EA Brings Its Games Back To Steam And Adds EA Access Subscription Too
EA is going to offer its games again on Steam and the EA Access subscription is also coming to the platform. Furthermore, the friend lists are connected. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be the first EA game to hit Steam as part of the renewed partnership.
Electronic Arts reports that EA Access will be released on Steam sometime in the spring of next year. Mike Blank, a vice president at EA, told The Verge that this subscription is different from the existing Origin Access for PC: “I would expect the game catalog to be more like what you see with EA Access on Xbox or PlayStation.” . EA Access for Xbox One has about 80 games and PS4 has about 40, while Origin Access for PC has more than 230 titles. The cost for EA Access on Steam is $5 per month or $30 per year. Exactly which titles are part of EA’s subscription service on Steam is still unknown.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be released on Origin and also on Steam on November 15. The Sims 4 and Unravel 2 will also be available sometime in the coming months, and multiplayer games like Apex Legends, FIFA 20 and Battlefield V will be released on Steam sometime next year. According to Blank, there will be more announcements of other titles, but which ones are unknown. It is also unclear whether EA plans to immediately offer all its future games on Steam.
EA and Valve are currently still working on connecting the friend lists of both platforms, Blank told Engadget. This means that ‘crossplay’ is possible with the multiplayer games, although it is still unknown when exactly that will be available.
Blank also explains that players still need an EA account to purchase EA Access on Steam. The Origin launcher is also needed during the setup process, but once the accounts are linked, it is possible to open the games directly from Steam. Origin does not need to start after that. However, games purchased through Origin cannot yet be launched through Steam, although Blank hints that that may change in the future.
EA already posted teasers about the return to Steam a few days ago. Electronic Arts used to just sell its games on Steam, until the company decided to come up with its own Origin platform in 2011. The last game EA offered on Steam until today was Warp, in 2012. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be the first new EA game in years to be available again via Steam.
The Steam shop window on 29-10-19