EA announced last week its new Origin Access Premier program, which launches today and introduces a new access tier which provides unlimited access to imminent-launch games five days before the official release. This program will cost £14.99/$14.99 a month or £89.99/$99.99 a year. Alongside this launch, EA has decided to axe the freebie On the House initiative - a strange correlation, because these programs hardly interfere with one another.

Users who have already gained access to these freebies will keep them, of course, but attempts to enter the "On the House" page are met with a redirect to the Origin Access webpage. However, users who hadn't grabbed the games will be left in the dust (even if just some metaphorical specks of it, since the games can be easily and quite cheaply had), such as Theme Hospital, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Dragon Age, Mass Effect or Battlefield series. Read on for EA's remarks on this decision.

"Origin On the House has been retired and games will no longer be offered through the program. This change won't affect any games players downloaded from the service prior to that date - those are theirs to keep forever. Even though this chapter of On the House is coming to an end, we're happy that we got to introduce so many great games to our awesome players. We're constantly looking for ways to improve our service and give our users an even better experience, and we thank everyone for being part of our community."

EA via Press Release

Origin Access Premier launches today and won't necessarily act as a replacement for On The House, but a renewed focus on its subscription services. Costing £14.99/$14.99 a month or £89.99/$99.99 a year, the purpose of the new program is to give players access to newly released games ahead of their street debut. This includes Battlefield V ahead of its October 19th launch, and next year's Anthem.