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EA Play Prices Are Increasing Globally
Screenshot by Jowi Morales; no attribution is required.
An extra dollar or two per month seems small, and even the $10 or $20 annual increase might seem reasonable. However, these increases are large if you look at them relative to the original price.
Note that these price increases are only for the US. Other regions are getting more egregious price hikes, like in the UK, where EA Play goes from £3.99 to £5.99 monthly (a 50% increase) or £19.99 to £35.99 annually (an 80% jump). EA Play Pro prices also went up to £16.99 (from £14.99, a 13% jump) monthly or £109.99 (from £89.99, a 22% hike) per year.
Even though EA Play is still an affordable service, I’m finally quitting it after five years. So, these are the reasons why I’m canceling my EA Play subscription.
1. I Don’t Want to Pay Too Much for Just EA Titles
The biggest reason I’m no longer signing up for EA Play is its limited library. The standard EA Play library only features 90 titles at the time of writing. While EA Play Pro gives you 60 more games, they’re mostly niche titles that I don’t really care for.
Although I’m a fan of a few of these franchises, like Need for Speed, Battlefield, and Sim City, the extra dollars I have to spend to keep playing them for a few hours per month isn’t worth it. I’m also not interested in EA Sports titles found on EA Play Pro, which makes the $16.99 monthly / $119.99 annual fee exorbitant for me.
2. EA Isn’t Adding New Perks and Features
I understand EA’s need to increase prices; after all, it’s the company’s first time hiking up EA Play’s subscription costs. This is especially true as overall operational expenses have steadily increased globally due to inflation.
Statista records the average global inflationfrom 2019 to 2023 at 5.41%. If we compound that rate over the years, the expected inflation should be around 30%—so anything worth $1 in 2019 now costs $1.30 today.
Given this, the price increases in the US seem reasonable. However, we should also remember that technological advancements mean tech prices should drop over time (compare the cost of an SSD in 2010 to now). So, even if EA increased its monthly subscriptions, it should’ve added more features or even more titles from other publishers to justify that. Unfortunately, it didn’t.
Furthermore, EA’s price hikes across the pond and in other parts of the world are way over the compounded rate. A 117% increase in one year is simply too much, even if the company had added features like VR gaming or free DLCs.
3. Other Gaming Subscriptions Offer Better Value for Money
As I said earlier, EA Play is still the most affordable gaming subscription in 2024. However, it doesn’t mean it offers excellent value for your money. That’s because while other gaming subscriptions are more expensive, they also have a more extensive library.
For example, if you have a PlayStation 5, you canget a PlayStation Plus subscriptionand enjoy hundreds of games, including several PlayStation exclusives.
you may also pick Humble Bundle’s Humble Choice subscription. Although it’s more expensive at $11.99 a month, you get a mix of titles every month that you get to keep forever; you don’t have to rely on a library where your favorite games might come and go at a moment’s notice.
4. I Can Get EA Play With Xbox Game Pass
However, the biggest reason to cancel my EA Play subscription is thatEA Play already comes with Xbox Game Pass for PC and Ultimate. If you’re a PC or Xbox gamer, getting this subscription makes the most sense, as you get 456 titles in your library as of April 2024 (and that’s just for PC games). Although Game Pass for PC costs $9.99 monthly ($4 or 66% more expensive than the standard EA Play subscription), it offers much more value.
If you pick Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you must pay $16.99 a month—the same price as EA Play Pro. However, aside from the more extensive game library, you also get additional perks likeXbox cloud gamingand access to both Xbox and PC game titles.
Because of these reasons, I’m canceling my EA Play subscription and moving to Xbox Game Pass for PC. And unless you’re a hardcore EA fan, I suggest you do, too.
