Sony Making the Right Choice Passing on EA Access

(EA Access Promo)

Paying for digital streaming services to watch Movies/TV seems to be trending in the right direction. With services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus, regular television providers are starting to have some competition. For $7.99/month, a Netflix subscription could allow users to watch new award-winning original shows on Netflix's network such as Orange Is the New Black  and House of Cards, while also being able to watch regular television shows such as The Walking Dead and How I Met Your Mother compared to the big subscription prices of services like Comcast and DirecTV. For fans of expired shows, they have the ability to watch award-winning shows such as Weeds and Breaking Bad on Netflix also. Hulu Plus is another large streaming service at the same price as Netflix. Like Netflix, it offers its own original networks series and favorite shows of its users. While watching Movies/TV is amazing, where has services like this been for gaming?

Looking at the game streaming services, it's evident that the market is thin. The biggest game streaming services are PlayStation Plus, Games for Gold, and Onlive. Onlive is the only service that has a similar experience to Netflix, as it has a bundle of games for $9.95/month called the PlayPack. You might be thinking, "Wow for $9.95/month I can play a bunch of games!", but there actually is an issue: the PlayPack is only available on mobile devices, PC/Mac, the Onlive console, and  Smart TVs. The PlayPack is not available to be used on consoles such as the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, which is a shame for people who don't have their TVs hooked up with their PCs, the money to buy an Onlive console, or tablets/smartphones with Onlive accessibility.

However, a new service has emerged: EA Access. Recently, Microsoft made a deal with EA to deliver EA's games on their platform for $4.99/month. When the service starts, gamers will be able to play titles such as FIFA 14, Battlefield 4, and Madden 25. Sony had the chance to obtain this service too, but their response was, "We don't think asking our fans to pay an additional $5 a month for this EA-specific program represents a good value to the PlayStation gamer."

The truth is they're right. Why pay $5 a month for a service that issues old games, and also only allows EA games to be played? Don't get me wrong, EA has good games, but titles such as Madden 25 and Battlefield 4 are going to have less players once Madden 15 and Battlefield Hardline arrive. Who's going to want to play these old titles when their sequels are going to probably be a lot better? These titles are not like Mario or Infamous, where those games people play for the campaign. Madden 25 is a sports game, which will be outdated by the time Madden 15 comes out due to the new rosters and schedule changes. Battlefield 4 is a title that people play for a multiplayer experience, and once Battlefield Hardline comes out people will want to play that game's multiplayer.

Unless EA opens its doors to allow other developers to use EA Access, the service won't last long because people don't want to pay that much for EA-only titles even though its only $5/month. If they allowed games like Battlefield Hardline available to stream after like a month of its release, it would be a success, but that is not going to happen because EA will lose money on their AAA titles if they allow streaming right after the game's release.

So until some other streaming service emerges with games from a wide variety of developers, thank Sony for not letting you a down with a streaming service that is bound to fail.