[Disclaimer: This is the authors opinion]
Back in January, EA made it very clear that they were ditching the E3 2016 show floor for their own event, EA Play. This event promised an "all-new experience with some of the biggest games of the year," but it looks like it could be the official birth of a Netflix-like gaming subscription service from EA.
Hear me out on this.
In September 2015, an EA survey surfaced that suggested a Netlix-like gaming service that included popular games from AAA publishers like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Take-Two, and Bethesda. The survey not only included the potential pricing plan for the service, but a list of games that would be included in the service. At the time, the list included relatively new games such as Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Evil Within, Assassin's Creed Unity, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Civilization 5.
The price of the service varied based on what was included in the service. The survey included bundles that featured day one releases and DLC or new games three months after release and discounts, as well as varying publishers participating in the service. Prices fluctuated from $4.99 to $14.99
Why is this suddenly coming to light? Well, earlier this week EA teased that multiple publishers have been requesting to be on EA Access on a "very regular basis."
In addition to that, the Xbox Only EA Access will be free for 10 days – starting on June 12 (Origin Access for the PC exists as well, this Netflix-like service could be available on both platforms… if it ever becomes real). If EA reveals this Netflix-like gaming subscription plan, they could easily satisfy publisher wants by including a tiered subscription system to EA Access – kind of like Netflix already offers.
For example, paying $4.99 per month can get you access to the base service – as we know it now with the Vault, paying $8.99 could get you access to the Vault, as well as the Netflix-like service that features new games from a number of publishers, and $14.99 could get you access to all that, plus DLC for games.
None of this has been confirmed by EA, it's simply my personal theory. However, if EA does this… They will corner the market, it hasn't been done before – likely based on fears of players pirating games. Using Microsoft's cloud service and Azure servers, EA could probably make the streaming service happen with as little fears for pirating as possible.
If it does get announced, we better prepare ourselves for all-digital streaming consoles in the future.
