EA’s new subscription service has launched on the Xbox One

EA Access is now available to all. Gaming company Electronic Arts announced Monday that its new subscription service is out of beta and ready for all Xbox One owners. EA, the publisher and developer behind game franchises like Madden and FIFA, announced EA Accesslast month as an exclusive service for Microsoft’s Xbox One console. The idea is that for a monthly or annual fee, Xbox One owners get unlimited access to EA’s growing library of recently released titles. The service costs $4.99 per month, or $29.99 per year in the US; £3.99 or £19.99 in the UK; and AU$6.99 or AU$39.99 in Australia. The gaming company calls its library “The Vault,” which will initially launch with four games: FIFA 14,Madden NFL 25, Battlefield 4, and Peggle 2. Down the line, EA expects to add more titles to the list. “The Vault will evolve with games joining the collection over time so you’ll always have something fun to play,” EA wrote in ablog post Monday. The subscription is an initiative aimed at bridging the gap between expensive full-price video games and services used for television and music. EA Access is not full-blown streaming — like Netflix or Spotify — since users must still download games to their Xbox One hard drive. Rather, the service is more in line with programs pushed by both Sony and Microsoft that turn monthly subscription dollars into access to titles that have started to lose their shelf life.