EA, Microsoft bring a bunch of games to Steam

For years we’ve watched the biggest publishers in games vie for our attention as they opened their own online stores and hoped that the classic “if you build it, they will come” line would come true. But lately, those same publishers are starting to see the value in getting us all together in one place. A bunch of games from Electronic Arts and a big one from Microsoft are coming to Steam this week, making them easier to get for those of us who aren’t keen to distribute our game libraries or who just want to play games with our friends.

Electronic Arts launched its first wave of games yesterday, including more than 25 titles. Games like Dragon Age: Inquisition, Need for Speed Heat, and Unraveled are on the service right now. More games are coming, and EA says that new games it develops for PC will launch on Steam alongside other platforms. This includes the just-launched Command & Conquer Remastered Collection. EA is also adding its EA Access subscription service to Steam. Similar to services like Xbox Game Pass for PC, EA Access lets you play a library of Electronic Arts games for a single monthly or yearly subscription price (the basic tier is $4.99 per month or $30 per year).

From Microsoft, it’s just the one game, but it’s a big one. This week marks the release of Sea of Thieves, Microsoft’s pirate-themed service game. The game had an anemic launch back in 2018, but developer Rare has continued to update the game and is finally bringing the game to the biggest platform in PC gaming. If you’re not playing yet, you’ll need a (free) Xbox Live account to play the game. If you’re already deep into the pirate life, you get full access to crossplay with Windows 10 and Xbox players, and all your data from those platforms carries over, and you can crew up with Xbox and Windows 10 PC players.

It’s worth noting before you buy it, though, that you can check out Sea of Thieves as part of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass for PC for just $1 for a one-month trial, too. Between that and the $5 starter price for Origin Access, that’s a lot of gaming for what amounts to pocket change.