It’s 2019, and you should have two-factor authentication enabled on every account that offers it. Sure, it’s occasionally annoying to dig out your phone for every login attempt, but the added security and peace of mind is worth it. And if me telling you to enable two-factor won’t convince you? Well, how about free games?
EA’s latest promotion offers just that. October is “National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.” As such, if you sign up for “Login Verification” a.k.a. two-factor authentication during October you’ll get a month of EA’s Origin Access Basic subscription service for free. And if you already ate your vegetables and signed up for two-factor in the past? You’ll get a month of Origin Access for free as well.
Origin Access Basic is EA’s $5-a-month subscription and isn’t quite as extensive as the $15 Origin Access Premier. Still, there’s quite a catalog for you to spend the next month exploring: Titanfall 2, Battlefield V, Burnout Paradise Remastered, and even some third-party games like Paradox’s Tyranny and Cities: Skylines, and beloved indies like Into the Breach and Snake Pass.
It’s a surprisingly solid list. Maybe not enough to compete with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass equivalent, but it’s a great collection for $5 a month. And it’s certainly enough to justify the “price” of turning on two-factor—because you should enable two-factor anyway. EA’s promotion is really like being paid to floss your teeth or something. There’s no downside.
As I said, the promotion runs through the end of October. You can find out how to enable two-factor here, and then I assume you’ll see your Origin Access Basic subscription when you open up the Origin launcher. Do it! If not to protect your library and your personal information, then at least so you can spend the next month playing Wasteland 2 or whatever for free. We have a guide to two-factor authentication apps if you don’t want to rely on text messages for 2FA.