I’m not even mad, but actually happy
Two companies with whom even the average consumer has no qualm, Electronic Arts and Comcast, have partnered on a new streaming game service, a series of connected words that will cause no one to bristle or dejectedly swipe their computer mouse to the floor.
“Xfinity Games powered by EA,” which doesn’t prompt involuntary retching, can stream games directly to Comcast’s X1 cable box. It’s aimed at, “families that want to play games on the TV and that’s casual gamers.”
It is launching today in beta with 23 games, most, but not all, from EA, including:
- Real Racing 2
- EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer 13
- MONOPOLY
- NBA Jam on Fire Edition
- EA SPORTS PGA TOUR Golf
- Plants VS. Zombies
- Peggle Nights
- Word Whomp Underground
- World of Goo
“We’re taking EA’s brands and making games and experiences specifically for this new audience that we think we can reach in partnership with Comcast on the X1,” EA VP of marketing Katrina Strafford told Polygon. So this isn’t meant to compete with the EA Access subscription that allows people to play EA’s bigger releases like Battlefield or Sports.
In fact, all the games are free for the time being. The beta will be used to decide whether games should be on-demand paid content or part of yet another subscription, which consumers everywhere wish to subscribe to, as they do with my newsletter.
I for one am very happy to see these two gentle, beloved corporate entities enter into mutually beneficial wedlock. It’s not at all draining or cosmically unjust.
Comcast and EA partner for Xfinity Games, casual gaming beta launches today [Polygon]
