Bad news for gamers: the EA Play subscription is about to get a fair bit more expensive. The standard tier is the one to suffer the most, so you better brace your bank accounts. Fortunately, it’s still pretty good value in the Xbox Game Pass bundle, so long as you’re an EA games fan.
The subscription for its lowest tier per month used to cost $4.99 in the US and £3.99 in the UK. That fee is rising to $5.99 and £5.99, respectively. It wouldn’t be so annoying for UK residents if it wasn’t at least proportional to our American counterparts. Annual fees still offer the most value, but they’ve nearly doubled. Instead of $29.99 and £19.99, yearly costs are now $39.99 and £35.99. The price increases for this tier are fairly large, with the UK hit the hardest for some reason.
EA Play Pro, the premium tier that offers extra in-game goodies and early access to new releases, also isn’t safe. The jump isn’t quite as bad, mind you, going from $14.99 and £14.99 to $16.99 and £16.99 a month. Annual costs are also shifting from $99.99 and £89.99 to $119.99 and £109.99 a year. At least there’s parity here, even if it still stings.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, subscribers should have received an email yesterday detailing that these price increases will take effect as of May 10. This gives you plenty of time to cancel if you want to. You could potentially move to an annual subscription before the price changes come into effect, letting you enjoy the service for cheaper. We can’t confirm this as we’re not EA Play Subscribers.
GamesIndustry.biz “understands these changes are being made to reflect changes in currency value and to bring fees in line with market value.” We’re sure that prices are increasing, but the disparity between the GBP and USD increases still feels out of whack. The pound hasn’t dropped notably against the dollar, making it look off-balance.
The move towards subscriptions seems neverending. Samsung has switched to an SSD subscription, of all things, but that only affects the server market. Sadly, such is the way of the world. The silver lining is that most subscriptions are non-commital, meaning you can opt-out before inflation takes hold.