EA Access getting Need for Speed: Rivals in 'coming weeks'

Publisher Electronic Arts is planning to add a new game to its “vault” of aging Xbox One games that it gives to players who join its premium membership program.

EA confirmed today that racer Need for Speed: Rivals will join EA Access’s collection of digital offerings in the “coming weeks.” This will give EA Access subscribers the chance to enjoy developer Ghost Games’ high-octane driving title. For $5 a month or $30 per year, you can get a membership to EA Access, which gives you an instant library of games from EA’s vault. Need for Speed: Rivals will join existing vault options like Battlefield 4, FIFA 14, and more. As with Xbox Live’s Games with Gold and PlayStation Plus’s Instant Games Collection, players will lose access to their EA Access titles if their subscription lapses.

Need for Speed: Rivals debuted in November, and it was one of the better-selling launch games for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. EA Access is only on Xbox One, so Sony fans will still have to pay full price for EA’s police-chase experience.

In addition to Need for Speed, Access members will also get early trials for a pair of EA Sports releases this month. Hockey sim NHL 15 goes on sale Sept. 9, but EA Access will enable you to download the full game five days early. The only limitation is that you can only play this version for six hours, but any progress you make will carry over if you buy the title after its release. The same goes for FIFA 15, which will get a full trial five days before its Sept. 23 release.

EA Access members who go on to buy any of the publisher’s games or content digitally (which includes FIFA 15 or NHL 15) will also get a 10-percent discount.