EA's Origin Service To Go Mobile

Electronic Arts recently launched their own digital distribution platform named Origin, a merging of various similar services they've operated in the past and a direct competitor to Steam. The two rivals have already butted heads over DLC distribution, with Valve's business terms forcing Crysis 2 off Steam. (And this may be just the first shot in the upcoming content distribution wars, though EA says it will continue to allow downloads through other outlets, and that Origin could support games from other publishers in the future.) Now, EA has announced that Origin will include some degree of cross-platform support, and will try to battle Apple's Game Center on iOS devices.

Comments

They didn't force

[geekoid]

Crysis 2 off. The DLC wouldn't mean their Terms of agreement. Terms that EA was well aware of.

This is EA being dicks and create a DLC they new would allow them to get out of their contract with steam regarding Crysis 2.

Re:They didn't force

[Anonymous Coward]

More like EA being the big, dumb, hungry dinosaur on the block finally realizing the inevitable: it's being out-competed by more nimble, smarter species.

It's afraid.

waiting...

[spire3661]

I have had Origin installed and setup just like Steam since it came out. IM a big fan of competition and Origin has the chance of being a serious contendor. Its just a tiny catalog of their titles right now. They need about 20 bullet points filled now. I even checked to see if they had anything to counter the Big Steam Summer Sale. Nothin, Zero, Zilch, Bubkiss


If they want to be taken seriously they need to get their ass in gear and make it badass with all the lovely niceties steam has. You can bet you ass Steam is going waist-deep in mobile soon. We are very close to a time when companies like Valve CAN ROLL THEIR OWN HARDWARE. Would you buy a $250 Valve handheld w/ HDMI out and Bluetooth controllers? I know i sure as fuck would. Im pretty confident that a Valve device or mobile partnership is the future '5 years away' super saiyan secret Gabe has mentioned.

Re:waiting...

[alostpacket]

Yeah but this is EA we're talking about here. It's like saying "if only the big-evil-money-sucking-conglomerate would get in the game, we'd see some competition!"

Origin != Origin?

[MrEricSir]

The summary confused the hell out of me. Apparently it's talking about some service called Origin, which has nothing to do with the game developer company named Origin that EA acquired.

Re:Origin != Origin?

[Hsien-Ko]

The other "Origin" going mobile was cut. Crusader for PSP was cancelled a long time ago. :(

Re:Origin != Origin?

[demonbug]

The summary confused the hell out of me. Apparently it's talking about some service called Origin, which has nothing to do with the game developer company named Origin that EA acquired.

Origin as an internal development team was disbanded years ago, early 2000's I think.

Re:Origin != Origin?

[gl4ss]

the origin that created worlds was effectively disbanded mid '90s. big money(ea) somehow made them do closets, not worlds.

Valve has a foothold

[trunicated]

and it's going to take some killer features for EA to be able to get people to not only use their service, but to pick it over Steam. The problem is, I can't think of anything that EA can offer me outside of "Only on Origin" games that would lead me to actually use it over Steam. I don't have any real gripes over Steam, and I don't know anyone that really does.

EA is just trying to get a piece of the digital distribution pie, but they haven't brought anything new or better to the table. It feels like this whole Crysis 2 thing is them causing Valve to have to remove the game from Steam so that they can use it to buff up Origin. Steam is their only real contender, and this is probably the first in a long line of stunts to give them excuses to not list games on Steam.

Re:Valve has a foothold

[perlchild]

I feel I just HAVE to correct you.
Apple's app store and steam ARE competing. EA isn't competing, EA is asking you to load some bloat onto your pc to send you to a web site on their server so you can load third parties of various dubious quality to buy DLC and downloadable game, and has seperate, incomptatible lobbies for each game, on top of that.

Steam and Apple understand the new reality of downloading content and online multiplayer. EA would have trouble finding it if it bit them in the ass.

To ea I suggest: make a partnership with gamespy or openid or facebook, allow people to use some NON-EA login to a single integrated lobby, purchasing portal and dlc area. Your job, as the store/portal is to make sure that once the publisher has marked it gold, you get the right version onto my pc, after making sure I properly paid for it. Then you let me interact with my friends in all the currently approved(and I don't suggest you stop there) online methods.

Only, the problem is, EA wants the control of the new platform, but none of the costs. Apple's 50% of the profits works, as long as they take up all the publisher's worries(which is why, whenever they censor an app, it raises a hue and cry, they're refusing business that's not strictly just theirs),

EA's involvement with distribution and publishing has never been akin to steam's "you make a good game, we'll take care of the rest".

So saying EA's a contender to steam is like saying that because ea takes credit cards, it's competing with amazon.

Re:Valve has a foothold

[Krazy Kanuck]

If it gets to the point of EA exclusives being only through their services, or not on steam, or not all features/DLC on steam, then EA can keep their games. I may be a bit of a Steam/Valve fanboi, but in the 3+ years I've been a customer they've never made me feel like some peasant serf that EA has proven to do so many times in the past. In my book EA is right up there with Sony.

EA is a joke, I hope they go bankrupt

[Anonymous Coward]

EA annoys me to no end with their schemes.

They try and buy out every development house... Not to develop better games, but to simply get rid of competition.

They had success with their sports games by selling every year, so they try and put all their games on development schedules, which make their games lackluster.

etc etc etc. EA is a corporation that should be avoided if possible. Buy games elsewhere because EA pushes ideas that are bad for the gaming community in general.

Shame on you, EA

[Anonymous Coward]

First you murdered a great software house, now you use its name like you skinned it afterwards and put it on some crappy Steam clone.

EA will fail

[rahvin112]

EA will as always fail. They will put this quarters revenue above the customer. They will likely engage is borderline illegal behavior (probably electronic surveillance of their customers, including maybe even keyloggers). They will terminate any service that isn't making money, even after promising at sale that it will remain as long as customers want. They will deliberately shut down games when new versions come out to force purchases. And if successful they will probably charge a monthly fee after promising the service will remain free. They will charge for reinstall. They will limit the service in every way possible to increase revenue. They will soak the customer at every opportunity, including I can see them charging extra for things like steam community.

EA is run by MBA's who are only in the game for this quarters profit and bonus. Valve is a company run by game players and developers for the same.

Personally I will no longer buy EA or UbiSoft titles. The BS (Safedisc5 with limited reinstalls) they have been pulling lately along with all their anti-consumer policies has completely evaporated any desire I have to play a single one of their games, regardless or title or quality. I've been burned one too many times by these terrible companies and I will not EVER give them another dollar again. I'd prefer if they abandon the PC entirely instead of fostering half ass console ports on the PC world. Let them leave the PC space to Valve and other companies that can competently produce PC games. I have several hundred games on Steam, I'm in their ideal target age range and have a disposable income that allows me to buy games that hit my fancy and they will never ever see another dime from me.

Re:EA will fail

[twocows]

Mod parent up. EA's customer service is horrible. I decided to give Origin a preliminary try because I wanted to get Battlefield 2142 (one of the few BF games I haven't played the full version of; I loved the demo). I tried to register BF2, which the support documents led me to believe could be registered with the service if I had a physical copy.

I talked to a customer service rep for about two hours after about three searching for how I could possibly do this with their broken links and various other problems on their "service" with no real guidance. I told the rep that I was trying to register Battlefield 2 with the service and that it wasn't accepting the keys. He told me that my key was invalid when he looked at it. I said no, it wasn't invalid, I had the box right in front of me. He asked me to take a picture, so I did (I signed my name and timestamped it so he'd know it was me).

He told me that he had seen this picture online before and would no longer help me

WHAT?!

I told him that the picture was signed with my name and timestamped (with a current date and time!) and that I could take another one. After giving me the run-around for another half-hour or so, he realized that he had misunderstood what I had said (despite repeating it about 5 times throughout the conversation) and that he thought I was trying to register Bad Company 2 and not Battlefield 2 and that Battlefield 2 couldn't be registered on the service. Thanks for wasting two hours of my life, EA. I uninstalled after that. Valve may be slow to release first party games, but at least they treat their customers well (even the whiny ones on the forums). I was genuinely insulted by the whole ordeal.

Waiting for the Origin Summer Sale!

[TheRedDuke]

Then I'll be able to buy some extra activations for my copy of Spore cheap!

redundant comment to undo moderation slip

[MrHanky]

yarr, EA sucks.

Not even for BF3

[fevi]

As much as I want Battlefield 3... EA's going to lose at least a few sales if they abandon Steam like they are. Between myself and my seven housemates, none of us have bought a PC game disc in years... All we need, we get digitally (console games being another story, of course). Hell, my gaming rig doesn't even have a CD/DVD drive at all.

I sure don't trust EA's digital distribution platform, so unless the game comes to Steam, EA's losing up to 8 sales from myself and my housemates, per game! None of us bought Crysis 2. Likely, none will by BF3. Which is a shame, because I really, really want to play Battlefield 3.

I don't think the main issue EA faces is getting publishers to support their platform... The real challenge they'll face is trying to get Steam fans to make the switch. Which will be difficult, considering how much more mature Steam is as a platform.

Re:Not even for BF3

[Anonymous Coward]

The guys at DICE have said BF3 will be available on "all of your favorite platforms" and specifically included Steam on that list, so you have nothing to worry about.

Re:Not even for BF3

[spire3661]

Things change. Im sure that Crytek thought they would still be on Steam.

Bobby Kotick up to his usual self-destruction

[billcopc]

Going against Steam, at this point in time when they're extremely well established, is suicide. People already hate EA for a dozen reasons, what makes them think we are going to gleefully hand over all our PII and credit card numbers just to play the latest DLC operating system ? Because that's what their games are rapidly becoming: a vehicles to sell add-ons. The damn DLC is planned before the first line of code is ever written, before the first storyboard is sketched, before half the damn staff is even hired to build the thing. Now they want access to my smartphone too ?

The only thing EA has accomplished over the past couple of years, is to convince me never to buy their products again. They fuck everyone over: users, staff, and now distribution partners. If EA were a person you knew, you would rally the neighbourhood to go stone them to death!

Re:Bobby Kotick up to his usual self-destruction

[Dutch Gun]

Kotick is Activition/Blizzard, not EA. It takes someone pretty special to be even MORE hated than EA, but he's somehow managed it.

Origin and Steam

[MBraynard]

Steam isn't anything special and Origin is similarly nothing special. Just another way to buy games (or apps) digitally. I have both and have bought games from both. Nothing special.

It makes sense for each publisher to have their own digital storefront and cut out the middleman.

Be a fan boy about games, not about, uhm, digital commerce distribution platforms.