An EA Access page recently appeared on Steam, promising that the subscription-based service is “coming soon” to the storefront. But it won’t be known as EA Access when it goes live: Electronic Arts announced today that on August 18 it will bring EA Access and Origin Access, the PC subscription service offered through its Origin storefront, together under a single, new name of EA Play.
The basics of the service will be unchanged. Subscribers will have access to the same library of EA games and pre-release trial versions currently offered through EA and Origin Access, and will still get ten percent off any purchases they make. For more committed fans, Origin Access Premier, with unlimited access to a wider range of EA games including new releases, is also sticking around, but will be known as EA Play Pro.
Longer-term, however, Electronic Arts plans to expand its offerings further under the new brand with features like in-game challenges and monthly reward drops. Specifics will vary from game to game, “but we’re talking things like early access challenges and rewards like Ultimate Team Packs, exclusive vanity items and cosmetics, and more,” it said.
EA also clarified that, while the name is now unified, the service itself is not: You’ll need to purchase separate subscriptions for each platform you want to take advantage of EA Play on. And if you’re concerned that these EA Play subscriptions services could be confused with the annual EA Play presentations during E3, do not fret: That’s being renamed too, to EA Play Live. Full details on the change and all it entails (which, at this point, is just a new name) are up at ea.com.