EA Launches "Origin" Download Service (Updated!)
Akalaupdate: EA has posted official news of Origin:
With Origin you will get access to the best content EA has to offer, across multiple platforms, anytime you want. Origin will also help you stay connected with your friends in our growing online community. And later this year, Origin will be the destination where you can purchase and download highly-anticipated EA games, including Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12.
www.origin.com is your new destination for browsing, buying, downloading and playing your favorite games. You’ll get the best content from EA – on a PC or a mobile device – directly from Origin. At launch, you’ll be able to set up an Origin account and immediately connect with your friends.
Also launching today is the Origin beta application. Available for download at www.origin.com, the Origin beta is a desktop application that will be your direct connection to the best content from EA and offer the ability to create and manage your own personal community of gamers. Through the Origin application, users will be able to find and connect with friends, see what they are playing, and digitally download and play PC games straight from EA.
And indeed, the service has gone live! I notice that a Mass Effect 3 pre-order page is up, which is certainly tempting. I think I might hold off for a bit, though, to see if Origin or Impulse offer a pre-order of a special edition of some sort.
The Wing Commander CIC is reporting that news of EA’s new download service, “Origin”, has leaked out in the Wall Street Journal.
Electronic Arts Inc. is starting an online service to sell downloadable games directly to consumers, as one of the world’s biggest makers of videogames steps up a push to offer more of its wares over the Internet, rather than through discs at stores.
The Redwood City, Calif., software maker plans to unveil the service, called Origin, on Friday.It will include an application, akin to Apple Inc.’s iTunes, that is designed to let consumers purchase, download and keep track of games for PCs, such as the company’s “Battlefield” combat and “Need for Speed” racing games.
EA’s service, which will open with more than 150 titles for sale, will also try to attract users with a range of Facebook-like social-networking features that let gamers on a variety of devices broadcast messages to online friends when they defeat online opponents or accomplish other gaming goals.
Origin initially won’t sell games designed for consoles like Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360, which have online-game stores controlled by their respective makers.
Screenshot courtesy of WCNews
Twitter user ceearrbee sent me a link to this article at Massively, which reports that:
…the highly anticipated MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be sold as a direct download only through Electronic Arts itself. In an interview with CEO John Riccitiello, the Wall Street Journal uncovered news of EA’s new service, one it’s calling Origin. This service will provide customers with a download service for all EA games, including the Battlefield games, the Need For Speed games, and the aforementioned Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Origin is to act as a social network hub as well as a place to track all your EA game purchases, explained Riccitiello to the Wall Street Journal. This functionality will be available to all users even if they did not purchase the game directly from Origin. However, Riccitiello clarified that Star Wars: The Old Republic will still be purchasable in box form via retailers; only the digital download itself will be exclusive to Origin. Presumably, other all-digital services such as Direct2Drive and Steam will not carry the game.
Ultima fans will recognize the name, and I can only imagine that there’s going to be all sorts of debate about whether it’s appropriate or merely tasteless for Electronic Arts to have taken the name of our favourite developer for their new digital download service. For the record, I’m actually a bit at peace with the move: Origin was always moving to embrace and use the latest and greatest technology; it’s not unlikely that they would have been among the first developers to move their products into the digital download space had they been around for its advent.
And you know what? There could be something else at work here, a kind of “show of confidence” on EA’s part. Confidence in what? Well…there is a certain rumoured Ultima project that is purportedly being worked on. It wouldn’t be a bad thing at all to invoke the mantle of the originators of the Ultima series as a show of support for something like that, would it?
Just moving further away from Boxes and manuals which I happen to like. Oh well its the modern era I guess maximize profits while minimizing costs….
Skin its ass and fly it high, just don’t let the blood flecks hit thee in thine eye! Yeah, it’s a little offensive, but no one cares except nostalgic types likes us. They probably did it as some sort of tribute to us, or as a joke, hoping we’d think it was cool. It is cool, sorta, but I’m not sure how to take the new management with nothing more than sound and fury to show so far.
I also got hit with some Twitter spam including some shit from “UltimaForever”. I wonder who’s responsible for the “viral” marketing campaign at EA/whatever, trolling these forums for accounts to blast… What’s funny is that shortly afterward they began following me. I’m sure my every tweet now will be personally read by the SAC. “Oh, they’re following me! I’m important!” At least my tweets are trippy enough to be amusing.
Also I worry about you Ken, because it looks like you’ve been pegged as their official “underground” mouthpiece. Carry the torch, by all means, but don’t be a bitch. If they fuck up then impale them on an ungreased halberd and let gravity do the work.
The rapture is coming, and I wonder who will choose to be left behind and who will super-glue themselves to the brand. Really I just hope the game isn’t total shit. I’ll probably be disappointed because my bar is set circa 1980 and glowing circles around people with translucent polygonal arcs following sword strikes just pisses me off.
Hehehe
Nice move by EA and an important one.
That they are useing the Origin name… I don’t care. LB gave it to them so they can rape it any way they want. This way it’s actually being used again for something not too bad 😉
And Origin is a good name for something like that.
I guess Origin is for new games only and GOG is beingbused for the classics (or only Origin games – to avoid selling Origin games through Origin?)…
Interesting moves from EA this day. Interesting in a good way…
Funny post Dominus. I appreciate the irony. Origin is for new games, but not Origin games. 🙂 Didn’t think about that! EA either has a sense of humor or it’s funny by accident. Probably both are equally likely.
Hmm… finally a competitor for Steam perhaps… (down the road at least when EA starts picking up other companies’ games to put on there). I have no problem at all with this as long as Australians pay the same as Americans for the games. But I have a feeling we’ll get screwed again. EA is one of the worst offenders on Steam for doubling the price for Australians (it’s an extra hard slap in the face since we pay in US dollars anyway)
Steam already has competition. GoG, Impulse, and the atrocious Games for Windows Live.
Completely disagree. If this is about showing support for Ultima as a franchise then why are the old Ultima titles being farmed out to someone else’s digital store? No, this is just about a cool-sounding name they happen to own.
And if Origin is going to have a monopoly on new EA games down the road their prices will not be remotely competitive with Steam.
I think calling it Origin is a nice touch personally.
I wouldn’t really say those others are competition. GoG has old games, but it doesn’t really do much else. Steam still holds most of the market.
GOG only competes with one series: The Witcher.
I love The Witcher, though not as much as Gothic or Risen. If The Witcher had more simulation/world interaction, it would be more Ultima-esque.
I think this was the worst name ever EA could ever possibly use as an online website (“Origins”). It’s basically a slap in the face to Ultima fans. It basically says “HAHA! We own the rights to the Origin name and can use it any way we want! Suck it Ultima fans!”.
I think it’s a stretch, bordering on paranoia, to suggest that EA did this with the specific intent of attacking, calling out, or otherwise alienating Ultima fans.
Especially when they’ve been putting a lot of internal attention and firepower — up to and including at the executive level — into and behind the Ultima name of late.
At worst, they’re guilty of being shortsighted as to the PR implications of this naming choice. At best, it’s a hopeful sign for reasons that will become apparent in due time.
Well I have made a purchase and downloaded the ‘origin’ software. Basically, it appears to be pretty much the same as the old EA Download Manager just with some social features added. Because it has directly transferred my EA account to an Origin account, all my old purchases have migrated across with it. I don’t believe you have to have the client running to play your games or anything like that – looks like it’s just for downloads and the old EA thing of being able to authorise (and de-authorise) 5 machines seems to still apply.
So I guess more than anything it’s a bit of fancy re-branding of the old EA Store – little functional difference if you’re not interested in all the social features.
*sigh* Everything is still $80 for Australia. You’d think with our dollar now being worth more than the US dollar it’d make a difference.
Wow. At the bottom of the website:
“Origin International has moved to http://www.originintl.com”
I don’t want to even imagine how much they had to pay those guys to get the web address.
I don’t care much for that orange logo. I think I will purchase Mass Effect though. Been wanting to try that game, and for $19.99 it looks like a good deal.
The font and logo are disturbingly weak.
This, however, looks unbelievably amazing:
http://store.origin.com/store/ea/ContentTheme/pbPage.sims3-pets?easid=Origin-Sims3Pets_PreOrder_Web_Herobanner_PreOrder
Looks like EA is stealing my ideas about digging. 🙂 The dog and guy in the skull shirt look REALLY serious about what they’re doing, too. Even the cat has a knowing and serious look in its eye, though half engulfed by white space.
Anyway, it’s obvious that I’m really missing out and need to join up. What’s the seat limit on the licence registration thing? I have some disassembled PCs I need to get back from eBay so I can unregister the hardware keys from their servers.
If their service is anything like iTunes, you should be able to de-register PCs from within the service’s online component, without needing the original hardware.
(Yes, I realize you were probably being slightly facetious.)
Thepal, I’m kind of wondering why EA let Origin.com expire in the first place.
As far as my opinion on the whole matter, I’m willing to cut them some slack on the use of the Origin name if they make more of the Wing Commander and Ultima games available through GOG.
We know Origin wasn’t going to be brought back as a studio name, and that BioWare would be the main RPG/MMO studio from here on out.
Got a good laugh, WtF. While I was being silly, that’s great that you can deactivate PCs online only. Of course, that makes me wonder what the point is. I guess if each PC has to phone home each time with its hardware key, deactivation is a bit of a moot point… Old keys are automatically deactivated, and they probably keep track of the frequency of such deactivations for the sake of ye olde red flag.
“think I will purchase Mass Effect though. Been wanting to try that game, and for $19.99 it looks like a good deal.”
It’s worth it. Weird thing is, it costs $29.99 for Australians. That’s not the weird part, but the fact that Mass Effect 2 Digital Deluxe edition is only $19.99 is. Maybe they’ve just forgotten to update the ME1 price…
I know what you mean Thepal. Canadians often get screwed over pricing despite the North American “Free Trade” agreement. It’s especially blatant with books. Having lived in Aus for a few years, it seemed to be a national sport to gouge Australians over imports. But you had cheap milk, lamb to die for, and loved walking around in my bare feet like a real Oca (though I’m not sure I spelled that correctly). 🙂
Ram Dragon
Interestingly enough, http://www.originintl.com takes me to a site selling Checkmate CAD software. Is EA branching out with a new take on apps? Apputainment? So, to load a file you have to take your character through your filesystem dungeon to find the rune to use at the shrine to see if you’re Avatar enough to be worthy to open the file? I’ve had it. Now where did I put my WP 5.1 disks…?
Ram Dragon
I think “Oca” is spelt however the person chooses to spell it. Occas can’t spell, after all. :p
It’s all good though. I found a new site: http://www.gamecafe.com.au/ . It lists the different prices everyone is selling games for. Next time I want a game I’ll just go there and find a decent price.
Originintl isn’t an EA site. They bought the http://www.origin.com url off of another company, presumably with the understanding they’d link to the other company’s new site on their homepage.
That is true Ram Dragon, we do have really good lamb. That does offer me some consolation.
As for the spelling, I don’t think we have an agreed standard on that. It’s not a word that you often actually see written down. Perhaps “Occer” or “Okker”.. It looks bad no matter which way you spell it.
This is the fourth time I’ve tried to post here in the last day… I wonder if it will work this time…
Anyway, originintl isn’t an EA site. EA would have bought origin.com off of the company (for probably a huge amount of money) and as part of the agreement they would have to put a link to the other company’s new website on their homepage.
And I’ve just found a new site: http://www.gamecafe.com.au/ . They list all the prices Australians can get games for from various places, letting you find the best deals. I’ll be going there from now on when purchasing any games.
To show just how screwed Australians get at retailers:
Duke Nukem Forever at EB Games Australia: $98
Duke Nukem Forever at “The Hut” (UK store): $38.09 (with free shipping to Australia)
Dragon Age 2 from EB Games Australia: $88
Dragon Age 2 from Base (UK store): $29.10 (including price for shipping to Australia)
Maybe things will get better if people stop buying anything for the ridiculously inflated prices.
And I would have spelled it “Occa”. But they aren’t meant to be able to spell anyway, so maybe it doesn’t matter…
Editor’s Note: I’m not sure why the spam filter kept eating your comments, Thepal; the one link shouldn’t have been enough. Maybe it was the listed pricing details. Something matched a spam fingerprint, at any rate. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Oh wow thanks for the heads up! This will definitely be my first port of call from now on.
I had a feeling it was something like that after I got a “You already posted that comment” message. I figured it was sent somewhere in the bowels of Aiera to be dealt with.