Looking to make gaming more accessible than ever before, Comcast and Electronic Arts have announced a new partnership in the form of “XFINITY Games powered by EA.”
Unveiled today, the new service will make it possible for anyone with an X1 set-top-box to steam EA games to their television, with no downloads, extra equipment, or consoles needed. In place of standard console controllers, users can play games using their smartphones or tablets. If it seems a little casual, that’s because it is.
“It’s perfect for families with kids and even those of us who picked up a game in years,” Comcast explained.
The XFINITY Games service is launching today in beta for anyone X1 customers. There are a total of 23 games available, all of which will be free throughout the beta. Some of the games include:
- Real Racing 2
- EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer 13
- MONOPOLY
- NBA Jam on Fire Edition
- EA SPORTS PGA TOUR Golf
- Plants VS. Zombies
- Peggle Nights
- Word Whomp Underground
- World of Goo
But while the games are free now, there will likely be a price associated with the service in the future. However, Comcast will gather feedback from its users to help determine pricing. In terms of data cap usage, game streaming through XFINITY Games will be treated “just like other Internet traffic, and would count under any Xfinity Internet data plans.”
While this might be a glimpse at what the future of gaming could look like, I wouldn’t ditch those Xbox One or PlayStation 4 consoles just yet. Games offered through this service are being made “specifically for this platform and for this service,” so I wouldn’t count on seeing EA’s biggest console blockbusters like Mass Effect or Battlefield offered. Again, this could change in the future as user feedback is gathered, but for now this seems like an alternative method to provide gaming experiences into households that otherwise normally wouldn’t invest in them.
If you have X1 and want to be part of the beta, you can sign up at xfinitygames.com.
