EA Says Origin Isn’t Designed To Compete With Steam

EA’s COO Peter Moore recently conducted an interview with the publication Games Industry International revealing interesting things about EA’s thought process with Origin. Firstly, he claims that Origin is not designed to compete with Steam because Origin operates a different business model:

“They have a great catalog of games. It’s got a broader catalog than we do, and a different focus on the business model than we have. We didn’t go into business to compete with Steam. We went into business because we saw the future being direct-to-consumer.”

Origin has struggled to compete with Steam of late, relying on things like the “On The House” program to lure PC gamers in with the offer of free games. Origin also offers gamers the “Great Game Guarantee” which allows gamers to get a full refund within 24 hours of their purchase if they are not happy with the game. Yet despite EA’s best efforts Steam still remains more popular.

Peter Moore also believes that EA doesn’t get enough recognition for supporting the PC platform for gaming:

“We’ve been making games for the PC platform before Gabe Newell was graduating high school. And we’ve been the number one publisher forever, and have been the one developer/publisher that has supported the PC platform even more than Microsoft over the years. Yeah, you may say that’s a low bar, but that’s who we are, and our roots.”

I think it’s fair to say EA has a poor reputation when it comes to PC gaming, despite their best interests to convince the public otherwise. The below video is still one of my favourite “EA/Origin” summaries, what are your thoughts on EA and Origin’s role in PC Gaming?

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Image courtesy of EA