EA is giving its subscription services a fresh coat of paint, and cleaning up its naming schemes for its EA Access and Origin Access subscription plans in the process.
Moving forward, both EA Access and Origin Access will be known simply as EA Play, while Origin Access Premier will now be known as EA Play Pro.
If the name EA Play already rings a bell, that’s because the name was previously used for EA’s slate of E3-adjacent game reveal events which, for clarity’s sake, were renamed to EA Play Live this year and will continue to use that moniker moving forward.
"EA Play puts you at the center of the experience. Moving all the benefits to a single brand is an important step in streamlining our services to ensure that being an EA Play member is the best way to play," reads EA's FAQ.
Previously, Origin Access covered the PC version of EA’s pay-for-access subscription game library, while EA Access covered other platforms like PS4 and, soon, Steam. While both are now known as EA Play no matter the platform, it’s not explicitly mentioned if EA Play will continue the per-platform subscription of its predecessors or if that aspect of the program is unifying as well.
Given the platform fee complications that likely led to the per-platform subscription requirement, it’s unlikely one EA Play subscription will grant access to the program’s perks across all supported platforms, but we’ve reached out to EA for clarification just to be sure.
Update: An EA rep confirmed to Gamasutra that, despite the new branding, each platform will require its own EA Play subscription, just as before.
"The platform subscriptions are still separate but with the same great benefits - it made sense to move to one name which is more in line with what we are delivering: Play," explains an EA representative. "EA Play is really about enhancing and deepening your play."