EA Play games are finally joining Xbox Game Pass for PC tomorrow, a little more than four months after Microsoft added the Xbox version of EA Play to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at no additional cost. Microsoft initially expected to add EA Play Games to Xbox Game Pass PC in December, but that was ultimately delayed as the Xbox and EA team needed more time to deliver a better Xbox app experience for EA Play.
Starting tomorrow, March 1 at 2PM PT, over 60 EA games such as Star Wars: Squadrons, FIFA 20, Titanfall 2, Battlefield 5, and more will be available for free for Xbox Game Pass for PC and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. The free EA Play for PC subscription will also include monthly in-game rewards and 10 hours trials for brand new EA games like FIFA 21.
As Microsoft previously explained, accessing EA Play Games on PC will require Xbox Game Pass for PC members to download the EA Desktop launcher, which is currently in open beta. EA games will appear in the regular Xbox app for Windows 10, but downloading EA Play games will still require Xbox Game Pass for PC subscribers to link their Xbox account to an EA account in the EA Desktop app. The EA Play games will actually be downloaded via the EA Desktop app instead of the Windows 10 Xbox app, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as Microsoft’s Xbox app, which uses the Microsoft Store for downloads, can be quite unreliable.
Anyway, the process is definitely not as simple as downloading EA Play games from the Microsoft Store on Xbox consoles, but the video below offers a detailed walkthrough:
EA Play is priced at $4.99 or $29.99 a year, but if you’re an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber you get to play EA Play games on Xbox and PC for free. This a great way to add value to Microsoft’s game subscription service, though keep in mind that new EA games usually don’t join EA Play after a couple of months. On PC, EA sells a more expensive EA Play Pro tier at $9.99/month that includes access to new EA games on day one, but Xbox Game Pass members aren’t getting that.
If you have yet to try Xbox Game Pass, we remind you that you can still get your first month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for just $1. For this very low price, you’ll get access to Xbox Game Pass for Console, Xbox Live Gold, EA Play for Console, Xbox Game Pass for PC, and EA Play for PC. That’s really an incredible deal even at the regular $14.99/month price, and Microsoft keeps adding new games to Xbox Game Pass every month.
