When it comes to EA games, Xbox owners have been getting a bit of special treatment: back in 2014, the publisher launched "EA Access," a subscription service designed to give Xbox owners a chance to play EA games before release. The games are usually limited in some capacity — Star Wars: Battlefront was only available for a total of 10 hours — but for the most part, EA is simply giving Xbox owners an early tease before a given game's official release.
As of today, Xbox owners aren't the only ones getting EA titles early: Origin Access, the PC counterpart of the publisher's console-based subscription service, has officially launched.
Anyone familiar with the Xbox version should be immediately at home with Origin Access: for $5 a month, subscribers gain access to a wealth of different features, all centered around EA's ever-growing catalog. In addition to the classic EA titles and store discounts, Origin Access subscribers will also gain the same early access privileges as Xbox owners — and the first game in the line-up is a big one.
Unravel, the platforming adventure game from Coldwood Interactive, will be hitting Origin Subscribers on Feb. 4 — a full five days before the game's official release. EA hasn't commented on whether or not there'll be a time limit, though Unravel is probably under a relatively similar set of restrictions as other EA Access trials.
It'll be interesting to see if the PC community latches on to Origin Access. With EA's PC service still lagging behind Valve's overwhelmingly-dominant Steam store, there's a chance that users won't necessarily care all that much about getting those games early — at this point, only time will tell.
EA's Origin Access launches today on PC, and you can learn more about the subscription service over at the official website.
