EA Access has plenty of potential, but needs to deliver

The Xbox One has a killer app: EA Access.

While Sony is putting the finishing touches on the PlayStation Now platform, Electronic Arts announced that Xbox One owners will be able to join EA Access, a program that offers recently released EA published titles for $4.99. While the current list of Fifa 14, Madden 14, Peggle 2, and Battlefield 4 are nothing to jump for joy over, there’s plenty of potential here.

First, the fact that we’re able to get full access for those four games for $4.99 a month/$24.99 a year is a pretty big deal. Sure, these games are about to be outdated by their successors, but that’s still four games for $24.99 a year, plus whatever new games are added to the program on top of that. The 10% off digital games is nice, but the major appeal of EA Access is undoubtedly the backlog.

On paper, this seems like GameFly on steroids, but it needs the continued support to be an overall success. Releasing nothing but sports games and yearly releases won’t be enough. There needs to be concrete reasons to subscribe. PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus have reasons in spades. Xbox Live Gold is getting better and better. Electronic Arts needs to ensure they deliver on the potential. Otherwise, they’ll risk a quick path to obscurity.