EA: Games won't be Origin exclusive
'Competition and choice go hand in hand,' says EA's Jans Uwe, regarding Origin.
'Competition is a good thing,' said EA's European boss Jans Uwe, explaining that exclusive releases are not what EA has planned for Origin.
‘For the consumer also choice is a good thing. Competition and choice go hand in hand. So, [that] we will only distribute our own games on our own platform? I don't see that.’
Origin will also be opened to sell games from other developers, Uwe told Eurogamer.
‘We are in discussions with other publishers to distribute their games. But the key is really to develop and impressive consumer experiance where people are happy to play and buy games.’
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Discuss in the forums ReplyYou have a terrible grasp of the English language.
Thank you.
Thanks,
Use Origin. "
"In other news, Activision-Blizzard decided to release all of their games through Battle.Net. In a press release CEO Wu-Evar welcomes games from other publishers.
There are also rumours of U-Play, a similar DD platform for Ubisoft published titles.
Now, the weather..."
:|
EA are going to ruin the direct distribution concept by fracturing it
oh bought a game and want the expansion do you INSTALL origin BITCH!!!
Since when does a publisher actually say anything true and useful.
I like how he is actually suggesting: "we will continue to put our products at comical high values on Origin, and let our competitors sell at prices slightly cheaper, therefore the consumer perceives a bargain/better price."
And before some one leaps to their defence of rising prices, they have had increased market growth to offset the increase in cost to make a game.
I also agree that the number of accounts needed just to play a few games is getting ridiculous (which is why I oppose account based drm).
It is one thing publishers supporting a publisher like Valve (who are fairly inoffensive as publishers go), but EA and Activision don't have the best of relationships (see recent MW3/BF3 bitch slaps at dawn), and they aren't going to want to contribute to EA's financial statements.
If they do that, they are then going to have to convince customers to support their service, which is also going to be hard given their history of not supporting their previous digital distribution service and generally screwing over their users. It also doesn't help that they said they were going to scan the hard drives of Origin users, gather private data and then sell the data they collect to third parties. Nice going EA. At least Steam gives you the option to opt out of the HW Survey.
I wasn't happy about Steam to begin with, but at least I **liked** Valve and up to a point trusted them. And over the years, they have put the runs on the board regarding Steam so I now don't have a problem buying games with them.
I have no such feelings for EA.
I have no such confidence in EA.
I will not be buying games from EA through Origin.
I will not be using Origin to authenticate games bought through retail.
Will this mean not buying some games? Yes.
Will it mean not playing games I love? Yes
I will miss playing Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3 or any other game tied to Origin, but gaming isn't my entire life and I have a backlog of unplayed games to take up my playing time.
http://bf3blog.com/2011/08/ea-updates-origin-eula-after-criticism/
still far from perfect but I wont be missing out on BF3, ME3 etc etc over this
I hate to admit it, but gaming on my PS3/Xbox 360 is becoming so much less hassle. All the big Publishers are trying to lock down their products on PCs, for whatever reason, which is really not doing PC Gaming any favours. This is a bad move from EA, they have probably already invested significant amounts of time, money and resources into the project so their clearly fully committed to the project and there probably is nothing that can be done. I guess this is just the nature of having an open gaming platform like the PC, as opposed to PSN and Xbox Live.
If I really want to play BF3 it looks like I'll be getting the Xbox version as that doesn't use Origin (afaik). I might wait for release before purchase so see if there are any teething troubles. Then again, if I do that, I miss out on the pre-order bonus, so I might not bother at all.
The point of a capitalist system is that companies are able to try new things and compete. Depending on whether or not the new things work financially decides if they stay or go.
Steam is a goldmine for Valve. If I were a shareholder in EA, I would expect them to try something similar. If I worked for EA, I sure as hell would try something similar.
If Origin turns out to be crap, EA will scrap it. But it's important they at least have a go at it for the sake of competition. Put it this way, if Origin turns out to be awesome, the worsed thing that happens is we get a better experience from our digital distribution.
I'm going to support EA on this one. They have every right to attempt to emulate Valve's success, especially with their own games. I hope they fail, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to try.
GFWL is crap and Microsoft didn't scrap that so I reckon unless its a dead duck EA will simply plough on regardless. The only way they'll take notice is if there is an en-mass boycott of Origin and that is highly unlikley so I'm afraid we're gonna get stuck with it unless its a total disaster.
http://eacom.s3.amazonaws.com/EULA_Origin_8.24.11.pdf
me two, i just cant be arsed to have loads of clients running on my pc . i switched from console gaming awhile back ,and all this drm bullcrap and everything else that comes with it is sending me back..
Mojang didn't say "Steam isn't useful", they said "Using Steam limits a lot of what were allowed to do with the game".
I don't get how you got the former from the latter, maybe you just saw what you wanted to see or something?
The way I see it personally, is for Origin to work it has to offer something that steam doesn't.
Which is definitely not web browser orientated server browsing. This is just one massive leap in the wrong direction, and I pray it's scrapped before BF3 goes gold.
EA have a nasty habit of taking on very talented people, throwing a large sum of money at them to give them a nice incentive and then slowly ruin and manipulate any given franchise as they see fit. Put simply, I don't want your **** on my computer, thanks.
Mojang wouldn't be gaining anything by putting the game on steam other than advertising (which isn't really an issue at the moment). Notch has stated that he uses steam himself, it just doesn't give the advantages to minecraft that other games benefit from.
Why? Just shooting yourself in the foot IMO
If competition is good maybe Valve should sell their games on D2D etc...
First off, no one is saying that EA doesn't have the right to make a digital distribution service and sell or link their games exclusively or otherwise to it. More power to EA! But by the same standard, we (royal "we") are equally entitled to tell EA they can insert their service up their backsides and twist it savagely counter-clockwise.
Second, EA is perfectly entitled to take the money from customers for games that are linked to a player's Origin accounts and then when, the Origin service isn't as profitable or as satisfying to the executive bonus cheque or stock options, discontinue the Origin service without notice in accordance with the EULA and leaving account holders with nothing more than a shameful memory, a bad taste and something to wipe off with a tissue. But, once again we are entitled to be extremely pissed off (legitimately), scream loudly (but impotently) and tell EA to insert their bonuses into a hollowed out pineapple and utilise it as a suppository.
Lastly, you or anyone else is entitled to use (and if they are a submissive sadomasochist, desire) Origin to their heart's content, just as we are entitled to mock and humiliate said sheeple mercilessly if it all blows up in their faces.
I will also be standing by with tissues to wipe it off with. I'm not all heartless b*stard.
I may be designated "sheeple" but I'll be one happy ram
Also, in the interest of Bit-tech community harmony I will resist future use of the "I told you so" macro button on my backlit G-costtoomuch keyboard.
The main thing is that Mojang isn't just declining to use Steam, they're declining to use anything but their own website for the same reasons. It just happens to be that declining to use Steam is newsworthy so that's all you hear about, though you could just as easily write an article about Mojang not using Direct2Drive if you didn't care about readership.
Steam already has competition, and yes, EA even sells games through such providers. Direct2Drive, Gamer's Gate, Good Old Games, and various other download services run by retail stores. These are competition for Steam, they are true digital distributors which are willing to sell games from any developer or publisher within the bounds of their Terms of Service. If you want to provide competition to Steam then buy from these services, not a closed system like Origin.
Such nonsense, did you even read the article?
D2D etc don't sell any Valve games, what now? Valve have no competition when it comes to selling their own games digitally, yet no one cares.
It's funny when people cry when EA are following the same line as Valve, except they are more open by allowing their games to be bought on many services, not just their own.
BF3 is not sold in Steam, Origin is no competition.
In no way will i let EA snoop on my Pc, see what im running and whats connected. There quick to bemoan folks for pirating games but when we get DRM, Snooping programs and a load of crapware just to play a game weve payed to play. Someones getting stiffed and its not EA.
They need to stop thinking like dicks, and treat there customers with some respect.
I was refering to comments like this one:
I wasn't trying to defend Origin as a good piece of software (it isn't), just arguing against the point that EA somehow shouldn't be allowed to develop Origin and aim to make money just becasue Steam is percieved as better.
I thought the point of the article was that Origin would stock other publishers' games?
Unless they use Steamworks of course, in which case you have to install Steam whether you like it or not.
People, Origin is nowhere near what I would consider competition to Steam.
Please show me where I can buy a digital copy of Portal 2 or any other Valve game outside Steam.
I'm talking about a proper digital copy, not a site that sends you a key from a retail box.
Valve force you to buy from Steam if you want a digital copy of their game, even EA don't do that, they give you a choice where to buy it.
Valve must be the greediest of them all then since the only place to buy a digital copy of their games is on Steam, they don't even offer their games to D2D etc, now that's greed ;)
How is that answering the question? This discussion is about digital sales. I guess Valve can do no wrong in your eyes. You can buy BF3 on many DD sites except Steam but Valve games can only be bought from Steam, how's that for competition?
"Piracy: The Better Choice (TM)" is Charlie Demerjian's best ever line, one that I get a chuckle out of now when I see it in legit media articles about the kinds of draconian DRM EA and their grubby ilk push onto media content of all sorts. It has taken on a life of its own now, part of the whole DRM conversation.
What is incredibly, ball kickingly farcical is that his article is almost five years old and NOTHING has changed. Multiple restrictive, difficult, intrusive and expletive provoking DRM schemes have come and (I wish I could say "gone") stayed, and it hasn't even made a dent in file sharing while media executives with weepy eyes and trembling lips shed crocodile tears about how much money they have "lost to piracy" while employing suited thugs and criminals, suborning extortion, bribing public officials and undermining democratic institutions. I really feel for those cocaine snorting, rent-boy exploiting, parasitic blow-hards.
Five years on and Charlie could have written it today.
For those who never read it: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1043337/hd-disk-format-wars
You know what killed my casual piracy? Steam specials (with a more affordable/speedy Internet connection) and "grey" imports. These two factors reduced the cost of games to a level that was affordable and justifiable (from cost / enjoyment / risk perspective). That is money Columbian drug lords and pimps didn't have before.
I don't support piracy as some kind of "Stick it to the man" ethic, but as someone who has been involved in content creation in the past I can't stomach or condone cynical, greedy and criminal hypocrisy.
Hey Activision? I won't be paying $99.99 (so much cheaper than $100!) for MW3, and to show you how much I think it is really worth, I won't be pirating it either.
It has been pointed out I have a bit of a problem with two faced weasels and their morally bankrupt practices. It is a personal issue I've chosen NOT to work on. Bitter? Yeah I could do with a drink, thanks.
As for BF3 other DD services, D2D says:
I can buy BF3 from D2D.
Have you tried Gamersgate? There's plenty more too.
EDIT: Typing BF3 digital retailers into Google gave me this, nothing for Portugal but I'm sure they won't all be region locked.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/714/battf.jpg/
None of those is BF3.
And... Valve still has EA selling their game at retail. The games are Valve's and its their decision to do what they want with them. EA is just being stupid with the way they are handling it and limiting their audience.
Everyone knows Valve = Steam so they dont expect their titles on other DD series like StarDock's is only Impulse.
Everyone knows EA = EA, a big publisher who wants to get as much money as they can. Everyone also knows EA digital download services are worthless so Origin = No one will use it.
EA's decision not to put their additional DLC onto Steam was a piss poor move that killed a huge amount of support, and EA pulling titles because Valve started requiring it is pathetic business.
Truly I support EA leaving the PC game business due to the Origin garbage and their BF3 internet browser menu trash.
That's becuase they have a contract, look at Apple and Samsung, Samsung make parts for the iPad but that doesn't stop them suing each other. Just becuase they have a contract to sell their retail copies means nothing for this situation.
So Valve can do what they want with their games but EA can't? Good logic....
Why not? EA = Origin but you can still buy their games from dozens of DD sites, sounds like they are offering the consumers a choice, unlike Valve who force you to buy it digitally on Steam.
They want as much money as they can? What a shock, you would think they had shareholders or something...
So by that logic nobody will be playing BF3? Good luck with that coming true.
People still think EA pulled Crysis 2 and DA2 from Steam? I take it you don't read the news much? You should look at the fact that Valve were forcing new T&Cs on publishers so that Valve made more money from DLC sales, EA took a stand since they are big enough to do so.
What bothers you in particular about the BF3 server browser? DICE made it but it's fun how you still blame EA for it. ;)
Strange, BF3 is on Gamersgate for me, crazy regional restrictions I guess.
I'm sure you'll be able to buy it somewhere else that's not Origin, finding that place is the challenge!
The DD standard is shafting gamers that use the Euro?
Plus UK gamers miss out on pre-order deals on Steam since we get a delay before we can pre-order games meaning we miss out on certain promos.
Steam has plenty of regional restrictions too.
The EA store has always sold Valve games, it just happens to be called the origin store now. Doesn't change anything, you're not buying a digital copy, you're buying a physical copy just like you would on amazon, I've no idea why this is news, they've been doing this for years since they are the retail publisher.