EA Origin Access Premier Launch Date Revealed

Origin Access Premier, the higher tier of Electronic Arts' subscription service for PC gamers announced at E3 2018 last month, now has a release date: July 30. EA CFO Blake Jorgensen revealed the date during the company's quarterly earning's call on Thursday.

A new help page has also gone live to tell people about the differences between Origin Access, which is set to be labelled as Origin Access Basic, and Origin Access Premier. Unlike the 10-hour limit imposed for Basic users, Origin Access Premier will give you unlimited five-day early access to EA's biggest titles, including the upcoming FIFA 19, NFL 19, Battlefield V, and Anthem, reiterating what EA said at E3 2018.

The other benefits remain the same across the two. Both tiers of Origin Access get members 10 percent discount on all Origin purchases, and access to a growing vault of older titles. Of course, the biggest difference is the pricing: Origin Access Premier costs Rs. 999 per month ($15) or Rs. 6,499 per year ($100), while Origin Access Basic costs Rs. 315 per month ($5) or Rs. 1,990 per year ($30).

That's a steep difference, but for those who wish to play two EA titles per year at launch, it should work out well. Moreover, given the unlimited access, you could sign up for one month to try out a new game – which usually cost Rs. 3,999 – and even have a look at the rest of the catalogue.

Curiously, the Origin Access Premier homepage for Indian users, which was available post announcement at E3 and stated the aforementioned pricing of the subscription service now redirects you back to Origin Access. It's unclear if this means EA is reconsidering launching Origin Access Premier in India, or it's just hiding it until a proper launch in three days' time.

Origin Access is known to Xbox users as EA Access, but the company hasn't announced a Premier-equivalent for Microsoft's console yet.