EA Quietly Shuts Down Origin "On the House" Programs

In sneaky silence, EA appears to have shut down the On the House program.

Origin On the House was originally launched in 2014 as a free games program similar to PlayStation + and Xbox Live Gold's free monthly games. As of July 25, the webpage for the program no longer exists and instead redirects viewers to the Origin Access webpage. Try for yourself.

https://www.origin.com/usa/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house

According to a Reddit user who claims to have spoken with an EA customer service representative, this is an intentional closing by the company.

Right now origin on the house services are closed by EA.

In the past, participating users were able to play games like Dead Space, Mass Effect 2, Peggle, and more for free. Since the page now directs the Origin Access, a video game subscription service similar to Xbox Game Pass, we can only assume they intend to replace On the House entirely.

It isn't surprising that EA wouldn't want to make an official statement about this decision. It's not easy to spin the "we replaced it with something that makes us more money" without sounding greedy. Last time they tried, they made the most hated comment on Reddit of all time. Maybe they just want Origin users to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for subscribing to their $5 a month service.