Titanfall PC requires Origin

While Titanfall's newly-revealed PC system requirements show the Source-based shooter will almost certainly run just on your hardware, there's one unfortunate software component that won't be quite so dandy. Respawn Entertainment co-founder Vince Zampella has confirmed that, as suspected, Titanfall will require Origin.

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While Titanfall's newly-revealed PC system requirements show the Source-based shooter will almost certainly run just on your hardware, there's one unfortunate software component that won't be quite so dandy. Respawn Entertainment co-founder Vince Zampella has confirmed that, as suspected, Titanfall will require EA's Origin client on PC.

A few hours after Zampella dropped the system requirements on Twitter, he confirmed the unfortunate news there too. "I'll also ask that you give Origin a try for the beta, costs you nothing," he added in response to the fan who'd asked, and who'd said that they wouldn't buy it on Origin.

Listings at download stores have mentioned requiring Origin for some time, but it wasn't clear whether this was an absolute for all copies or merely for where they had sourced the keys from.

Origin has improved a lot over the years, of course, but is still far more primitive and, well, frustrating than Steam. Especially given that Titanfall's audience is likely to already have Steam accounts, with all their Friends and groups and everything already set up.

From The Chatty
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    February 5, 2014 7:00 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Titanfall PC requires Origin.

    While Titanfall's newly-revealed PC system requirements show the Source-based shooter will almost certainly run just on your hardware, there's one unfortunate software component that won't be quite so dandy. Respawn Entertainment co-founder Vince Zampella has confirmed that, as suspected, Titanfall will require Origin.

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      February 5, 2014 7:04 AM

      Smart move, Origin is the Nordstrom of gaming.

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      February 5, 2014 7:04 AM

      Origin sucks, but then again I'd imagine most active online gamers people have Origin at this point anyway. If not due to BF4 or other major EA titles, then due to humble bundles and whatnot. It was clear from the start that people refusing to install anything but Steam were fighting a losing battle. While I sympathize with them, and indeed, agree that Origin is quite horrible compared to Steam, what would be even more horrible would be a lack of competition.

      The most important thing I'd want is some sort of shared friends list between different publisher platforms. Doubtful that will ever happen, but man, it'd be good for everyone with the possible exception of Steam.

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        February 5, 2014 7:43 AM

        I think that's what makes me cranky about Origin. I respect that other publishers will want to try their hand at their own online stores, cutting out the middleman and targetting their own advertising. But the shitty thing is that Origin is a shitty program that you *must* use to play some good games.

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          February 5, 2014 8:10 AM

          Well, Activision is about the only publisher left who hasn't gone this route. Even Ubisoft did Uplay, though not quite the same. Pure digital publishing is a foregone conclusion.

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          February 5, 2014 1:05 PM

          Just like Steam and Half Life 2.

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            February 5, 2014 1:21 PM

            I've got no issue with publisher store fronts on principle, it's when those storefronts are shitty programs vs a fat better alternative that I get pissy. Origin is just not a good program

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          February 5, 2014 4:59 PM

          Origin really is not that bad now. Yeah it was skanky ass when it was released, but it's a decent app at this point.

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            February 5, 2014 5:03 PM

            The separate friends list and 100 friend limit is still enough for me to continually not want it. Their in game overlay, browser, and chat system absolutely sucks as well. Unresponsive as hell. Crashes often too.

            Origin is fine when it's out of the way, but every time I join BF4 server it has to pop up and take focus even when it's already running. Why doesn't it just stay minimized to the tray like Steam? Such a tiny annoyance and there's no reason for it.

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        February 5, 2014 7:47 AM

        Honestly, I'd like to see that shared friends list across all gaming platforms. Pretty sure money is the only reason playstation owners can't play multiplatform games with xbox or pc users or whatever combo.
        Ok maybe money has nothing to do with excluding pc players but still!

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          February 5, 2014 8:37 AM

          If there was crossplatform play in an fps between PC and console the console players would get destroyed. I say this as someone who plays most fps on console.

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            February 5, 2014 9:34 AM

            That's what my last sentence was getting at; I'm aware the disparities.
            But even so why not throw a stupid mode in that lets that happen? Or hell, co-op games ought to be fine. Valve certainly thought so with Portal 2.

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              February 5, 2014 1:22 PM

              You wouldn't allow it because you don't want players to have a terrible experience

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        February 5, 2014 10:02 AM

        [deleted]

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        February 5, 2014 1:21 PM

        Origin says that it's the center of my entire gaming universe. Not Xbox. Not PlayStation. Not stream. Not my iPad. It says very clearly that origin is the center of my entire gaming universe.

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        February 5, 2014 8:05 PM

        It's lacking compared to Steam, 'horrible' seems like an exaggeration to me.

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        February 9, 2014 4:09 AM

        I have kept my hand off any newer EA games since a few years now and am happy to say that I've been able to avoid Origin and Uplay. Not being able to play the newest BF or Asscreed installment is not that much of a loss.

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      February 5, 2014 7:07 AM

      People actually expected anything else? It's published by EA, of course it will be origin only.

      Welcome to 2011
      "Especially given that BF3's audience is likely to already have Steam accounts, with all their Friends and groups and everything already set up."

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        February 5, 2014 8:02 AM

        [deleted]

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          February 5, 2014 8:11 AM

          My thought exactly. Pretty much again that EA is going to do this going forward. The real news would be if they keep the DLC restricted like they did with other games which kept them from being carried by Steam. But, I guess even that's to be assumed now. :(

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          February 5, 2014 8:21 AM

          Not only that but I thought we knew this ages and ages ago?

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          February 5, 2014 9:22 AM

          The Internet gaming news sites would explode if an EA game returned to Steam or something else. This kind of stuff would be like if they reported the next Zelda game is only coming out for Nintendo systems, Halo 5 being XB1 exclusive or Uncharted 4 will only be released on PS4.

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          February 5, 2014 6:49 PM

          Haven't bought an EA game in a while. Not because of Origin, just no games worth getting.

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            February 5, 2014 7:15 PM

            I have 18 games on Origin and I've only really played 3 of them for more than maybe an hour (ME3, BF4, SW:ToR) and one of those didn't require Origin (SW:ToR).

            I think I got all the other games from either the Humble Origin Bundle or various promotions EA has had where I ended up free or just obscenely cheap (read: less than $3) games.

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      February 5, 2014 7:54 AM

      This is an outrage!

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      February 5, 2014 8:45 AM

      Unpossible!

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      February 5, 2014 8:57 AM

      Does it use a battlelog like system?

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        February 5, 2014 9:28 AM

        That would be cool.

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          February 5, 2014 1:18 PM

          Uh...no. I actually have it preordered and something web based will make me cancel.

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            February 5, 2014 2:02 PM

            Wait, what's wrong with Battlelog? What's your beef? It's a really cool system and better than every other server browser I've used except the one built into steam.

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            February 5, 2014 5:05 PM

            That's weird. I like the battlelog interface. It seemed worse than it actually turned out to be.

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            February 5, 2014 6:06 PM

            says someone thats never used battle log.

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          February 5, 2014 1:55 PM

          No, it wouldn't. But since it's already using Shittygin, it's all the same to me. Fuck them.

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            February 5, 2014 2:17 PM

            What are your issues with Origin specifcally?

            It's pretty damn solid at this point. In some ways I prefer it to steam.

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            February 5, 2014 4:29 PM

            SHITTYGIN

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            February 5, 2014 7:14 PM

            Oh wow. "Shittygin"? Get over yourself.

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        February 5, 2014 4:51 PM

        I would guess no because it's 6v6 so it will likely be all in game matchmaking and lobbies. That said they could still use battlelog or something like that site for stat tracking and such.

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      February 5, 2014 9:44 AM

      Woot! I love running Origin and looking at the sniffer traces. Why oh why is my list of installed software being sent to EA? Thanks EA for watching my every move on my PC--don't know how I would manage without your watchful eye.

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        February 5, 2014 10:07 AM

        I hope they love watching freaky porn too!

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        February 5, 2014 1:11 PM

        Potentially playing devils advocate here, but is there any evidence to corroborate what you're saying? I keep hearing this about Origin and I'm curious to know what specifically EA do that isn't done by Steam, or even Windows Smartscreen.

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          February 5, 2014 2:15 PM

          Blizzard has been doing that for years with their Warden anti-cheat monitoring for WoW.

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          February 5, 2014 5:07 PM

          The evidence about Origin? A few places--#1 the Origin EULA that you agree to tells you specifically that they are gathering you usage and play habits--for everything--not just Origin titles. #2 Grab WireShark and see for yourself.

          Steam/Valve only gathers data relating to their games, they do not collect browsing habits or other programs being run or located on your hard drive.

          Windows Smartscreen--isn't that only in Windows 8 and applies to IE? I'd have no clue because I despise Win 8.1--sticking with Win 7.

          Blizzard is the only other one that comes close to Origin. Blizzard Battle.net app collects and sends the same type of information Origin does.

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      February 5, 2014 9:58 AM

      i'm shocked

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      February 5, 2014 10:13 AM

      Wasn't too interested in the first place, but this pretty much nailed the coffin and buried any interest.

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        February 5, 2014 11:26 AM

        Origin only runs when you're playing an Origin game. The only inconvenience is to your OCD that makes you want to have all your games accessible from one program.

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          February 5, 2014 11:41 AM

          I disagree. Origin regularly runs alright except when there is a new release anticipated. Then all multiplayer servers across just about all games go nuts. This has been reported dozens of times. Mass Effect 3 went to a crawl during Sim City. DeadSpace 3 co-op was unusable during BF4's release.

          Origin is not bad in on itself but it's being backed up by EA's crappy infrastructure. I already knew of this being an issue before this post and have long anticipated this. It won't stop me from getting the game but I will definitely not plan on playing it on day one.

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            February 5, 2014 12:37 PM

            That seems surprising. I couldn't find any discussions about that, care to link me?

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          February 5, 2014 6:46 PM

          Try reinstalling your OS and just running Origin again... then look forward to reinstalling all your Origin games. This is my number one gripe about it.

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            February 5, 2014 7:09 PM

            ouch... haven't heard about this. I do have to say that it was very convenient just copying my SteamApps folder from Windows XP 32-bit to Windows 8 64-bit and letting the Steam client take care of the rest.

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            February 5, 2014 7:16 PM

            You can avoid this by backing up game data and tricking the fresh origin install but yah it's far less convenient than Steam.

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        February 5, 2014 1:01 PM

        post+username

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      February 5, 2014 11:37 AM

      So that's why they are rioting in Ukraine and Egypt

      Syria is fucked up too because of this

      Thanks EA

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      February 5, 2014 12:30 PM

      This just in, the sun will rise in the morning. Back to you, Alice.

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      February 5, 2014 12:35 PM

      [deleted]

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      February 5, 2014 12:56 PM

      I only ever launch it when playing Battlefield, and I close it when I've finished. Its a slight inconvenience and I'll never buy games from it due to the 40% price hike every game has.

      EA's strategy of just making it mandatory won't work, they need to make it attractive.

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        February 5, 2014 1:25 PM

        What price hike?

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          February 5, 2014 3:29 PM

          PC Games are £45 on Origin, £25-29 on Amazon/Retail.

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            February 5, 2014 4:27 PM

            Digital games are more expensive in UK because brick stores are strong arming the publishers. They threaten the publishers if they allow games to be sold cheaper digitally.

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              February 5, 2014 4:34 PM

              Steam still has sales here. GMG also tends to undercut when they can get a supply of keys, and keys only come from publishers.

              Plus the game retailers that could strongarm publishers tend to not stock PC games anymore, its usually just supermarkets and websites now.

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      February 5, 2014 1:15 PM

      Next thing ya know YouTube is going to require a G+ account!

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      February 5, 2014 1:26 PM

      Settings like origin doesn't auto update stuff for me. You too?

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      February 5, 2014 2:18 PM

      Welp, so much for this game for me. Have fun you guys.

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      February 5, 2014 3:35 PM

      Titanfall is the video-game equivalent of the new 'Man of Steel' movie. Over all premise is amazing. But they keep doing things that make it less and less appealing.

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      February 5, 2014 4:37 PM

      $43 Pre-order still active @ http://www.direct2play.com/origin-drm/543-titanfall-pc-game-origin-digital-download-region-free.html#.UvLXufldUg8 with code: PRO3L0B0

      I didn't pick it up the other day but have since rethought and I'd rather just save the money now than pay full price later.

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        February 5, 2014 4:48 PM

        Thanks for the reminder. I picked it up.

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      February 5, 2014 5:34 PM

      Origin doesnt bother me anymore, other than the fact that it exists at all. Its completely worthless and pointless as a program but I only play BF4 (and bf3 before it) that makes use of it. Its recently taken to the orange "active window" flash thing that programs do when they do something important, just to show me adds which is annoying.

      My problem is that I hate EA and basically everything they stand for, and loathe supporting them. I would never buy anything through origin, and I think there are alot of people with this attitude. So my question is, what good is it doing them? Are they making sales through it? I would almost bet money they would be making vastly more money just using steam for their games. It cant be cheap to maintain origin, and i cant see how its paying off for them. I guess its better than UPLAY, but to me its nothing but glorified and utterly pointless DRM. Steam does it way better and offers useful features and as a company they are less likely to do awful things, and have actually been a positive influence in the industry whereas EA has been at best, a bloated beast and at worst a scourge.

      Im not going to be one of those people who makes a proclamation that they wont buy EA products and blah blah, because I do like the BF games, and Dead Space right up until Dead Space 3 got... well EA'd. But I just wish origin would go away. I think that with digital distribution the normal rule of "competition is always good" is actually not at all true, and I really hate the idea that every major publisher has to throw some bloatware onto your machine just so they can have whatever modicum of control they think it gives them, when there is steam and it works so perfectly and is very much pro-consumer. Note I mean actual software programs, not digital distribution outlets. That is a good thing, places like GMG and GOG, those are good and competition obeys the normal business rules with that, but i genuinely think that too many DD applications is going to eventually be a serious issue.

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      February 5, 2014 6:02 PM

      That's fine with me. Big surprise. BF4 is fine on there.

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      February 5, 2014 6:05 PM

      Yeah, that's not going to happen.

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      February 5, 2014 8:16 PM

      As long as the game launches and lets me play I will be satisfied.

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      February 6, 2014 3:18 PM

      ouch.. we'll i just got saved 60 bucks. was really looking forward to this too.

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        February 7, 2014 4:14 AM

        We'll saved 60 bucks? Were you planning to share it with your friends and split the cost? ;)

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      February 8, 2014 7:27 PM

      HEAVEN FORBID SOMEONE HAS TO CLICK ON ANOTHER ICON TO LOAD A GAME

      Who cares, it's EA anyways?

      Sheep shoveling money into the pig known as EA.

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