Millions have flocked to EA’s Origin since its launch earlier this year, largely due to the downloadable exclusivity of popular titles like Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic. But soon PC gamers may have other, non-EA reasons to install the Origin client, according to Gamasutra. “Initially, Origin is set up to deliver EA games, but very soon, we’ll be delivering third-party content to Origin,” said EA CFO Eric Brown at a UBS conference in London today.EA plans on using the more than 130 registered users it’s gathered over the years and its varied payment options as leverage to attract third-party game companies to the service.
It’s hard to imagine EA’s service surpassing Steam in terms of user numbers or game selection, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Once the company starts adding big name third-party titles to its already impressive roster, we may be in for some interesting times in the digital delivery business.
EA’s Origin Hosting Third-Party Content ‘Very Soon’; 4M Client Installs [Gamasutra]
FreakFace
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 7:04 AMIf they can provide me with awesome deals like steam does, then origin might be worth it. Otherwise, its just a requirement for me to play battlefield 3 and nothing else.
Justo11
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 8:26 AMAgreed. I picked up nfs hot pursuit for $6 last night. Prices like that are bloody marvelous and if origin follows suit their should always be something decent on discount
Gemini
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 10:38 AMAgreed. Origin is nothing more than a requirement to play content from EA for me. The prices are still garbage, and when I trialled a pre-order purchase with Alice, I couldn’t even pre-load the game!
EA has been screwing us for years. Origin is no different.
Ezkaton
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 9:38 AM“But it’s picking up steam”… ho ho ho.
brent3000
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 4:18 PMI thought the same thing lol
Otacon
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 6:41 PM+1
JAck
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 10:15 AMOrigin can go and fornicate itself! Its just another attempt from publishers to rape Australian’s with highly inflated prices for no good reason!
LyndonL
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 11:41 AMUsing its “more than 130 registered users its gathered over the years” hahahaha :D
Chazz
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 11:47 AMEA bragging about Origin install numbers is like Apple bragging about iTunes install numbers. People have it because it’s required not because they want it. On the other hand people actually enjoy having and using Steam.
LyndonL
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 12:11 PMI’m a Steam fan, but unfortuntely that’s not quite true either.
Any Valve game requires Steam – so does MW2/BLOPS.
Chazz
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 12:22 PMA poor choice of wording on my behalf. Yes people have Steam because it’s required. But unlike Origin or iTunes most people don’t view it as a burden but rather a good thing.
spizzaza
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 1:07 PM+1
i like steam, as it allows for one common and universal community amongst pc gamers – similar to xbox live or psn, but unfortunately not as big/universal
blaze0041
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 9:21 PM+2
Steam has come a long way since its humble beginnings back in 2002.
I don’t think my games library would ever be this large (or easy to organise) thanks to Steam’s awesome sales and constant improvements.
mchaza
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 2:08 PMthey have to undercut steam and be around Green man gaming pricing levels on all titles to compete with steam, because 1. Valve are far more connection and respect with the community, 2. Its EA, enough said, 3. Valve have built up a long hard road of customer respect with there service, Origin is mostly untested and time will tell if it holds up for BF3 and Star Wars.
And alot of publishers like 1C are using steamworks in there games as DRM, i doubt EA will allow that, and Steamworks is currently the best drm solution going around other than doing what CD Project does and have none at all.
Reoh
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 4:21 PM130 Registered users? Lookout Steam!
(I think they mean 130 million)
blaze0041
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 9:25 PMBy that, I’m guessing they counted how many users used their EA account to buy from their store pre-Origin (EADM/EA Link).
I haven’t used it since I bought the BF2 and BF2142 DLC, which seems to have disappeared from my account since.
Chazz
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 9:31 PMIndeed. EA would have to combine the numbers from users of all their online clients to make it sound good. It’s a shame really. It’s not like they lack the resources to produce a quality online client, it’s just they’d rather slack off and force people to use it instead of make people want it.
Zeruel
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 6:07 PMI’ve seen a few EA games still being sold on steam are listed for more on Origin to AU customers. I already disagree with some publishers on steam (2K, Activision etc) on regional pricing.
No thanks EA.
Also, big steam specials can reward patience in regards to the above.
_sly
Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 3:50 PMno thanks I’ll stick with steam
rjt197197
Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 5:21 PMGreat now EA are trying to gain a fucking monopoly
Chazz
Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 7:07 PMThey can try but if they can’t offer a better deal than Steam for their own games I highly doubt they’ll offer a better deal for third-party content.
Andy
Monday, September 12, 2011 at 9:54 AMI’m going to buy all EA games that require Origin like bf3 from retail so that EA gets as little as possible. Steam has my trust, it works most of the time, if there is a problem it can be fixed by a simple google search requiring all of about 2 minutes of my time, their sales are Awesome! (yes with a capital) and all my games and friends already use it.
boggonz
Monday, September 12, 2011 at 1:16 PMYeah, that will work. Teach them a lesson by buying their games… that’ll learn ‘em good :)
Blake
Monday, September 12, 2011 at 7:17 PMBy third party content do they mean more spyware?