NHL 16 will join EA Access Vault for Xbox One on 29 March

NHL 16 is making its way to the EA Access Vault of games next week, about two weeks before the puck drops at the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs. According to an announcement on Twitter, the current edition of EA Sports's ice hockey simulator will join The Vault on 29 March.

The title will join the ranks of Bioware's Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dice's Battlefield 4, Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall and EA Sports' Fifa 14, 15 and Madden NFL. It will be the second NHL game to become available through EA Access, joining its predecessor NHL 15.

In February, EA Access added Madden NFL to the vault just one week before kickoff at Super Bowl L.

Released in September 2015, NHL 16 includes several fan-requested features including an On-Ice Vistual Trainer, smarter Coach Feedback, unrivaled game day authenticity, improved gameplay balance and control as well as new levels of depth across single player and team modes.

The latest new addition to the lineup was PopCap Games's Plants vs Zombies as the first backwards-compatible Xbox 360 game.

EA Access is a premium subscription service available exclusively to Xbox One subscribers. For the price of $24.99 annually or $4.99 per month, subscribers have free access to the Vault's host of games and other perks including early access to upcoming games.

A companion service, Origin Access, was launched in January and has over a dozen titles in its library. Titanfall was added to Origin Access as the programme's 17th title on 22 March.