EA to compete with Steam?

[winterwolves]

Just found this news:
http://www.next-gen.biz/news/ea-announces-origin

honestly I'm surprised that EA didn't do such a thing SOONER. But... will it last? can they compete with Steam now or is a "bit too late"? :) I think is too late now...

[airtekh]

Apparently The Old Republic is tied to this platform in the same way that Valve titles are tied to Steam.

Makes sense from a business point of view as more people will have the platform installed. I can see EA doing this for a lot of their future titles.

[thegooseking]

I realise I'm in a minority, being both British and a PC gamer, but EA seems very reluctant to take my money for NHL 12, which is already available for pre-order across the pond. Albeit on consoletoy only - NHL 09 was both the series' last appearance on PC and the most recent one available in the UK EA Store on any platform.

I don't even like sports in general, but ice hockey is my one exception to this, and it also seems to be the one EA thinks I don't want.

So yeah, maybe it's an exception, but if they're that reluctant to take my money, I don't see how they can go up against Steam.

[Kismet]

I don't think it's about competing with Steam, as much as not having to rely on Steam for digital distribution as Valve seems to be getting close to the PC equivalent of a console platform holder. Origin is the evolution of the EADM and aims to create a separated social ecosystem (friend lists, scores tracking, probably achievements, etc.).

With EA accounts being converted to Origin accounts, anyone who has bought a recent title published by the Redwood City publisher is already registered on the service and only needs to install the client (if he doesn't have EADM installed already, as I read it's getting automatically updated to the Origin beta client): promos, semi-exclusives and social features should put Electronic Arts in the position of pulling out from Steam before things turn ugly, or at very last to not be in a weak position when it comes to negotiate deals with Valve.

I don't think Electronic Arts necessarily aims to sell third-party titles and considering that following this route seems the sensible thing to do for the publishers able to pull it off (both in terms of infrastructures/development capabilities and portfolio appeal to pull people to their services) in the end there may "only" be small-medium developers to fight for.

[SilverSilence]

It doesn't even say it will sell games from other publishers so how is this competing with Steam? It's basically just a rename of their current store.

[Rii]

No doubt BF3 will be tied to this also.

[Kadayi]

The present EADM already has friends lists etc, but they haven't really incentivised people to utilize it. Using TOR (which let's face it will have a large initial launch) as a backbone makes a fair amount of sense. In fact I'd say establishing a strong digital platform to compete with Steam is probably more important for EA than the success of TOR in the long term.

Update. Just ran EADM and it's actually updated to Origins beta now.

Man EA still need to review their game pricing. Way too expensive.

[Joseph]

I get the feeling that the big publishers will now be doing their own platforms with their games exclusively tied to them. This just sounds like it's going to hurt the players if they have to have X amount of platforms installed on their system to be able to play the games they want.

I hope that Steam has something new planned, like a brand new platform (Since I imagine it would be more beneficial to build a new one from the ground up than keep updating the existing one) with everything and more that these new ones are promising.

[venn177]

This is one of those things that's either going to SERIOUSLY inconvenience us by having ANOTHER non-Steam system running, or work out great in the long run due to price drops. But if Battlefield 3 is exclusive to this, there's no way in hell I'm getting it.

I already have Skype, Steam, and Digsby up, I don't think I need a fourth client for chatting.

[slick_101]

I know this might sound a little stupid. But why do they have to do this? surely if they thought about having one platform i.e. the equivalent of Xbox live or PSN Or something So they could all stick to it rather than the consumer having to remember Each of the accounts they have used for this service, and then having to use another username on another service....

I Think that to be honest. EA are trying to fight in an already won war. Steam is King and they have NO CHANCE of touching it.

[pakoito]

Just for starters I cannot find Language Selection.

[mmiasmostati]

I hope that Steam has something new planned, like a brand new platform (Since I imagine it would be more beneficial to build a new one from the ground up than keep updating the existing one) with everything and more that these new ones are promising.

I doubt that Valve will ever completely rebuild Steam. Considering the overhaul they had fairly recently and the way they've been updating the Source engine with every release it seems much more likely to me that they'll continue to add on bits and pieces as necessary and do another redesign if needed further along the line.

Re: EA's Origin, as people have said, without third party titles and competitive prices I think they're unlikely to become any real competitor to Steam's at all, excepting by forcing people to use it as with TOR.

[Kadayi]

I hope that Steam has something new planned, like a brand new platform (Since I imagine it would be more beneficial to build a new one from the ground up than keep updating the existing one) with everything and more that these new ones are promising.

Aside from the mobile phone aspect I'm not seeing any advantage (in fact Origin lacks for a tonne of features Steam already has) and that's not something Valve couldn't add if they wanted to tbh.

[vandinz]

I think it will most likely rival GFWL. Looking at the prices atm Steam has nothing to worry about.

[Kismet]

Just for starters I cannot find Language Selection.

For the client it's under Settings, General Tab.

Not sure how games are handled though, I assume you choose the language when you install, though considering that when I registered my Steam copy of Dead Space I had to choose a specific language SKU (Italian being alone with Spanish in a SKU without English included - I went for the English UK version with Russian and others if I remember correctly) I can't help but wonder if buying through the client (which defaults to the Italian store in my case regardless of language settings) I may end up with a crappy localized-only version.
Not that I see myself buying anything directly considering the prices, chances are that if Battlefield 3 grabs my interest I'll just buy it from Amazon UK at a much lower price and register it.

[Joseph]

Aside from the mobile phone aspect I'm not seeing any advantage (in fact Origin lacks for a tonne of features Steam already has) and that's not something Valve couldn't add if they wanted to tbh.

I've not looked into much but I heard someone talking about CoD Elite having video sharing and such and how Steam has only just got screenshot sharing. I was thinking that starting from the ground up would allow them to implement new features in a more efficient way but if Steam is already in a state that allows easy updating then I suppose they've got it right already.

[Simon]

the digital distribution market is a joke. only one company have it right and that is gog.

[pakoito]

For the client it's under Settings, General Tab.

I mean the webpage, and sadly it's both in Norwegian and cannot be google translated because the buttons are images. Bad web design is bad.

[JohnnyMaverik]

My only fear with Origin is that EA will try and pull the exclusivity card and suddenly it's the only place to buy EA published PC games digitally. It'd be a ridiculous business move, but also do massive damage to the PC as a platform.

I won't be using it as I don't like spreading out my games across multiple digital distribution platforms, as there are no real guarantees that you're purchases are protected from say the company going bust, or deciding digital distribution on the pc isn't working out and abandoning the service, something which EA has done on smaller scales in the past with little warning and absolutely no compensation.

Steam and GOG is enough for me.

Edit: Also as far competition goes I don't see how it does provide competition. ATM it's only selling EA games and I can't imagine many other publishers wanting to work with EA piling yet more power and cash into their grimy mits, plus if they do pull the exclusivity card and suddenly it's the only place to buy EA published games digitally, that's not the kind competition that's going to be good for us as consumers. Valve compete by trying to out perform it's rivals with Steam, the only games exclusive to steam are Valve developed games, even games with Steamworks can be sold through other digital distribution platforms, many choose not to, but Valve certainly don't block it.

You could say then it'd be fair enough if EA did the same, except Valve are a developer, EA are a publisher, Valve have around 20 titles to their name and therefore 20 exclusive to steam, EA put out 20 big titles every year and hundreds on the side of those. It'd pretty much put a strangle hold on the rest of the digital distribution market.

Admittedly I don't like EA, in fact hate is a more accurate description, but I really don't think any publisher entering into the retail side of the industry is a good idea regardless of how I feel about them as a company, because in most cases a publisher doing so then pulling the exclusivity card does massive damage to, or in the case of EA could conceivably kill the rest of the market.

[G915]

Steam and GOG is enough for me.

This. I think this is pointles from EA, Steam is too strong...