If you have a week’s worth of free time and nothing much to do, be ye heartened: EA Access is free this week for Xbox Live Gold members.
The EA Access subscription service allows players access to The Vault , a regularly updated collection of EA’s Xbox One games. The games are all reasonably recent games you’ll actually want to play, like Titanfall and Dragon Age: Inquisition. If you’re looking to play the most up-to-date iteration of FIFA or Madden NFL, you’ll have to look elsewhere; otherwise, the 2015 (and 2014) versions of those games are also available.
The EA Access free promotion runs from Tuesday through to Sunday, Jan. 24. Normally EA Access costs $4.99 for a month or $29.99 for the year. A subscription to EA Access also gives you a 10 percent discount on digital purchases of new EA games, pre-orders and expansion packs. On top of that, it allows you to try new games a week before their formal release date and carries over your progress if you choose to buy the game.
There’s one caveat: the 10-hour trials for games not in the Vault are not a part of this promotion, as confirmed on Twitter.
@johnjay16nhl Play First Trials are not available through the Free Play Days that start tomorrow.
— EA Access (@EAAccess) January 19, 2016Not a console player but still want to rifle through EA’s stack of games? Origin Access is a similar service for EA’s PC games. Titles include SimCity , Battlefield 4 and The Sims 3 (still a solid bet if you enjoy having basics like toddlers or Create-A-Style). While Origin Access isn’t running a promotion right now, it may still be worth a look for those who do most of their gaming on PC.
As for Xbox Live Gold, its many benefits include free games every month through Games With Gold and exclusive discounts through Deals With Gold. An annual subscription to Xbox Live Gold will cost you $60, while a monthly one starts from $4.99. You can access additional fee and program information on Microsoft’s website here.
