Blogs Why We Need Origin

I might be talking out of my ass but a friend of mine who installed origin to play the BF3 beta complained a lot because he couldn't change his nickname. Why? He loaned his BF:BC2 account to a friend to play and as usual, the guy used his own nickname. Now that he needed to change, it says he can't and he searched how to but to no avail. He also complained about the friend system.
One thing is being a monopoly due to its own success, another thing is trying to be a monopoly from the start, the reasons why are obvious

 

The biggest problem all these systems have is the publishers are still scared to offer cheaper prices for digital copies of games that would undercut bricks and mortar stores as they still want to be able to sell their physical game copies via them. That's one of the reasons iPhone/Android games are doing so well, low prices as they have no other avenue to market than digital.

 

I fully agree with this article. Competition is good - if there is only one company (Steam) monopolising on this market then they have no competition. Competition means companies are trying to outdo one another with a better product, whether it be improving the interfaces, increasing their sales. Competition pushes forward better thinking as each company wants their product to be the best. In the end we, the consumers win as we are constantly rewarded by better interfaces and cheaper deals (to name just a couple fo examples as to why competition is good).

Plus from what I've seen Origin is a nice clean digital distribution interface.

 

I see a problem with the platform being limited, I have a feeling that BF3 is not going to be the last EA game to not be on steam.

What this means is a lack of competition, on EA games that is. This market is a very special one where you may look at games like perfect substitute products they are not. The result, whenever you want a EA title you will have to by on origin in the future, and as there are no other proper competition EA will work as a monopoly on their own games. A Toyota may substitute a Honda, but a Total War game will never substitute a BF game.

 

My only issue with Origin - some idiot forgot to include a "Start minimized" option. Which is a unforgivable mistake for a "resident" application like Origin.

 

Gah, I'd noticed this too. Steam wasn't built in a day either though!

 

Well, maybe - but there is a 3 month old thread about this on EA Forums and still no change :
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/7393477.page

 

To promote competition we need to boycot origin until they release all the games on steam. Then we would be choosing between quality of service (origin vs steam).

Right now there is no competition I have to use origin so EA is trying to force me to make them a monopoly - which is the sort of thing nasty people do and hence is another reason not trust them or use it.

 

As a platform Origin is fine. As competition for Steam, it has a long way to go.
It's not as terrible as some people make it seem but it's not as great as others make it out to be either.
Once it has built up a significant library of games I can see it getting much better, especially if they can secure games from other publishers.
I'm more than willing to give it a chance but as of right now, it doesn't impress me. In fact, it doesn't give me much confidence in the platform at all. The main reasons are the short time purchases are available for download and EA's 'sole discretion' which they have been known to abuse in the past.
Saying that, I'm probably going to have to suck it up and deal with Origin on a daily basis because of BF3. When Steam started there were probably similar sentiments from people.

 

Origin is nothing more than a money grab.
Why the hell would I ever buy a game on Origin when there prices are so insanely high compared to, well, everywhere.
Its a digital service for god sake, so WHY OH WHY do they insist on charging £10-15 MORE for a digital copy of something I can go a buy elsewhere with a box and shiney disc and other shiney stuff I can actualy touch.
EA you make me a sad panda, yes you do

 

Im fine with Origin in terms of competition, but D2D and the others are strong platforms which dont limit gamers. Yes, developers might decide to have their games D2D exclusive or Steam exclusive. But overall 3rd party games are not limited to a single platform. Even games using Steamworks can be sold on D2D. I just don't like seeing games crippled both by poor developer decision and a platform like BF3, because while the game looks good, their server browser website is a horrid idea as well as having to adjust graphics settings IN GAME.

 

Seriously, aside from the settings issue (which i believe has already been confirmed to have been altered for release) what is wrong with the server browser? What about it could be done better if the browser was in-game? Also games using Origin can be sold on other platforms which is why you can find BF3 for sale (well preorder) on a number of online distributors and in stores.

 

We need a viable competitor to Steam. In its current form Origin isn't it. I'm not saying it can't evolve into something much better though. Some people forget how terrible Steam was when it first released compared to today. It has to have a broad offer of non-EA games, competitive pricing and features. If 50-100% of games released on it are by EA then it is just another annoying "feature" provided by a publisher rather than a true online sales platform.

 

Except I only use Skype specifically because I don't want to have dozens of online communication services. Thankfully, such applications are largely similar and users can freely choose which one to use with little drawbacks.

The differences between such services are also much smaller than the differences between, say, Origin and Steam. The main feature set of a communication service is what forms of chat it offers: video, voice, or text. Between any two services which offer the same type of chatting the differences are negligible. The main feature of an online store is the games and their prices. Any time one store offers a game which the other doesn't you have an important feature which is exclusive to only one service. Welcome to a world where both parties endlessly battle to win over more users with exclusives which only hurt the gaming community.

This is my main complaint as well. It's competition for Steam? Steam already provides good USD prices, has a large list of games, and most of my friends already have it. Origin lacks the good prices, lacks the large library of games, and none of my friends use it while so far offering no redeeming advantage other than BF3.

You beat me to it! I found it quite funny that people would find it "sad" that someone decided not to buy a product because it wasn't what he wanted. Someone who can actually live without all of the latest games? Blasphemy!

That reasoning helps explain a lot of early on problems, but starting "background" applications minimized isn't exactly a new idea.

 

The premise of this article, Steam is a monopoly in game distribution, is wrong. Until Steam kills traditional brick and mortar stores consumers will always have a wide variety of options where they can buy a game.

Nevermind the fact that publishers can go the Blizzard route and sell their games directly to consumers with their own distribution services.

The author doesn't seem to really understand what a monopoly is or how it can negatively affect gamers.

 

Really? People still run tens of messengers at the same time? Trillian all the way, bay-bee!
As for Origin, it's so poorly done that EA/Dice have already had to work around it with the BattleLog system. Origin just becomes a downloader for BF3, because it doesn't do what they need it to, and considering that EA created Origin, that's a very sad state of affairs.
Steam isn't a monopoly, there are (many) other options out there like uPlay, D2D and GOG. If you want to look at platform monopolies, you need look no further than XBLA and PSN. Steam has risen to the very top because it works well, and any other experience pales in comparison. To punish Valve for doing a good job with Steam is akin to shooting your own foot because you just won a marathon. Valve aren't abusing their position with Steam, in fact they seem to be bending over backwards to be useful and open to any developer (even the tiny indie ones) that wants to use their service.
So, Why do we need Origin? Well, EA needs Origin to justify their stupid DRM strategy, and to try and finagle themselves a larger slice of the download price pie. DICE doesn't need Origin, as you can see by their having to circumvent it with BattleLog for a usable game. And gamers don't need Origin at all. It's bloated, built in a mish-mash of platforms (Really! It's .NET and QT/Webkit based. Talk about an unholy union!), and offers no benefits or enhancements over what they already have (Steam, or just Windows' explorer).

 

I'm with you guys. I won't be boycotting BF3 or anything but I certainly won't be paying a tenner more than it costs at retail either. I will consider Origin my BF3 and amybe Mass Effect 3 service.

My steam collection is currently at 199 games (that probably includes some demos). It didn't get that large due to offering poor service or being overpriced. 90% of those games I bought during some mega sale!

 

I like being able to buy a retail game at a good price & put the cd key into origin which used to be ea download manager & get the digital one not needing the disc , same with steamworks games, shame we can't do this with all games.

And Origin is a heck of a lot better than what steam was when it was forced on us with HL2 I really didn't like it back then but it evolved into a great service .

 

Great heading. But it ought to be "Why We Need Origin Without SPYWARE".
Competition, monopoly, just usual babble. Nothing about scanning our files and actions, network browsing, emails... Surely, just for our welfare.

 

I normally dont like a company having a monopoly, but steam have been pretty upstanding, in my eyes. I've used steam almost since release, and never really had a problem, although the friends system did seem to take years to get working. Origin on the other hand, i've had to reinstall windows to get it working, modify my router settings and turn off some of my anti virus shields.