EA Origin Will No Longer Offer Free Games, Removes On The House Program
EA Origin is Electronic Art’s client for PC users. Akin to PlayStation and Xbox’s free offerings each month, they presented free games for members each month. Since the program’s launch in 2014, the company has decidedly done away with the “On The House,” instead allowing their new Origin Access Premier to take the spotlight.
This may come as a surprise and rightfully so. EA did not provide any statement on this front before the removal and instead, Reddit users discovered the change upon happenstance. Speaking to PC Gamer, a representative from Electronic Arts elaborated on their decision to pull the plug on free games. Fortunately, this won’t affect ones already downloaded while the On The House program was in effect, so the ones from months and years previous are yours to keep forever. Here’s what the representative had to say:
Origin On the House has been retired and games will no longer be offered through the program. This change won’t affect any games players downloaded from the service prior to that date—those are theirs to keep forever. Even though this chapter of On the House is coming to an end, we’re happy that we got to introduce so many great games to our awesome players. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve our service and give our users an even better experience, and we thank everyone for being part of our community.”
EA introduced a brand new program called Origin Access Premier during EA Play 2018, which debuted today on July 30th, 2018. The subscription service costs $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, which gives PC players a chance to try out new games 5 days before their scheduled release. Instead of waiting for popular titles to head to the client’s vault, this program allows players to get in on the action before anyone else. This will likely apply to the hotly anticipated title from BioWare, Anthem, as well. Origin Access Premier extends the “all-you-can-play” idea. As the official description reads:
Premier is a new membership tier that gives you access to the latest and greatest EA games before anyone else. You get access to the full game – yours to play whenever you want, for as long as you’re a Premier member.”
What do you think of the company’s move to retire their free game program for EA Origin users? Do you hope they’ll replace it with something else in the future? Let us know what you think in the comments section below or start a conversation on DFTG Facebook page. To stay up to date on gaming news as it happens, follow us on Twitter! Here’s some of our latest:
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Hoi is an elusive figure at DFTG, whose favorite past-times include chillin' in the Fade, reading manga, watching anime, collecting novelty items, and gaming.
