EA is back at Steam - also adding an EA Access subscription

The teaser from yesterday gave it away, now however it is official. EA is going to offer its games again through Steam, the EA Access subscription is also coming to the platform. The first EA game to appear on Steam as part of the renewed collaboration is Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

EA Access on Steam will give subscribers access to a slate of the publisher's titles. But there's a snag, as a game needs to be on Steam in the first place for EA Access on Steam to let subscribers play it, and EA's output for the most of the last decade is not yet on the storefront. The publisher is working to rectify that, and has confirmed The Sims 4 and Unravel 2 will arrive on Steam "in the coming months," with titles like Apex Legends, FIFA 20, and Battlefield V set to debut next year.

There is also some question around EA Access perks. When we ask if Steam subscribers will get the same early trial periods for big new releases and 10% off EA content across the platform, Blank says they likely will.

"We anticipate that the core benefits of the subscription service as it exists on Origin or Xbox or PlayStation will be the same as those which you would get on Steam," he says. "And when I say the core benefits, I'm talking about things like early access, the 10% discount, or that catalog of games that you might see on EA Access today on Xbox or on PlayStation 4."

We want to make the experience for players who want to play their games on Steam or Origin as frictionless as possible, so we're working towards connecting our accounts together as well as enabling players to play together across both Steam and Origin so they can play the games with the people they want to play with regardless of which platform they play on," Blank says.

Pricing for EA Access on Steam will be the same as on consoles or the basic tier of Origin Access: $4.99 a month or $29.99 annually.

While EA Access on Steam will give players yet another option in terms of gaming subscription services, Blank sees it as part of a bid to ultimately reduce fragmentation on that front.