Origin vs Steam...what do you think?

[Akihiko]

Well, I had to use Origin last night to redeem a copy of Crysis 2 I got for free and it was horrible, very slow. I suppose it is still in beta, mind.

I think it'll stay afloat, if EA games are only available on Origin, however it certainly won't surpass Steam.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

If any company does have the cajones to take on Steam it's EA, and by cajones I mean money of course. They also have enough big, succesful games that I believe people would use Origin to play if they couldn't be had on Steam.

Barring any major catastrophes I think they have a good chance of grabbing a pretty decent chunk of the digital distribution market. They probably won't be number one but they should be profitable enough to keep running.

 

[player3141]

Origin only offers their (EA) games for download, and since steam offers MOST of their games and more, they have more content.
Also, its EA and Valve, everyone loves Valve for offering the ability to download games as many times as you want with limited DRM, and everyone hates EA for being generally stupid and having restrictive DRM.
Valve does have some competition that would prevent them from doing something stupid, so Origin is not needed to prevent them from having a monopoly. (Impulse, D2D, etc.)

 

[Eomega123]

I hope Origin gets off the ground, if only to see the amazing deals I'll be able to get on Steam when they have competition, but I don't think Origin will ever be able to surpass Steam.

 

[Alien Mole]

Yeah, competition is good and all that but I can't even log on to the website without being offended. I have the same issue with it as I do with PSN. It starts off in French (fair enough, I do live in Belgium and even though the French are (AFAIK) in the minority I suspect that more people speak it overall) and then I have to manually switch to Dutch. No English, while the translations for most of their games are just horribly awkward.

I want choice of language, and I want to be able to experience my content in as close to the original language as I can get (which is usually English) - take that away from me and it breaks immersion and appeal for me. (Yes, even when buying games. I'd have purchased a lot more content on PSN if that didn't always result in an awkward mix of Dutch and English)

I know there are far more important gripes than mine, but honestly, it's just something to do with taking choice away from the customer and pretending to know better that rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Caligulove]

Basically, the way I see it is that EA is trying to get in on the same market as Steam with Origin, and it doesn't make sense to keep the titles you own and your larger releases on a service that is directly competing with their own. I'm surprised at all the shock of Battlefield 3 or Mass Effect 3 not being on Steam. It wouldnt be a good business move for EA to keep them on.

Valve doesn't take their games off of a service like Origin, though, because they're not a large publisher like EA is. They really only publish the games that they, themselves develop.

 

[Canadish]

Spoiler

See that? That's EA.

Considering EA isn't the top dog right now, an exclusive download service just doesn't strike me as a good idea. Sure, it might work for a game like Mass Effect 3, which nearly everyone wants and has no competition in sight, but consider Battlefield 3.

EVERY sale is going to count if they want to beat out Modern Warfare, and limiting themselves to a new small and exclusive online service is pretty much killing themselves on the PC market (the one place they were sure to win beforehand). Now its up in the air again.

Plus, Valve are a smart bunch of guys.

"EA's getting a new download store? Steam Summer Sale: Free Shit for ALLLL!"

 

[Littlee300]

This may be worse than the steam monopoly because now there will be Origin exclusives. I don't know if there will be steam exclusives. Also, even if steam had a monopoly I be they would still have awesome sales.

 

[Richardplex]

Origin is run by EA, an infamous publisher. SSteam is run by Valve, which seems to be a benevolent company more concerned about making sure gamers get games than getting moneys. Valve has an amazing reputation for a very good reason, and don't need competition. I wouldn't be dissatisfied in the slightest if they expanded with their business ethics. So no, competition won't do any good, because steam is damn well near perfect. Just look at all the free stuff everyone got in the past week and a half.

 

[JWAN]

STEAM does have a monopoly because they kick ass. They believe in selling more games at lower prices and they have the best customer service in the industry.
EA had the EA downloader, that sucked and I doubt anything they will get nowadays will be any better. They also have the worst in the industry.

What we have here is a ferrari v.s a gremlin

 

[teqrevisited]

As it stands, Valve have a lot more to offer with Steam at the moment. A vast array of third party games, an established community and they sometimes literally give their games away.

And a quick look brings up the fact that EA's pricing is ridiculous, even moreso than Valve's £1 = $1 = 1 euro. So they don't even have the price advantage on their own games.

Right now, I think all it is is a money sink that EA will fund until it goes headfirst into the ground. All this could change, though, and it wouldn't be the first time an underdog / newcomer has shouldered their way in.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

Eh, I'm reserving judgement until I get a chance to try it out for myself. I will say that Steam has more goodwill then EA. That may factor in to peoples decisions.

 

[Saibh]

Origin is run by EA, an infamous publisher. SSteam is run by Valve, which seems to be a benevolent company more concerned about making sure gamers get games than getting moneys. Valve has an amazing reputation for a very good reason, and don't need competition. I wouldn't be dissatisfied in the slightest if they expanded with their business ethics. So no, competition won't do any good, because steam is damn well near perfect. Just look at all the free stuff everyone got in the past week and a half.

I think that's a limited viewpoint. Valve is a business first and foremost--but they're a business with a rather different approach, and that's that people who like you are the sort of people who will be loyal to you. They're the sort of people who will trust what you make will be amazing, and will buy oodles of them. They're the sort of people who might not pirate out of respect.

Whereas EA has a terrible tendency to treat their consumers like dirt. People don't trust them, people blame them, but they're also savvy when it comes to marketing and hyping, so they continue to do well.

But there is never a time when more competition between big businesses is a bad thing. Not in a capitalist market. But I disagree that they're ultimate goal is to make good games, and not to make money--they just realize the two go best hand-in-hand.

 

[A Weakgeek]

BWHA HA HA.. HA HA HA!

I'm sorry *Straightens up*

I think its quite obvious that no real competition will appear.

 

[Weaver]

Fun fact about Origin: Your digital download rights are only guarenteed available for 1 year after purchase.

 

[natster43]

I don't use either and if I did it would be steam. That's how I feel about them.

 

[Richardplex]

Origin is run by EA, an infamous publisher. SSteam is run by Valve, which seems to be a benevolent company more concerned about making sure gamers get games than getting moneys. Valve has an amazing reputation for a very good reason, and don't need competition. I wouldn't be dissatisfied in the slightest if they expanded with their business ethics. So no, competition won't do any good, because steam is damn well near perfect. Just look at all the free stuff everyone got in the past week and a half.

I think that's a limited viewpoint. Valve is a business first and foremost--but they're a business with a rather different approach, and that's that people who like you are the sort of people who will be loyal to you. They're the sort of people who will trust what you make will be amazing, and will buy oodles of them. They're the sort of people who might not pirate out of respect.

Whereas EA has a terrible tendency to treat their consumers like dirt. People don't trust them, people blame them, but they're also savvy when it comes to marketing and hyping, so they continue to do well.

But there is never a time when more competition between big businesses is a bad thing. Not in a capitalist market. But I disagree that they're ultimate goal is to make good games, and not to make money--they just realize the two go best hand-in-hand.

I never meant that they don't care about business, I just meant that their business ethic is to get a good reputation and have loyal fans, rather than milking them for everything they have. Which is a very good business ethic. Competition will have a limited effect because what can Steam do? be even more generous? I think that's asking too much, considering they're superior to most other distribution companies. I'm not stupid enough to think they don't care about money, though that likely didn't come across well, and I agree with everything you said.

 

[Tron-tonian]

ME2 on Steam: $20 / $30 (regular vs Deluxe ed.)
ME2 on Origin: $20 / 40

NHL09 (last PC version) on Origin: $10

With prices like that, they can count on some low, low bandwidth charges in the coming months. I mean, not even being able to beat the 3rd-party distributor on prices? That's just weak.

That doesn't mean EA won't start to understand what has made Steam work, but right now, I think they just see $$$ and are hoping to cash in on it.

 

[42]

Steam will always have an edge over it's competitors because it's always changing and evolving. Great Customer Service (which EA sucks at), regular patch updates (which for the uninitiated like me is useful), and most of all two simple words>>> STEAM SALES.
How bout you leave the Digital Distribution to companies that know and are established at what their doing EA. But then again i could be looking at this wrongly because it's EA that distributed Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 and the Orange Box and Portal 2. So it would be quite short-sighted to think that Valve now have a problem with EA, considering what EA has done for the company in the past. AND YOU CAN BE SURE AS HELL VALVE AREN'T GOING TO USE ACTIVISION ANY TIME SOON.

and anyway Steam's been in existence longer, so i don't think many gamer's will want to repay money for games they already own. even though i am a hypocrite for buying Super Meat Boy on Xbox 360, and on Steam. what can i say? Steam sales man.