EA Launches New Origin Service, Plunders Their Past
Why settle for Steam when you can create an entirely different digital distribution service and release your games on that? That’s exactly what Electronic Arts are doing with the release of their new Origin service.
In what is basically a re-branding of the EA online store, Origin launches with 150 games ready to purchase, and promises to host special limited editions of their games that won’t be available on any other service. Users also have the option of downloading a beta client with Steam-like community features, essentially a makeover of their previous download manager.
Now I’m all for choice, but when it makes my life more complicated it’s, well … a bit annoying. I’m not sure anyone is enough of a fan of EA as an entity to desire an entirely seperate client from Steam with which to download and play slightly enhanced versions of their releases. I think that it’s optimistic of them to expect a community to grow out of Origin but time will tell.
But that’s not really why I’m mad, oh no.
Those of us with longer memories will remember what the Origin name used to mean. Yes, that’s right, it was the EA-owned developer that created much-loved gems such as the Wing Commander and Ultima series, the original System Shock and more besides. Bringing the name back and using it for an online shop is a bit like reanimating the corpse of Abraham Lincoln and using him to market a selection of top hats. Boo.
Source: GamePolitics
News Tags: electronic arts, origin
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I’m amazed anyone thought this was a good idea. This is the Xbox coming out long after the PS2 had that generation sewn up, this is Medal Of Honour (oh yeah, an EA game) coming out after Call Of Duty already nabbed that market. Nobody is going to ditch Steam in favour of this and I struggle to believe anyone outside of EA employees are going to bother running this alongside Steam.
This is going to be awesome when EA force this down peoples throats ala Games for Windows live. I just don’t understand this reasoning. As Ace said it’s jumping into a market that’s already done. GoG works since it offers games Steam doesn’t.
Edit: Seems they’ve already started it, The Old Republic will ONLY be available through origin and they are offering special editions of games like Battlefield and Alice. Damn it EA.
Edit 2: As in only available digitally through Origin, can still buy a physical copy of the game.
I’m never supporting EA after they do something like this…except for Need for speed…and F1…and Mass Effect…and the Sims…and Crysis…and Simcity…damn you EA!
Well, it will take more than a rebrand.. I’ve read numorus horror stories about awful customer support. That’s got to change.
And they really need to commit to keeping games current and be honest about known issues. Goodness knows the research I had to do to get Dragon Age: Origins – Utimate edition working on a windows 7 machine and getting it’s accompanying DLC to authenticate, a widely known problem if the Bioware social boards and Steam boards are any indication. It was a long, manual process, that is no where warned of on the sales page.
Finally, they need to out Steam Steam in the ways that matter, like at least matching their feature set by offering offline play, a basic feature not in the old EA store, on offering aggressive deals on titles people give a crap about.
Then we can do business.
But what if they pull games off Steam? Or worse, what if their new titles have Origin-required activation and then you need to use it though their service? Damn icons in my toolbar! Already have too many!