EA Play comes to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Microsoft has announced that the price of Xbox Game Pass for PC will double later this week, but that it will also begin to bundle in EA Play memberships, making it a pretty good deal.

To be fair, while a doubling of any price sounds huge, in the case of Xbox Game Pass for PC that means it will now be £7.99 per month rather than £3.99. No one likes to pay more but that's not a bad increase at all given £3.99 was pretty cheap to begin with. Microsoft always referred to it as an "introductory" price so it's probably about time it increased.

For the price, you get day one access to games like Microsoft Flight Simulator and Crusader Kings 3, along with other big hitters like Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, Football Manager 2020, Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4, and the Halo Master Chief Collection. There's no shortage of great games to be seen here.

On top of that, Microsoft has also announced that EA Play will soon be part of the subscription. EA Play (formerly known as EA Access or Origin Access) provides you access to over 60 EA games with more added on a regular basis and was formerly an extra £3.99 on top of any existing monthly subscriptions. Titles such as The Sims 4, Titanfall 2 and Battlefront 2 form some of the appeal, with 10 hour trials of new games like FIFA 21 also available. 

Effectively, it's unlikely you're going to run out of options with a combination of these two services for £7.99 a month. However, there are understandable concerns from some groups. Namely, a shift to the subscription model does mean that you never technically own any of these games. The games as a service model is a great thing for companies who are keen to enjoy regular revenue, but it can mean you end up even more dependent on your internet connection and reliant on big corporations keeping your favourite games on the service.

Granted, for now at least, there's nothing stopping you buying the games outright. Indeed, you can typically buy games through the service for a modest discount compared to not being subscribed. 

There's no confirmed date yet for EA Play becoming part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate but expect to see the PC price hike for Xbox Game Pass begin from September 17th.