d0x3601 I probably play 4 or 5 EA games a year. Some I even randomly go back to. £1.60 a month isn’t even worth thinking about. I spend £3.70 every morning on a large tea. Haha. I like subscriptions services like this because I pay basically nothing, and get to play games I’m interested in whenever they drop onto the service on whichever console I want to play on.
@SoulChimera I'm gonna assume lots of sports stuff? I have to admit I forget that they made them lol. I know how crazy that sounds I mean it's friggin ea... The only sport game I play is racing stuff and ea has made me sad in regards to racing games.
I literally couldn't think of anything they made last year besides dead space and wrc and now that I'm trying (if you don't count sports) I don't think I can come up with anything the year before.. was star wars 2023 or 2022? I remember playing it for like 30 min on PC but it was so broken from just unbelievable amount of stutter that I stopped. I should check if they fixed the major stutter cause I wanna play it but I know they never really fixed the first one so I don't imagine the sequel is stutter free either... I'm definitely getting tired
Isn't ea on PlayStation $9.99 or is it $4.99? Ever since they stopped charging for fee in addition to Gamepass I stopped paying any attention to the price especially because I'm paid up on ultimate through 2026 thanks to rewards. I haven't paid for gold and now gp since 2013 but the new lower reward points for things means I'm probably gonna have to start in 2 years.. sigh
it’s a nice bonus, unfortunately i am locked out if the pc version due to it being on my old work email and my work going out of business and as i can’t get an email to confirm i own it nobody is able help.
EA Play has some interesting games to try. But it doesn’t work with Playnite, so I find I never play them. Eventually I just uninstalled them all because of nonuse. Now I check first, and if the Gamepass game that I want to play is on EA Play, I just ignore it.
It would be different if the games ran directly through GamePass. Since they don't, they are just a nuisance, and I'd rather EA Play just went away.
@d0x3601 It’s only £20 ($25) a year in the UK, that’s why I don’t really care. For instance, physical Dead Space Remake alone is still about £30-40 ($40-50). Digitally on the PlayStation store it’s £70 ($88). So I play mostly digital now, I can get 3 and half years of EA Play for the price of Dead Space.
@Kaloudz Hmmm Lost in Random is Ravenlok with with a dice throwing type of combat which makes it very unique. Great production values with quests and good cut scenes. I would class it as a RPG but not so much an action one as the dice rolling slows down any need for reflexes of a ninja….
Since I cannot get a 12 month GP sub at a reduced average monthly cost any longer, I'm switching to GP console beginning this month. I want the games and don't really care about online play. I will also be losing my EA games as a result. It stinks, but I can live with it.
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