EA explains Origin exclusives

EA has a long way to go before it can convince the masses to switch to its new digital storefront, Origin. It plans on winning gamers through exclusives, like Star Wars: The Old Republic.

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While today's release of free Shift 2 DLC on Origin may have won some gamers over, EA has a long way to go before it can convince the masses to switch to its new digital storefront--especially given the lofty goals the publisher has placed on the service. EA's Frank Gibeau told GI.biz that "we're the worldwide leader in packaged goods publishing, we'd like to be the worldwide leader in digital publishing."

But how will EA manage to oust rivals in an area where Steam is such a clear leader? Through exclusives, of course. Gibeau is careful to point out that it's not EA's goal to alienate its partners. "We are going to continue to be great partners for our retail channel partners and as they evolve their business models to account for digital." However, the only way to properly expand Origin is to restrict content from other channels. "But at the same time you talk about platform exclusives like Halo or Uncharted, EA's going to have some of our own platform exclusives."

One of the big exclusives for the platform is the upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Gibeau is not shy to admit that this is a game meant to attract people to the platform, not the other way around. "In the case of Star Wars we're trying to build an audience for Origin." But why Star Wars? "For a lot of reasons it made sense for an MMO, which is a highly complex deployment... it's also an opportunity for us to better manage the downloads and how we bring people over from the beta and that sort of thing." Unfortunately, Gibeau didn't go into detail on how Origin would make this process better for users.

EA is taking a gamble by restricting the audience of The Old Republic to those that opt to participate in its platform. However, at least some can take comfort in knowing that EA may not keep the gates closed off for long. "I think long-term you'll see we believe in reach so we will have other digital retailers for out products because we want to reach as many audiences as possible."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 28, 2011 4:45 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, EA explains Origin exclusives.

    EA has a long way to go before it can convince the masses to switch to its new digital storefront, Origin. It plans on winning gamers through exclusives, like Star Wars: The Old Republic.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 4:59 PM

      Steam evil twin...

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:00 PM

      POS store, and on top of that shitting over the Origin name.

      Don't count on getting a single cent from me, EA.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:04 PM

      guess I will not be playing SW:TOR ... too bad

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:14 PM

      Yes. When I HAVE to buy something from a store I don't like, I am sure to love that store for it.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:15 PM

      I'll tell ya what EA, I'll buy stuff from your store if you make these titles redeemable on Steam and have occasional sales

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:15 PM

      Does Origin install the game files and update/auto patch like Steam or does Origin just send you an installer executable that you then have to run?

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:16 PM

      THEY JUST DONT GET IT.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:24 PM

        ok, so explain it, then.

        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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          June 28, 2011 5:34 PM

          Steam.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 9:38 PM

          EA = 1 Publisher
          STEAM = 45+ Publishers plus dozens and dozens of Indies

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 10:31 AM

            This hate is borderline hilarious. EA has every moral right to create and make use of it's own digital storefront. Don't like it? Don't buy it.

            Between reading this and the crying over Resident Evil 3DS I'm puzzled as to why gamers feel they have some sort of inalienable right to play these games - and in some cases like this one - some sort of right to dictate their business models.

            • reply
              June 29, 2011 10:37 AM

              Wait, so you agree with the Capcom decision?

            • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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              June 29, 2011 10:46 AM

              "Inalienable right?"

              If nobody ever protests, nothing changes. You're ok with this crap with Capcom and with the direction that DD is going? Fine, enjoy it! I'm not telling you not to.

              But some of us are annoyed and/or upset about them, and are making our opinions known. If nobody had complained about the Sony rootkit fiasco, every DVD and Bluray would still be installing them invisibly.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:17 PM

      So, kind of like how valve does it (except all of valves games are exclusives).

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:18 PM

      I think it might be best to way until TOR goes free to play on steam.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:22 PM

      I will not buy one game on that piece of shit store, I don't care how badly I want it (BF3) :(

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:45 PM

        You'll cave.

        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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          June 28, 2011 6:05 PM

          You may, some of us actually have strength of will and have follow through.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 6:48 PM

            Not enough to matter

            • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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              June 28, 2011 6:56 PM

              That is entirely possible, even likely.

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 4:32 AM

            I doubt it.

            • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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              June 29, 2011 7:44 AM

              You are wrong, but that's ok. I'm sure you're a beautiful unique snowflake and they'll never take that from you.

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 9:21 AM

                Keep fighting the good fight!

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 6:18 PM

          You know how many games are coming out around BF3? I'll be fine but just sad :(

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 4:30 AM

            I'm just going by what happened here for Call of Duty. Everyone in here bitching until launch day when most bought it anyway. For the record, I didn't.

            BF3 is one of my favorite games with friends, if I have to support it on Origin I may. I don't have a problem with EA setting up competition for Steam, I just don't really want to be part of it. The minute they cut dedicated servers or remove their (shitty) server browser for matchmaking... i'm out.

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 4:37 AM

          There's still retail. I plan on buying stuff retail instead of buying through Origin whenever Steam is not an option.

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 4:55 AM

            I would, but i'm guessing that they'll tie it to Origin anyway. Much like steam did with HL2.

            • reply
              June 29, 2011 7:48 AM

              As I have said before, as long that revenue doesn't run through their store, they'll recognize it as a failure. If it isn't bringing in sales, they'll eventually just see it as a bandwidth hog that doesn't benefit them at all.

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 9:22 AM

                I'll cross my fingers and buy retail then.

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 7:55 AM

          [deleted]

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:28 PM

      tl;dr EA restricts games to their own platform because they know that can't win at pleasing customers.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:31 PM

      I was going to buy The Old Republic, but not if it's on Origin.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:31 PM

      sorry, i'm still waiting for one of you intelligent young lads to explain to me why Origin is so bad.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:32 PM

        It's not steam. Who cares that they're doing that Valve did it years ago. That was, uh, different... Yeah.....

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:33 PM

        Because they only like exclusives when Valve does it.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 5:36 PM

          yeah, i didn't think anyone actually knew what they were talking about.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:35 PM

        Cause EA fucks up everything Korban, haven't you been paying attention since the 1980s? Naming it after a company they bought and gutted is just icing on the cake.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 5:42 PM

          fuck... and all this time i thought people actually liked Dead Space, Dragon Age, Battlefield, Crysis, Mass Effect, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Madden, FIFA, NHL, The Sims, Tiger Woods, Skate, System Shock 2, and pretty much 90% of the games listed here:
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Electronic_Arts_games

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 6:05 PM

            Haha wow I can list a bunch of games that were made by companies EA bought out and then ruined too.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:04 PM

            And how many of those games were in the works before EA bought out their company, and what effects did EA's overseers have on said companies afterwords?

            Hint: Dragon Age Origins compared to Dragon Age 2. Mass Effect compared to Mass Effect 2. Crysis, compared to Crysis 2.

            All EA does is dumb down games to try and give them a "mass" appeal that utterly ruins everything that made the games cool in the first place.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:10 PM

            [deleted]

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:37 PM

        No auto-updates, no integration into my Steam library, EA's special brand of retarded "support".

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 10:27 PM

          Auto-updates can go in both directions, though. Do you download a new SP when Microsoft releases one for windows? Cause I know a lot of people that don't because they want to see if it opens up new bugs or not. But I do understand your point about it. It'd be nice to be a toggle feature. And in the future, it could be.

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            June 29, 2011 2:57 AM

            I don't think I've ever seen steam introduce an update with a bug that broke the game.

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 2:25 PM

            If it's multiplayer you'd have to update the game anyway. Clearly autoupdating is superior.

      • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        June 28, 2011 5:40 PM

        I was reluctant to support Steam at its inception also, but it has established itself as the market, nevermind the market leader. Anything EA does now will only hurt that ecosystem. This is one more inch down the slippery slope of every publisher wanting/demanding its own tsr and always-on DRM.

        EA's actions over the past years has destroyed any scrap of respect or trust I had for them, and I will assume the worst in this service unless an avalanche of evidence says otherwise. And even should that happen, I will still be unlikely to install it for the first paragraph's reason. I do not want to have a dozen storefronts running just to play whatever game might come along that looks good. Luckily, I'm saved in this event because the new Star Wars game does not look good.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 5:42 PM

          Why should EA give a fuck about hurting Steam's ecosystem?

          • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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            June 28, 2011 6:04 PM

            I don't care if they do. But I care about them hurting the ecosystem. Because this will divide the market in the same way as certain games being exclusive to certain retail outlets. Bad juju if you happen to live apart from one.

            Or, comparatively, disagree with the ethics and practices of one of the vendors.

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 6:38 PM

              Monopolies are bad, unless it serves my purpose!

              :P

              *** FULL DISCLOSURE: I work at EA (but not on the Origin stuff, which I am ambivalent about atm). ***

              • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                June 28, 2011 7:55 PM

                Actually, yes. Monopolies are bad unless it benefits me (the consumer).

                Just like Dictatorships aren't bad by default, merely bad dictators (most of them) ruining it.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 5:43 PM

          so what you're saying is, you support monopolies.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 5:44 PM

            How is that a bad thing? That's the free market, if they can't compete and fail!

          • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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            June 28, 2011 6:05 PM

            Monopolies are great until they become corrupted. And so far, Valve has shown their ability to not become so.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 6:37 PM

          Really? Always-On? You sure about that?
          http://mygaming.co.za/news/pc/12431-You-wont-need-Origin-play-The-Old-Republic.html
          http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/star-wars-old-republic-wont-be-origin-exclusive-06-16-2011/

          If you'd like a more official source, I just asked a tech on EA's Live Assistance:
          " Ashton W.: Hi, my name is Ashton W.. How may I help you?
          Me: I just have a quick question about the Origin service
          Me: Does Origin need to be running in order to play games bought through the service?
          Ashton W.: No
          Me: Excellent. Thank you very much."
          Can't take my word for it? Fair enough, I don't feel like screencapping the conversation. http://help.origin.com/app/chat/livechat_landing so feel free to ask for yourself.

          That aside, Origin doesn't just act as a digital storefront. As those who bothered to check may have realized, it replaces the EA Store, which means they also sell boxed versions of their console and PC games.

          And on the topic of DRM, how does it make sense for everyone to hate Ubisoft's Always-On DRM, SecuROM, and all the other cloud-based and disc-based DRM schemes and then have nothing wrong with the way Steam works?

          • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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            June 28, 2011 6:56 PM

            Because at any point in time I can take Steam "Offline" and all of those issues go away.

            Did you ask ye mighty CS associate how the service handles DRM?

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 7:45 PM

              Nope, but I do know I lost internet for 26 hours and couldn't put Steam into Offline mode to play Supreme Commander 2...

              • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                June 28, 2011 7:53 PM

                Then you ran into a bug. That is unfortunate, but do you expect Origin to have any fewer?

              • reply
                June 28, 2011 11:55 PM

                Switching to offline mode pretty much only works when online, which is dumb. However, if you just don't log out of Steam after losing your connection, it continues working without issue. I was offline in "Online" mode for 3 weeks one time. Only games I had issue with were ones I hadn't yet run.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 7:51 PM

            [deleted]

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:44 PM

        Because it will more than likely not be very good, and while Steam was fucking far from perfect when it came out, it was the only one we had. So now that it's pretty much awesome with still a few problems, why would we want to around for however many years it takes them to fix Origin?

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 5:45 PM

          what's broken in Origin?

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 5:50 PM

            Its from EA and they will find a way to fuck it up and shut it down within 4 or 5 years.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 5:54 PM

            Well, i don't know. But it's on PC so something on it will inevitably be broken. It's a law of the universe. Anything released by any publisher on PC will initially have something wrong with it on release.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:45 PM

        didn't care for the previous incarnation, the EA downloader or whatever it was. the entirety of my online purchases library is available through steam, and a few things from GOG. i don't care to have a third digital download service.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:47 PM

        Valve made Steam because of piracy. Because updating games was too hard. Because the PC platform was dying if it didn't find a new way of getting products to the consumer. Because games needed to be a better service than they had been up until its inception.

        EA made Origin because they didn't like paying Valve 5 cents in the dollar for the privilege of actually selling something to PC owners again.

        You want my personal opinion on why EA can fuck themselves though? Valve made Steam so I can play games easier, and I pay them for their good work. EA just want to control things and can not be trusted by anyone who loves gaming.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 5:48 PM

          Valve made Steam to make money. don't sugar coat it.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 5:56 PM

            They fucking deserve because like he said Steam made things infinitely easier on Steam. I haven't needed to download drivers for my video card ever since they introduced a feature that does it for me.

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 5:57 PM

              lol! wait, what? what do video card drivers have to do with Steam?

              • reply
                June 28, 2011 6:03 PM

                There is a feature that was added a year ago or so that lets you download your drivers through Steam. It was just an example of how they made shit like that so much easier.

                • reply
                  June 28, 2011 8:42 PM

                  Since when has downloading and installing video drivers been hard? It's been mind numbingly easy for several years.

              • reply
                June 28, 2011 6:22 PM

                When was the last time you logged into Steam? This driver update thing has been implemented a while ago.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 6:43 PM

            Wow.. really? You mean they actually wanted to make money? I don't believe it.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:52 PM

            [deleted]

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 6:07 PM

          This time a MILLION!

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:48 PM

        Because EA has often failed with online game services and they are trying to cash in on a train that already has left the train station, they are trying to run along and jump on a wagon.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:55 PM

        Valve already beat everyone to it. No need to switch.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 5:57 PM

        I can play this internet game of not contributing anything and just demand others to supply me with information and opinions. Alright Korban, how about you prove why Origin is a good thing. Keep in mind EA Origin is not competing with Steam. To be a competitor they would also have to sell other publishers and independent non EA or EA partner games.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 5:59 PM

          i've still yet to hear a reason why it's a bad thing that isn't "CAUSE EA FUCKING SUCKS"

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 6:00 PM

            and you're logic of "instead of me telling you why it's bad, you tell me why it's good," seems flawed for some reason...

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 6:04 PM

              Yeah, I should never have responded to such an obvious troll. Keep troll'n.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 6:01 PM

            lol, way to just avoid my post. I've yet to hear your reason why it's a good thing.

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 10:22 PM

              A) how are you gonna give me shit for not answering your question when you didn't answer mine first?
              B) how am I trolling? If anything, I'm asking YOU why are YOU trolling?

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 3:01 AM

                Plenty people have answered your question. Now we want one answer to those many. It's not that difficult dude.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 10:06 PM

            I can only give my personal view. For me the Digital Download market is one that demands trust.

            When Steam came out, it was very simple... Buy the game, download it however many times you like, for as long as the service is around. They've added more features as time goes on, but it has all been to the benefit of the user.

            When EA Downloader launched, now called "Origin", they wanted an extra fee to download the game or DLC you purchased beyond the first few months... and I believe there was a limit on how many times you could download it as well. While this seems to have been removed (correct me if it's still there) the very fact of it being there in the first place is an indicator to me that they care more about milking profits rather than providing a good service.

            So in essence, my trust with EA's digital storefronts was lost and since there are better and more trustworthy competitors, I will be spending my money with them.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 6:05 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 6:10 PM

            There is no burden. I don't need to prove to anyone why Origins potential is a bad thing in the same way he apparently doesn't need to prove the opposite.

            We've had this conversation multiple times, and it's been talked about elsewhere quite a bit. His original post and his responses serves one purpose which is to troll.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 6:08 PM

          Uh, the burden is on the detractors. If Origin is worse than the holocaust, they could at least provide some evidence other than "EA sucks."

          • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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            June 28, 2011 6:11 PM

            What? Why would you believe so?

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 6:59 PM

              Believe that people who are going to shit on something shook provide evidence??? Seriously?

              • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                June 28, 2011 7:52 PM

                No, why is the entire burden of proof on the skeptics' shoulders?

                • reply
                  June 29, 2011 5:01 AM

                  I you say something sucks, you must provide evidence. Otherwise, you're trolling, period.

                  • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                    June 29, 2011 7:32 AM

                    First: that's not what trolling is
                    Second: if you say something is awesome you don't have to provide evidence? Why? What gives that assertion any more intrinsic value than the negative?

                    • reply
                      June 29, 2011 7:57 AM

                      Really? Because just the other day, we were told that posting negative comments, without explaining why we felt that way, is considered trolling, and cause for being nuked. See, DNF threads.

                      • reply
                        June 29, 2011 7:59 AM

                        Also, the original comment made was not about Origin being awesome. It was referring to all those shitting on origin because "EA sucks," and not providing an real evidence or rationale.

                      • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                        June 29, 2011 10:51 AM

                        Disliking the Origin store (and stating our dislike) is not trolling. That the Shack moderation may or may not consider it so doesn't change it.

                        For it to be trolling, the troll would have to be looking for some sort of reaction, preferably by stating a belief that they don't actually hold.

                        "I don't like liver." This is not trolling. I don't like liver. I don't have to try to explain why, I still don't like it.

                        If someone starts a thread about how awesome liver is and I come in with, "Liver sucks."
                        This is threadshitting, not trolling.

                        And as this entire thread is merely here for comments on the article, not a statement of Origin's awesomeness, disliking it is neither threadshitting nor trolling.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 6:59 PM

            *should.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 7:52 PM

            Fool me once, shame on shame on you. Fool me ...errr..You can't get fooled again!

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:03 PM

        It's kinda like when MS announced the XBOX. We already had two big consoles with exclusive titles and while sure, there were games on the XBOX that people got excited about, mostly it was a lot of "Why the fuck are they doing this, we don't need another console".

        Yeah, Steam is no different...but we already have it, and a lot of us simply do not want another gaming platform on our PCs. One is enough, and I know I'd much prefer that all games were on Steam.

        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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          June 28, 2011 6:15 PM

          But the situation is slightly different, as most companies lack the resources to create and market their own console. Nearly every publisher has the ability to force their own storefront. Fragmentation and system bloat.

          And every one of them is a hack waiting to happen.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 6:19 PM

            Agreed. I'm totally with the sentiment that this is bad, much like I wish MS had never gotten into the console business.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 7:55 PM

            Exactly the problem....EA is a *publisher*. Origin will never host games other than what EA publishes. I do not want one digital store service per publisher thank you. End of story. Steam wins.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:05 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:07 PM

        From a user's perspective, it seems rather undesirable to have to deal with a bunch of separate gateways to play your games, update your games, purchase your games, build up friends, message your friends, play with your friends...

        It's the same reason nobody wants to use Myspace, Facebook and [insert new social network here] at the same time. It sucks. A single one usually comes out on top because you want to be able to interact with all of your friends in a single place, not have them segmented and scattered between services.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 6:10 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 6:13 PM

            You want to embed that at the operating system level? WTF man.

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 6:17 PM

              [deleted]

              • reply
                June 28, 2011 6:45 PM

                That is all done, supported, made possible SERVER SIDE.

                • reply
                  June 28, 2011 6:54 PM

                  [deleted]

                  • reply
                    June 28, 2011 6:58 PM

                    And what about other platforms that are running different operating systems such as Windows Phone? You want to be able to buy stuff from the store through your phone. You still want to be able to chat with people, in or out of game, using your phone perhaps using Skype now that Microsoft owns them.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 6:22 PM

            It would be nice for these services to adopt a standardized public API for developers to develop against, which would at least allow consumers to choose which service they want to play their game on. Already have all your friends on Steam? Then play the game on Steam. All your buddies on Origin? Then play on Origin. Let the consumers decide which match making and social service is superior.

            Unfortunately, it looks like a pipe dream. The publisher's are all too willing to partition the market to try and grab their share, holding consumers back from experiencing the superior experience offered by consolidated services.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:09 PM

        Personally I'm not going to support origin because i don't want to have to buy all my games from major publishers on their own individual download stores. I don't care for the steam monopoly however and i don't understand the attitude here for it. d2d and impulse are good alternatives, well at least impulse used to be. We'll have to see how things change now that gamestop bought them.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 6:12 PM

          Also origin will be worse than it's competitors. It will need to be always on like steam but won't have the benefits that steam provides for that inconvenience (friends list/community features) while other competitors don't require that.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 7:52 PM

            No, it doesn't, and that's been confirmed. Only steam has to be always on.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:14 PM

            I wonder where all this misinformation about origin needing to be always on is coming from.

      • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        June 28, 2011 6:13 PM

        Additionally, I think the Kindle situation shows the problems that arise when a publisher has the sole and exclusive ability to set the price for its products.

        Badly scanned and horribly proofread digital books for as much as twice the price of a physical book's MSRP, possibly triple the price for which you can actually buy it.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:16 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:16 PM

        I was going to argue against Origin because of the one year download limit but it seems like Ea has gotten rid of that policy. Good for them. http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/insanejedi/give-origin-a-chance/30-83237/

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:19 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:22 PM

        It's not such a bad thing. I prefer to have all my content in one place. I don't want to go to a dozen different services to install/play my games. This talk of "exclusive" is worrisome. I'd rather pay a little premium to have my games on Steam than to have to use another client(s). It's a habit now.

        Hopefully, this doesn't start another bunch of publishers/studios to do the same thing and create their own service as well with exclusives.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:32 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 6:53 PM

          Thank you for this recap. Their track record is horrible. It blows my mind to hear people ask "Why does Valve get the golden pass while EA does not?"

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:54 PM

        I don't think it's bad in and of itself, but I'm not going to use it. Primarily because I truly believe that Steam will be here 10 years from now, and Origin won't be. That means that I believe that I'm buying into an ecosystem (Steam) with longevity as a supposed feature. I may very well be wrong, but since Origin also doesn't offer me any good reason to switch (IE, all the features of Steam I know and love), I don't know why I'd choose to use them.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 7:16 PM

        I think what really worries me is that if it's actually successful others will follow suit and that's ultimately bad for me as a consumer. I don't want 50 different digital distribution platforms. I'm not saying hey.. everyone needs to get behind Steam, I just think having exclusives from a third-party publisher (i.e., will only be from that third-party publisher) on their own platform is bad for me. Bad for them too. They're a third-party publisher attempting to create an exclusive platform. That makes zero sense.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 10:17 PM

        EA is a public traded company and investors come first and then maybe customers..

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 10:25 PM

          Also the investors want short term profits and are not worried about screwing you over for a few bucks.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 10:32 PM

            You can nuke my last post. I don't know what I am talking about. I thought it sounded good though.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 11:49 PM

        I'm not thrilled about having another digital download service and credit information sitting in another store seemingly needlessly.
        Dunno if they changed it or not but their past policies of only having one year to download your game and two years of account inactivity and your account gets closed, but if they do carry over why would I even want to use their service when Steam's around?
        I'll add a touch of the illogical for good measure. I like Steam, I'm weary of EA and their shakey track record.
        Steam could very well have similar legal loops in their ToS, but I've had minimal issues over the years with it and I don't see them closing up and running to the hills anytime soon.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 7:14 AM

        I'm not a fan simply because its another account with another service that I have to keep track of.

        Kind of like Games for Windows Live or Rockstar Social Club. Its not inherently bad.. it just annoys me.

        That said, I don't consider it a deal breaker and will likely purchase stuff from Origin at some point.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 7:33 AM

        here's my beef, from Origin's own FAQ:

        "Q: Will my game download ever expire?
        A: Digital download rights remain available for at least one year after purchase. Origin typically doesn’t retire games, and we’ve only retired around 10 of the 150 games we sell, and these have generally been because of the expiration of licensing rights."

        if they took this out and made it like every other digital distribution service, i would have no problem buying stuff from them.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 7:46 AM

        My problem with it is that it serves no purpose but for EA to make more money. It has literally no benefits over the existing digital download services available including Direct 2 Drive, Impulse, and GreenManGaming. Paying more money for worse service so that EA can get a bigger cut of the pie (i.e.: probably not even helping out the developers) is not something I agree with.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 5:52 PM

      The only concern I have with Origin is if EA decides it's not worth it in two years time and I loose access to downloading my games. It could happen with Valve too, but EA has a history of stuff like that, where Valve doesn't.

      People need to think about what they're saying with regards to anger at Origin Exclusives. I'm as pro-steam as can be, but its not much differen't. All Valve games are Steam exclusives and have to be played through Steam.

      In fact, as far as I can tell, Origin games can still be added as non-steam shortcuts in Steam, because they just install like a normal disk copy would.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 6:00 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 6:08 AM

        Would discounts on Origin really get you to buy there? Or would you just end up waiting for the next Steam sale?

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 6:05 PM

      I just think it's a dumb move on their part. WoW is such a juggernaut and many MMO's have come and gone while WoW sits cozy on its throne. You would think they would want to do everything possible to get people to play their new MMO. Star Wars license or not.. they are going to need all the marketing, reviews and luck they can get to be successful... this seems like the exact opposite type of thing they should do. Somebody like Blizzard could get away with something like this with a title like Diablo... something where the game is 100% guaranteed to to sell a shit ton. This game looks good... but that good? I don't know...

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 6:15 PM

      How are people forgetting that Valve did this same thing with HL2? They required the user to have Steam downloaded. And now look at Steam. If you are going to make EA the bad guy for doing this, don't forget to also hate on Valve.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:23 PM

        No one's forgotten that. The problem with Steam is that while many tolerate it and some actually like it, nobody wants two of it. Having a ton of my games easily available through one client is kind of cool, having a ton of my games easily available through two (and more to come) clients is not.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:27 PM

        i cant hate Valve because they provide gaming as a service. not like EA or any other developer out there with their shit DLC and online passes.

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 10:22 AM

          Exactly this. Steam provides me so much more value than a simple storefront.

          Origin has what...friends lists? Fuck that, I've already invested a lot of time adding all my Steam friends and integrating my Steam Community groups into my PC gaming ecosystem.

          Fuck having to go about re-adding all that (with far less community integration to boot) just for an exclusive storefront.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 2:49 PM

        Yes, and Steam was at the forefront of digital distribution, the situations are not the same. Valve also does not pump out dozens of titles a year like EA does.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 6:32 PM

      So if I purchase SWTOR in a B&M will I still have to install Origin to play it?

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 6:35 PM

        No. EA already confirmed that Origin isn't needed.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 7:33 PM

          Then it looks like we have our solution.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 8:37 PM

          So what kind of DRM will the retail version use? I imagine that they'd be gunning for some sort of activation DRM, and I'm surprised that they'd say "Origin isn't needed". So then are they going for SolidShield or SecuROM?

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:53 PM

            I'm assuming the part where it's an MMO will preclude it from needing DRM.

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 8:56 PM

              [deleted]

              • reply
                June 28, 2011 9:00 PM

                Well it's EA so they probably will, and also have it install a rootkit, and come to your home and rape your dog.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 6:36 PM

      My main issue is the lack of autopatching. I'd be ok launching BF3 through Steam if it was an Origin exclusive. I'd still get the Steam overlay, friend list, screenshots, etc etc. I do the same thing with my Starcraft 2, BNet handles patching and I'm good to go with all the other Steam features.

      I do not want to go back to manually patching my games, screw that. If Origin is here to stay, then hopefully that features makes its way in.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 6:44 PM

      I've already been liking TOR less and less and the months go on. This may seal the deal on me not buying it...

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 8:25 PM

        I'm still going to buy the game but the clunky combat animations have me worried.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 6:51 PM

      How long until EA realizes that it was making more money on Steam and abandons it's Origin exclusives?

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 7:44 PM

      Those of you saying Steam is a monopoly and Origin is simply competition have it backwards. First of all, steam is not a monopoly. There are plenty of other PC digital distribution services (GOG, gamersgate, direct2drive, etc). EA on the other hand seem to want to make Origin the only option for downloading EA games, making a kind of digital distribution monopoly on their own games. While they can certainly do that, it doesn't really benifit people buying their games since they now have less digital distribution options, not more. That coupled with EA's relatively poor track record with things like this make me see Origin as a money/control grab by EA and not some healthy competition for the digital distribution market.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 7:48 PM

        EA games are available on GOG, gamersgate, impulse, and direct2drive and really only Valve is acting like a bully and keeping EA games off steam.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 7:50 PM

          LIKE A BULLY

          Come on Baron, you really believe that? BIG BAD VALVE IS PICKING ON EA. lol

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:14 PM

            Valve is just flexing its dominance of the marketplace. Companies acting like companies isn't the stuff of tinfoil dreams.

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              June 28, 2011 8:19 PM

              EA knew EXACTLY what the terms of service were and intentionally broke them to get Crysis 2 removed, you think Valve would intentionally remove a game from their service that people like buying and that would make them money, just because another service is selling it as well?

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 7:53 PM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 7:59 PM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 8:02 PM

          They took Crisis 2 of steam, it seems to me their plan is to start only selling stuff on Origin.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:12 PM

            Valve took it off, with Alice and EA had to beg to get Alice back on.

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 8:17 PM

              That isn't true about Alice. Alice was not on steam and then taken off, it went up after the Crysis 2 was pulled. It didn't even have a splash page/pre-order page until 2 days after it's release. EA has done that previously with the latest NFS and Dragon Age 2.

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                June 28, 2011 8:32 PM

                Several news sites have reported Alice was on and then disappeared. So i don't. In either case, once Alice MR did show up it sounded like EA has to lick Valves ass in order for it to be available at all.

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                  June 28, 2011 8:42 PM

                  Those news sites were reporting off of rumor not fact, and most corrected themselves. Alice was not up in any form until a few days after it's release. EA didn't have to do anything like you mention because Alices contract was penned months in advance. EA controls when their title is available for pre-order and purchase.

                  It's been their practice to hold on allowing new EA titles from either being able to pre-order or purchase until the last possible minute to allow for promotions or other things they have elsewhere. They have also held titles until almost a week after it's release before even showing up on steam. They've done both those things themselves, not by Valves hand, with NFS and Dragon Age 2 and Alice.

                • reply
                  June 28, 2011 8:45 PM

                  [deleted]

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 8:04 PM

          Always weird to see a normal poster post some really tinfoil hat stuff. baron calamity, you feeling okay?

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 8:13 PM

          Except they just specifically said they want to use games like TOR as exclusives to drive people to the service. Assuming this is successful, it's pretty reasonable to assume they will continue down this path and make all of their games Origin-exclusive.

          No one but EA benefits from this.

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 7:57 PM

        So, where can I buy valve games besides steam?

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:13 PM

            would those be there if it weren't published under EA Partners?

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 8:29 PM

              That's not within the bounds of his question.

              • reply
                June 28, 2011 9:04 PM

                the question is presumably about whether Valve is limiting what services their games are allowed to be sold on. If its only being sold on EA's due to their EA Partners agreement it would seem the answer is still yes they're limiting it not unlike what EA is doing with their flagship title.

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                  June 28, 2011 9:13 PM

                  You and I both know collectively we have insufficient evidence to determine whether any contractual agreements Valve would make with other digital distribution services would even comprise a sensible business decision. They might not put their products on other digital distribution services because it would be frivolous to do so when they own the digital distribution market.

                  They are the de facto market leader in PC DD, so they don't need to branch out to other services.

                  • reply
                    June 28, 2011 9:21 PM

                    [deleted]

                  • reply
                    June 28, 2011 9:30 PM

                    Right, we don't know, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to infer that as a possibility. And I never suggested they need or should put HL2 on another service (including Origin), there's little reason to financially and keeping their games largely only on Steam accomplishes the same thing EA is hoping to do with BF3/TOR and Origin. it was merely a counterpoint to the philosophical opposition to the idea that an EA title would only be available on their own digital platform.

                    • reply
                      June 28, 2011 9:42 PM

                      Now that you mention EA Partners, I think a better analogy would be made by Valve taking their boxed retail copies off of EA Partners and setting up an equivalent retail distribution channel from scratch (complete with all the infrastructure that it entails), and then taking everything out of those retail boxes except a piece of notebook paper with a scribbled CD key on it. If you want to buy a Valve game retail, well they aren't with the perfectly competent EA Partners program anymore so you're kind of out of luck.

                      EA already has a really good distribution system when partnered with Steam, but they're trying to set up some kind of underdog competitor in Origin which, ultimately, will have fewer features and be behind the innovative capability of Steam and Valve.

                      I gotta go to bed since I'm working a 10-hour day tomorrow and I need sleep, but the TL;DR of my whole argument is that, as a consumer with a pretty heavy investment in PC gaming, I want to see lots of money being made and lots of PC-consumer-friendly developments. If EA thinks it can make more money by moving away from Steam and starting their own service, well that's their decision, but I can't see how this development is ultimately good for the PC consumer.

                      • reply
                        June 28, 2011 9:56 PM

                        Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing this is good for us (assuming of course a Steam monopoly doesn't end up biting us somehow), merely that it makes perfect sense for EA and that it really isn't much different from what Valve did with their own content and services. Is it a perfectly analogous one? No, but it really doesn't seem that much different to me and it seems like a smart move for EA. If it fails then they go back to Steam, if it succeeds they'll have realized a lot of extra profit.

                      • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                        reply
                        June 29, 2011 12:33 PM

                        I agree with your TLDR

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:15 PM

            delivery method: physical. They are just selling boxes.

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 5:09 AM

            That still installs steam because they're retail disks. At least you can buy EA retail without installing origin.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 7:59 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:11 PM

            That isn't true. Direct 2 drive doesn't, impulse doesn't. I don't know of the digital delivery store that sells valve games unless they send you a box. In fact, if you want to buy Portal 2 for the pc other than through steam, you have to buy the retail version either from a store or have it mailed to you.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:16 PM

            afaik there is no DD service that offers Valve games other than Steam.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 7:48 PM

      Welcome to 7 years ago EA.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 8:00 PM

      The very fact EA is making games exclusive screams "our service is not good enough for you to willingly choose it, so we're going to force you to use it".

      • reply
        June 28, 2011 8:12 PM

        where can I digitally download Half Life 2? I don't see it on Direct2Drive or Impulse.

        • reply
          June 28, 2011 8:19 PM

          That's because D2D and Impulse are both crap and are probably not financially worth putting HL2 on.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:26 PM

            How about Portal 2 or Left 4 Dead 2?

            • reply
              June 28, 2011 8:30 PM

              A lot of people forget because D2D and others eventually changed their policy, but originally they refused to sell steam integrated products. By the time they did start allowing that Steam had grown so large Valve just didn't care anymore when it came to their own titles. Although, I do wish they were available elsewhere as well.

            • reply
              June 29, 2011 12:11 AM

              Same reason, there's no point in selling those games anywhere but Steam. Why would Valve want to pay fees to other publishers when their own distribution beats the hell out of their competitors in every single way including the number of customers using it?

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 12:17 AM

                PS: If there was a significant advantage to selling games on other distribution platforms I'm sure Valve would do it.

                EA on the other hand are just being the usual retards they've always been, instead of selling their games on Steam, which currently holds a HUUUUUGE advantage, while building their own system and slowly gaining customers, they've thrown themselves over a cliff hoping to find a parachute on the way down.

                Basically they're going to lose a whole lot of money while waiting for customers to pile up, even if they eventually offset their losses, which would be a miracle in itself, they'll still never catch up to Steam which has several years of an advantage on them.

                Unless Origin is better than Steam in every single way, no amount of exclusives is going to save it.

          • reply
            June 28, 2011 8:53 PM

            That's not the real reason and you know it.

            • reply
              June 29, 2011 12:09 AM

              They're likely to lose money if they put their games onto those services, they'd have to pay fees but the sales would be crap since anybody who's anybody is already using Steam.

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 5:29 AM

                And there you go. That is the exact reason EA is pushing Origin because why give someone else your money. Steam supposedly can take up to 20-30% of a game sale so that is ~$20 lost for every $60 game.

                • reply
                  June 29, 2011 5:52 AM

                  Except Origin is a laughable, puny, pathetic little store that will never get off the ground.

                  While Steam is a giant platform people actually use......

                  Where would you sell your game?

                  • reply
                    June 29, 2011 5:57 AM

                    If you are EA on whichever one makes you the most money. I am betting the model will be AAA titles Like Battlefield or Star Wars will be Origin only since it not being on Steam won't matter because people will buy it regardless. Then other games will be on Steam and other services a few days or a week after they debut on Origin.

                    • reply
                      June 29, 2011 5:59 AM

                      I'm curious if this release scheduling has caused issues with the previous titles EA tried, like NFS and Alice (both of which were delayed on Steam).

                      I wonder if EA lost sales because of that on the PC side. I -know- that NFS did not sell well since it had so few people playing it and their staggered patches allowed people to see the difference between the steam users and regular users.

                    • reply
                      June 29, 2011 8:25 PM

                      They'd make more money on Steam, obviously.

                • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                  June 29, 2011 7:34 AM

                  Except that a $60 game at retail doesn't net $60 to the publisher, so that's a broken comparison.

                  • reply
                    June 29, 2011 7:44 AM

                    You're a broken comparison. Nobody is comparing this to retail, this is about DD specifically. If EA thinks there's a way to recoup that 20-30% they're giving to another game company you don't think they're going to try?

                    • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                      reply
                      June 29, 2011 10:54 AM

                      I never said they wouldn't try (that would be pretty stupid since they're doing it right now...this entire thread is about that if you hadn't noticed), and as a corporation goaded by shareholders, I think they should.

                      But I don't like it, I don't like what it foretells for DD fracturing, I don't trust them as a company to even try to have the customer's interests in mind, and I own't be supporting it.

                      • reply
                        June 29, 2011 11:19 AM

                        That doesn't invalidate Crimsonbeak's statement though, which was all I was pointing out.

                        Also, sorry about your dog :(

                        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                          reply
                          June 29, 2011 12:32 PM

                          I NEVER OWNED A DOG

                          • reply
                            June 29, 2011 2:33 PM

                            I understand. It's easier to block out the memories of him ever existing than be forced to remember the horrors to which your dog was subjected. I hope some day you can make peace with it.

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 5:42 AM

          You can order it off Origin if you want: http://store.origin.com/store/ea/en_US/pd/productID.81565900/sac.true

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 6:39 AM

            That's a disk copy that still requires steam...

            • reply
              June 29, 2011 6:42 AM

              But, you can buy it off their digital store. It's pretty neat.

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 7:06 AM

                It's not DD, it's a box copy that has to be hopped to you.

                • reply
                  June 29, 2011 7:07 AM

                  *shipped.... Stupid iPhone. Besides, they were doing that from the old EA store. It's no different than buying it from Amazon. It's still not DD though, which is the point.

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 7:56 AM

          Valve games aren't available elsewhere because it doesn't need to be. They have the best digital download platform around. They would not gain anything at all by offering their games elsewhere. Unless they moved away from the Steam required aspect (which would preclude the massive benefits they've been able to create because of the ease of pushing updates and patches out) it just would not make sense to offer their games on other services.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 1:59 AM

        [deleted]

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 8:04 PM

      that is not how you launch an MMO you put a boatload of money into

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 9:36 PM

      What the fuck, seriously? I'll have to use Origin to fucking buy/play SWTOR? I'd rather they just stabbed me in the fucking dick and let me still buy it on Steam. Goddammit.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 5:20 AM

        No. If you want it DD you have to use Origin. Just like buying a valve game. Except, if you but retail, you don't have to install Origin.

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 5:28 AM

          Actually, it's rumored that they will use Origin for SW:TOR patching. So, you may have to use Origin.

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 5:30 AM

          There is no way Battlefield or Star Wars won't force Origin on you. Just like Half-Life 2 or any Valve title does. Buy it from a retailer and great you have the CD but you still need to download and install Origin to activate and play the game.

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 6:43 AM

            Maybe, for BF, but Bioware has already said that's not the case for SWTOR. Also, BF has been on other DD services for months. So either they're giving you a key, or the speculation is just that.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 5:27 AM

        Either Retail, or DD from Origin only.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 9:39 PM

      SO which EA CEO has shorted EA? They seriously hate money.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 9:50 PM

      If it has the games I want to play, I don't give a shit. Just another background program that'll be shut off when I'm not playing it. Not like I keep Steam open when I'm not playing a Steam game.

    • reply
      June 28, 2011 11:59 PM

      LOL, we have a long way to go but we plan on winning gamers through coercion!

    • reply
      June 29, 2011 1:00 AM

      Ugh. I really hope that this doesnt mean I will need a different login for each fucking publisher.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 1:55 AM

        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 3:01 AM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 5:44 AM

          and if one is down its all over :(

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 7:36 AM

            How many years until we just stick a giant dildo shaped ethernet cable in our assholes? So they can fuck us directly.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 6:16 AM

        Those splash screens will now all be logins, EULAs and age gates

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 7:31 AM

        It started with Steam. The writing has been on the wall for years now.

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 8:04 AM

          oh stop that. Seriously.

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 9:15 AM

            All i'm saying is that we voted with our dollars when HL2 came out. We said it was ok to tie a game to a service like Steam. Why wouldn't EA get involved?

            BF3 is going to be big enough to get people to bite, like HL2. Once the ball gets rolling, who knows.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 8:55 AM

        Aren't we pretty much already there with EA Accounts, Rockstar Social Club, whatever it is Ubisoft does, (does MGS require GFWL for 1st party titles?), etc?

    • reply
      June 29, 2011 3:48 AM

      Not going near Origin and therefore Star Wars so let me know how that works put for you EA....

    • reply
      June 29, 2011 5:25 AM

      It's not that bad. I won a copy of Crysis 2 from the Tech Report, and had to install Origin to download it and install. It works fine, is actually not bad looking. Had to register Alice: Madness Returns through it as well after buying it on Steam.

      Neat thing is it saw all my Steam games, and any of them that were EA, were automatically added to my "Owned Games" list in Origin, so I can now download them from there if I wanted to as well.

    • reply
      June 29, 2011 5:41 AM

      I am concerned about EA's track record when it comes to PC download services.

      But if it works out in the long term anything that puts a big publisher behind PC gaming is a good thing.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 6:44 AM

        You mean it's not a baby killing dog raper???? I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked!!!

    • reply
      June 29, 2011 5:42 AM

      Steam was forced on gamers with Half-Life 2, now EA are doing the same thing with Origin and SW: TOR. Except Origin won't be half the mess that Steam was when it launched.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 7:04 AM

        What are you talking about? I own HL2 box and I pre-ordered it none the less. Your blowing smoke now so get that oil changed.

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 7:16 AM

          And you had to install steam off of the disk to play it.

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 7:53 AM

            So what? That was acceptable back in 2004. Now, not anymore, except for Valve's games - because they set the bar for their games.

            • reply
              June 29, 2011 8:02 AM

              So it's a double standard then? I see. Personally, I hope origin is a massive success, as they add other publishers to their catalog to give steam competition. It's the best thing for us as consumers.

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 8:03 AM

                It's a different standard because Valve and EA are two wildly different companies. What we need to give Steam competition is GoG and Impulse, not whatever EA does.

                • reply
                  June 29, 2011 9:26 AM

                  Valve launched steam as he only way to get their games DD. They also forced you to install steam to play their games, even if you bought retail. EA is launching their store with only their games, but not requiring Origin if you buy retail. If origin adds other publishers, it would be fantastic for us because it would create more competition.

                  • reply
                    June 29, 2011 9:29 AM

                    I don't usually think of things that EA does in the PC marketplace as "good" for PC gamers.

                    • reply
                      June 29, 2011 9:40 AM

                      That's your prerogative. I am fan of many EA games, and like to see competition. If EA can do better than steam, go for it. Monopolies are never good.

                      • reply
                        June 29, 2011 10:10 AM

                        Being a fan of EA games doesn't preclude me of criticizing their service and their move to digital distribution. They're two different things.

            • reply
              June 29, 2011 8:51 AM

              Take the time machine back to 2004 and see just how acceptable it was. Almost everyone complained, easily the same percentage that's complaining about this Origin thing.

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 9:01 AM

                It's the same thing. Valve did it back in 04 and people bitched because before Steam all online distribution systems were garbage. Same thing EA is coming out with one and historically EA's online offerings have been garbage.

                The only one I can think of that didn't really create this big drama was Blizzard and battle.net which essentially does the same thing as Origin but is only for a single developers games. But because Blizzard had a history of being good in the online space and supporting it well people were just like oh ok.

                Maybe Impulse as well but no one used that.

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 9:06 AM

                Not the same thing. The PC distribution market has changed markedly since then, as well as the companies involved have much different resumes and histories.

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 9:25 AM

                It's amazing how people have forgotten what a huge controversy Steam was back then. It was massively unpopular. People were sitting about for literally hours waiting to play Half-Life 2, while it downloaded and updated on their dial-up internet. I hated Steam when it launched, but I had no choice but to use it and neither did anyone else.

                This fuss over Origin is a drop in a bucket compared to Steam and people are judging it, without ever having seen it.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 7:33 AM

        exactly my thoughts. However, it would be great if there was some sort of a portal for all these stores.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 7:51 AM

        Yeah, but Steam pioneered digital distribution in a non-stupid way back in 04, 05 and improved the system a lot. Props to them for listening to customers and adapting to the market. They deserve the market share.

        Things changed a lot in the latest years and EA didn't seem to learn from Valve's mistakes.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 7:53 AM

        And Origin will still only be 1 publisher while Steam has 46+ publishers, dozens of Indie's, and over 2,000 games.

        Origin = EA only.
        Steam = EVERYONE, a more robust, full featured service, AND a forever larger community.

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 7:58 AM

          Is EA trying to make a robust, full featured service with a large community, or are they just trying to make a publisher specific version of D2D?

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 8:01 AM

            They just want that 30% cut of the profit that Valve would take for themselves. I can pretty much guarantee you that is the main reason for Origin.

            • reply
              June 29, 2011 8:08 AM

              I understand that. I was positing that they aren't interested in duplicating Steam and it's community features and simply want to have a serviceable digital storefront along the lines of D2D.

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 8:36 AM

                I think they're at least smart enough to see that the community features are a large part of why Steam is successful, and they want to copy that but I don't think they understand it works because Steam already has a large userbase andwon't be able to make it work.

                • reply
                  June 29, 2011 8:47 AM

                  Maybe I'm giving them too much credit, but I think if they understand that the community features are a large part of what makes Steam successful, that they would know they can't compete with steam on the community front. They have some basic friends list stuff in Origin, but I think it's mainly because they see the value of it as a marketing tool ("oh, soandso is playing game X, I should buy that").

                  • reply
                    June 29, 2011 9:08 AM

                    Origin might become successful if they offer similar features and offer games from other publishers... i just don't see EA doing this.

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                      June 29, 2011 9:11 AM

                      The list of important things that Origin needs to do (in this order):
                      1) No time limits on content accessibility
                      2) Auto-patching
                      3) Removal of restrictive activation limits
                      4) Abolish developer specific DLC platforms (Looking at you Bioware) and roll all DLC management into Origin
                      5) Social tools integration into games

                      • reply
                        June 29, 2011 9:19 AM

                        Even if they did all that, what would be the motivation for a person who has a substantial library on Steam to use Origin?

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                          June 29, 2011 9:22 AM

                          Feature parity would at least make me consider moving over to Origin for some stuff. I maintain a small library in Impulse, and that client works great. I have almost 200 games on Steam, so I have a substantial Steam library, but there's room for something else if something else works well and improves my experience.

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                            June 29, 2011 9:30 AM

                            Personally I don't think feature parity is good enough to attract users. I think EA knows this too which is why they're leveraging exclusivity. They can spend a bunch of time and money trying to catch up to a service that is years ahead of them in terms of features, development, market share, userbase, etc. and even then those features will be criticized because Steam did it first/better. Or they could just not deal with any of that stuff, put up a store that works for delivering product and use exclusivity to drive digital sales through it.

                            • reply
                              June 29, 2011 9:34 AM

                              I'm thinking the same thing; I think EA knows this and can't actually get into a shooting war with Steam because they will lose eventually, it would be a war of attrition.

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                            June 29, 2011 10:24 AM

                            Your library on Origin will never be as big as it is or can be on Steam or Impulse though, unless you start exclusively buying EA games. EA is making a walled off version of Steam. EA has not been known in the past to be PC friendly, either.

                            Mass Effect 1 came out on xbox first.
                            Dead Space 2 had to get community begging to get a PC release.
                            Dead Space 2 did not get DLC for PC, even though some of it was hard coded in the game.
                            FIFA is constantly using last-gen engines on the PC version.
                            Battlefield 1943 for pc was delayed, delayed, delayed, and then cancelled.
                            How many developers has EA gobbled up and then completely ruined?
                            How many suits does it take to run a company, always cutting development staff after games come out, and still lose money quarter after quarter?

                      • reply
                        June 29, 2011 9:20 AM

                        I really hate activiation limits.

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 9:13 AM

        Steam when it came out was an awesome idea to me because it was awesome and because Valve is awesome

        • reply
          June 29, 2011 9:30 AM

          Except that is was broken when it launched.

          • reply
            June 29, 2011 9:38 AM

            If it was broken no-one would have been able to play, it was overtaxed and poorly optimized, but not broken. In essence, HL2 was it's first major test, which by most judgments was a large speedbump.

            Steam was also around long before HL2, in fact I remember distinctly when CS 1.6 moved over from WON to Steam. I don't know why you're trying to revise history here.

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              June 29, 2011 9:42 AM

              So all the people in this thread talking about how steam was marred with issues at first, and how many hated it are revising history? Hardly.

              • reply
                June 29, 2011 9:44 AM

                I think you need to go back and actually read what I wrote.

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                  June 29, 2011 9:58 AM

                  And I think you need to read what I wrote. Did people have problems playing HL2 on launch day excuse of steam? Yes. Then it was not working correctly. When something isn't owirking the way it's supposed to, it's considered broken.

                  Steam is good now, but it wasn't without problems.

                  • reply
                    June 29, 2011 10:11 AM

                    Nobody here was arguing it never had problems. And you were saying it was broken when Steam launched, which is inaccurate.

                    • reply
                      June 29, 2011 10:19 AM

                      Sorry, HL2 launch on steam. Is that better? For most people (including myself), that was when they launched steam.

                      • reply
                        June 29, 2011 10:23 AM

                        Yes, and I sympathize: Mass Effect 2's launch had some similar issues, though nowhere near as extensive, just last year.

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                          June 29, 2011 10:38 AM

                          Ok. Truce, bro. Like I said above, I just want competition, because it's rarely bad for consumers. I'm just hoping EA truly keeps that mind, which is why I'm remaining hopeful.

                          • reply
                            June 29, 2011 10:42 AM

                            I want EA to do this right if they're going to do it, I don't mind something else in the marketplace, I just want them to do it right.

                          • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                            reply
                            June 29, 2011 10:56 AM

                            It can be bad when each purchase is tied to the respective store.

                            Walmart vs Target is great, because whichever you buy your microwave from, it will work in any home.

                  • reply
                    June 29, 2011 10:15 AM

                    I think you two just need to make out.

    • reply
      June 29, 2011 9:14 AM

      origin needs to sugar coat it to make the medicine go down. release all wing commander games via origin.

      even use the goddamn real origin logo!!!! :D

    • reply
      June 29, 2011 9:30 AM

      If origin does what battle.net does, i'm all for it.
      - Can i download the .exe and then launch the game with un-obtrusive DRM?
      - Can I re-download the game AS MANY TIMES as I want?
      - Can I do it from the website, meaning there is no furhter software that needs installing? I really don't want to have 5 different online distribution channels installed on my computer

      BTW, I'm not into origin, mostly because I dont buy EA games. I just hope they don't shoot themselves in the foot by doing something stupid

    • reply
      June 29, 2011 10:23 AM

      the biggest problem i have with EA is they don't stick to anything. every couple years some new executive comes up with a new scheme. who knows if Origin will exist at all in 2 years? steam started similarly as the only place to get valve games but quickly exploded into a carrier for most every other publisher as well, and they keep games up to date with autopatching, provide community features like friends and chat and groups, and achievements and stuff for gamers who like that sort of thing.

      Meanwhile, EA is offering none of that and as a publisher it is not in their interest to offer games from other publishers. they want to reinvent the wheel to grab all of that money for themselves, keep all of the user information for themselves to they can upsell you and/or sell it to 3rd party marketers, because everything is a revenue stream for them.

      steam offers a lot of the same features that people love about XBOX Live but for PC users. why is it hard to understand why this is good? everybody sucks microsoft's dick about how great XBL is but Steam is somehow evil?

      • reply
        June 29, 2011 10:24 AM

        also its just one more place to get hacked and have your personal information stolen. so far valve has proven trustworthy, EA hasn't (yet).

    • reply
      June 29, 2011 1:17 PM

      You don't need Origin to run the game. Fact, at least as far as Bioware's community manager is concerned.

      Origin is the ONLY place you'll be able to digitally download the game, at least for the first few months after release. You can still buy it in a store and install it without even touching Origin.
      Patches, updates, etc, etc are all handled by the developer (Bioware) not the publisher.

      http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/2154/article/ea-s-origin-service-not-required-for-the-old-republic/

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