At Microsoft’s press conference for E3 2015, the head of Electronic Arts announced that EA Access will be free for all Xbox Live Gold subscribers this week. What does that all mean?

EA Access is a subscription service that gives players access to play a selection of Xbox One games and the ability to play some games before they are released. The service costs $4.99 a month or $29.99 for an entire year. The benefits of the program only apply with an active subscription. For example, if you choose to download a game, you’ll only be able to play it for as long as you’ve paid the subscription fee. If you choose to end your subscription, you’ll no longer be able to play that game, unless you purchase it for the current retail cost.

EA is offering a free one-week trial to the program for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Xbox Live Gold is the service that allows you to play multiplayer games online, as well get a free game or two every month. Xbox Live Gold costs $10.99 for one month or $48.99 a year. If you have multiple family members using the same console, you only need to buy one gold subscription for the entire family.

The one-week trial of EA Access is a good idea if you’d like to take a look at the following games for free:


This article was written by

Nicole has been playing games her entire life. Now that she's a mom, she's passionate about promoting games as a healthy pastime to other parents around the globe. She has been an editor at IGN, where she launched and hosted the Girlfight podcast. In her spare time (which is not very much, honestly) she enjoys gaming, reading, and writing fiction. Most of the time she’s a mom to a crazy, intelligent, and exhausting little girl.