EA's Origin Service To Go Mobile 24
Electronic Arts recently launched their own digital distribution platform named Origin, a merging of various similar services they've operated in the past and a direct competitor to Steam. The two rivals have already butted heads over DLC distribution, with Valve's business terms forcing Crysis 2 off Steam. (And this may be just the first shot in the upcoming content distribution wars, though EA says it will continue to allow downloads through other outlets, and that Origin could support games from other publishers in the future.) Now, EA has announced that Origin will include some degree of cross-platform support, and will try to battle Apple's Game Center on iOS devices.
EA will fail (Score:5, Interesting)
EA will as always fail. They will put this quarters revenue above the customer. They will likely engage is borderline illegal behavior (probably electronic surveillance of their customers, including maybe even keyloggers). They will terminate any service that isn't making money, even after promising at sale that it will remain as long as customers want. They will deliberately shut down games when new versions come out to force purchases. And if successful they will probably charge a monthly fee after promising the service will remain free. They will charge for reinstall. They will limit the service in every way possible to increase revenue. They will soak the customer at every opportunity, including I can see them charging extra for things like steam community.
EA is run by MBA's who are only in the game for this quarters profit and bonus. Valve is a company run by game players and developers for the same.
Personally I will no longer buy EA or UbiSoft titles. The BS (Safedisc5 with limited reinstalls) they have been pulling lately along with all their anti-consumer policies has completely evaporated any desire I have to play a single one of their games, regardless or title or quality. I've been burned one too many times by these terrible companies and I will not EVER give them another dollar again. I'd prefer if they abandon the PC entirely instead of fostering half ass console ports on the PC world. Let them leave the PC space to Valve and other companies that can competently produce PC games. I have several hundred games on Steam, I'm in their ideal target age range and have a disposable income that allows me to buy games that hit my fancy and they will never ever see another dime from me.