The EA Play subscription service gives fans instant access to dozens of EA-published games, including many of the company's sports titles. In fact, sports games make up quite a bit of the EA Play library, and so one of the main reasons why one would sign up for EA Play is to play sports games. Unfortunately for sports fans, EA Play is set to remove a whopping seven titles later this month, and even more in May.
On April 16, EA Play is removing Madden NFL 15, 16, 17, 18, and 25 from the EA Play Vault, along with NHL 18 and NHL 19. And next month, even more older sports titles are being removed from EA Play as well. On May 6, FIFA 15, FIFA 16, FIFA 17, and FIFA 18 will be removed. And then on May 6, NBA Live 18 will be getting the boot as well. EA has not offered any kind of explanation as to why these games will be removed from EA Play, but it likely has to do with expiring music licenses or something along those lines.
While it's disappointing that these games are being removed from EA Play, the bright side is more recent games in each series will still be available on the service. However, this is still bad news for sports gaming fans who prefer playing these older titles over some of the newer offerings.
It's worth pointing out that this will also be a blow to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass service. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers also get access to EA Play and all of the games in the vault, so whenever games are removing from EA Play, it means games are removed from the Xbox Game Pass lineup as well. On the flip side of that, though, games being added to EA Play also give a boost to Game Pass.
There should be a number of new games added to the EA Play service later in 2021. Madden NFL 21 is already on EA Play, and the upcoming months should see FIFA 21 and NHL 21 added as well. EA hasn't made any new NBA games in the past couple of years, but NBA Live 19 is still available for EA Play and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to check out for now.
Of course, there's a lot available on EA Play besides just sports games. Virtually every EA-published game makes its way to EA Play eventually, and unlike the sports titles, they don't really run the risk of being removed.