Sonic the Hedgehog platformer Sonic Mania is added to EA's Origin Access subscription service. The launch was confirmed following a silly exchange on social media by the EA Origin account and the account for Sonic the Hedgehog, which is known for its hilarious memes.
On Twitter, the EA Origin account announced that Sonic Mania is now available to purchase on the Origin store or is available to Origin Access subscribers. Those who subscribe to Origin Access Basic will only get a 10-hour trial of the game, while those who subscribe to the more expensive Origin Access Premier will get full access to Sonic Mania and all of its content.
In a post on the Origin site, EA also confirmed that two more SEGA games will be hitting the service by the end of 2020. The critically-acclaimed hospital management sim Two Point Hospital will be available later in summer and hit 4X title Endless Legend will be added later this year.
While some may be surprised to see Sonic Mania released a rival publisher's storefront, this isn't the first time that EA has added third-party games to Origin or Origin Access. In January, the company added several indie titles to EA Access and Origin Access and it sells games such as Assassin's Creed Odyssey (developed and published by Ubisoft), A Plague Tale: Innocence (published by Focus Home Interactive), and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (developed and published by CD Projekt RED) on Origin. Many major gaming companies have launched their own subscription services, showing that they now see how much money these payments can make them, beyond full game sales.
Sonic Mania is out now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Origin