EA wants to refocus Origin on 'service,' not 'transactions'

EA's Andrew Wilson says that he wants to refocus its Origin platform on service for gamers, rather than transactions.

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Origin has been a success for Electronic Arts, generating $100 million in revenue with 9.3 million users after its first year. But VP Andrew Wilson says he wants to "re-establish Origin as a service to gamers, not as a means to drive transactions."

Wilson told Games Industry International that the seed of the Origin idea was "a service that made your EA games better," through connecting and enhancing the games. But he says since then, "The transaction component of that service has taken a disproportionate amount of the communication and mindshare of what we really try and provide."

Now the company is thinking about the next steps for Origin, and how it will offer better gameplay and social features. He says the goal is "really coming back to our roots as a service for gamers, versus anything else that it may have been perceived to have been over the last few years by virtue of its various permutations or changes in direction."

In the last year, EA has revamped the UI, added Twitch streaming, and released a Mac client.

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  • reply
    June 28, 2013 3:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, EA wants to refocus Origin on 'service,' not 'transactions'.

    EA's Andrew Wilson says that he wants to refocus its Origin platform on service for gamers, rather than transactions.

    • reply
      June 28, 2013 3:03 PM

      Twitch streaming is definitely a cool feature. Be great if Steam had something like that.

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        June 28, 2013 3:07 PM

        That's the main thing Origin has that I'd like on Steam

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          June 28, 2013 3:51 PM

          Isnt it the only feature that steam doesnt have?

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          June 28, 2013 6:46 PM

          I think it is one of XBone's biggest assets against PS4 too now that the playing field has been levelled a bit

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            June 28, 2013 6:58 PM

            Yes, that too. Hopefully the PS4 gets Twitch added eventually. It is better in so many ways (exclusives, hardware, price), UStream vs Twitch is my only real issue right now

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              June 28, 2013 8:56 PM

              I would almost bet Twitch is exclusive to Xbox One.

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      June 28, 2013 3:06 PM

      [deleted]

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      June 28, 2013 6:16 PM

      Eh? Not their first year...

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_(content_delivery)

      EA Downloader was launched in late 2005.[7] It was replaced by EA Link in November 2006, adding trailers, demos and special content to the content delivery service. In September 2007, it was once again replaced by the combination of EA Store and EA Download Manager.[8] Users purchase from the EA Store website and use the downloadable EADM client to download their games.[9] Games bought via EA Link were downloadable using the EA Download Manager.[10] The store and client was reopened under the Origin name on June 3, 2011.

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        June 28, 2013 8:43 PM

        [deleted]

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        June 29, 2013 9:21 AM

        A lot of EA's early attempts at digital delivery were via a third party called Digital river. Remember their 'service' that would backup your purchases so you could still re-download them for up to 2 years?

        Heh.

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      June 28, 2013 6:39 PM

      EA is 'all talk' and 'full of shit'.

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      June 28, 2013 6:41 PM

      Refocus on service... services that will drive transactions!

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        June 30, 2013 8:43 PM

        That's actually the idea. I have no problem spending my money on something that gives me something I want.

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      June 28, 2013 6:47 PM

      [deleted]

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      June 28, 2013 7:06 PM

      That's not what nordstroms does

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      June 29, 2013 9:13 AM

      [deleted]

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        June 29, 2013 9:22 AM

        With this you will surely get the Karkand

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      June 29, 2013 1:30 PM

      [deleted]

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        July 1, 2013 2:51 AM

        yeah service was probably the wrong word, i assume they meant extra features.

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      July 1, 2013 1:37 AM

      I logged in to Origin for the first time in months, the other day, and was surprised to see it actually has achievements now.

      Getting better i suppose.. still a far cry from Steam.

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      July 1, 2013 12:56 PM

      I've only used it once a couple years ago I think now, and it felt like my asshole was "serviced" by a whores egg. I went as far as a format and fresh install to make me fell less abused and dirty afterwards.

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