Today's news that Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is coming to Xbox Game Pass later this month is fantastic for anyone looking to experience an updated version of one of gaming's most iconic trilogies. Although the original games along with Mass Effect: Andromeda have been on the service for quite some time thanks to EA Play, it's always nice to play remastered versions of older titles to capitalize on enhancements to things like resolution and frame rate.
The addition of the remastered trilogy to the gaming service is absolutely a great thing, but Mass Effect: Legendary Edition's arrival on Xbox Game Pass highlights an exciting trend for fans of EA published titles. It would appear that all new EA games will eventually make their way to Game Pass several months after their releases thanks to EA Play. It's been over a year since EA Play joined Game Pass for Ultimate subscribers and fans had predicted that this would eventually be the case, but now that EA has a few releases under its belt following its partnership, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition seems to be a final piece of evidence needed to confirm the theory.
EA's Newest Games Coming to Xbox Game Pass
Since EA Play started coming bundled with Xbox Game Pass for Ultimate subscribers in November 2020, the company has published 12 different games. Excluding the VR exclusive Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, the first four titles published by EA since the deal have all come to Game Pass at one point or another. Currently, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered, It Takes Two, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, and Knockout City are all hosted on the service, which seems to indicate that fans can expect the rest of the studio's offerings at some point down the line as well.
A majority of EA's published titles since November 2020 are its annual sports franchises, and a quick look at all of Game Pass' other EA sports games would suggest that each of this year's titles will come to the service in time since Game Pass already hosts several of each franchise's prior entries. When adding everything up, it seems like the only EA published games not coming to the service are the ones that simply aren't supported on the platform, such as Medal of Honor and the DLC expansions for long-running franchises like The Sims 4: Snowy Escape.
The Exciting Future of EA Play on Xbox Game Pass
Now that the pattern has been recognized, players will be able to make smarter purchases as long as they're willing to wait several months for some titles to be published on the service. Essentially, if someone is on the fence about whether they want to pick up a new EA title right when it launches, they have the option to wait for reviews to come out. If they're still on the fence after that, they can wait to see for themselves several months down the line without having to make any additional purchases.
This seems to be a smart way to go, especially given EA's track record for launching broken games. Now, if someone is hesitant to drop $60 on the next Battlefield or the upcoming Dead Space remake, they'll be able to wait out the prices. Given the touch-and-go nature of gaming, EA games coming to Game Pass might not always be a 100% guarantee, but it's generally a safe bet when looking at the history of both EA Play and Game Pass unless something major were to change with the companies' relationship.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.