Origin vs Steam

[Elsarild]

So, EA just launched their new store digital distribution for their games, and I made an account to check it out, added some of my EA games to it, (6 or so), while talking with some friends one of them believe he will use both, another very firmly believe he will use Origin for his online games, and disgard Steam (even though he has 150+ games there) And I firmly believe in using Steam instead and maybe buy something on the Origin store if it is cheap.

What is you toughts? does Origin stand a chance? or does it just fill a niece in the Digital distribution market?

Edit: A thing I found pretty funny is that Steam uses less memory on my PC than Orgin does, and they both offer some kind of overlay ingame.

Edit 2: I have covered and answered this twice now, I was wrong to say that EA pulled all their games from Steam, I misread and didn't research it properly, I'm sorry, now please stop quoting me and correcting it. http://www.vg247.com/2011/06/15/crysis-2-now-only-on-origin-d2d-impulse-more/

 

[Sp3ratus]

Eh, I can certainly see why EA wants to get in on the digital distribution market, Valve has proved that it can be done efficiently, while making a shitload of money(I'm guessing). I don't know if it stands a chance, I don't think I'll be using it, at least not all that much. I have a lot of games on Steam and I like Steam, so I don't really see a reason to move on to something similar, which offers less games.

If EA pulls all their games from Steam and make them exclusive to Origin, I'm sure it'll fill some niche, but for now, no, I have no reason to use it.

 

[Elsarild]

They have, as far as I know, all EA titles has been pulled from the store, the games you already own are still oyur on steam, but Steam isn't allowed to sell any more EA games there.

So I guess they arn't as much as "filling a niece" as "Making one that they then can fill themselves"

But I feel the same, I got around 130 games or so on Steam, and leaving to, what to me seems like an inferier system with not even 1 10th of the games, steam has to offer. Oh well.

 

[Aris Khandr]

They have, as far as I know, all EA titles has been pulled from the store, the games you already own are still oyur on steam, but Steam isn't allowed to sell any more EA games there.

A quick search on Steam reveals that The Sims 3, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect are all still there.

That being said, EA has always been stingy with pre-order bonuses when it comes to Steam. I don't believe for a moment that Steam making DA2 available for pre-order the day after the free upgrade to the Signature Edition offer ended was any coincidence. So when it comes to major EA titles, I'll probably use Origin. Also, Origin has the FIFA series, which Steam never bothered to acquire for whatever reason. So I'll certainly be getting FIFA 12 there.

Widespread use of Origin will depend on whether EA has something to offer. Pre-order bonuses will only get them so far. For games that I don't pre-order, it will likely come down to price. EA loved doing "Buy two or more, get everything half off" sales with the EA Download Manager, which was the precursor to Origin. If they keep that up, I can see buying quite a few things through Origin. Nothing like getting a brand new game for 50% off just by spending $2.50 for that Mass Effect DLC pack I never bothered to get, right?

 

[Elsarild]

They have, as far as I know, all EA titles has been pulled from the store, the games you already own are still oyur on steam, but Steam isn't allowed to sell any more EA games there.

A quick search on Steam reveals that The Sims 3, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect are all still there.

That being said, EA has always been stingy with pre-order bonuses when it comes to Steam. I don't believe for a moment that Steam making DA2 available for pre-order the day after the free upgrade to the Signature Edition offer ended was any coincidence. So when it comes to major EA titles, I'll probably use Origin. Also, Origin has the FIFA series, which Steam never bothered to acquire for whatever reason. So I'll certainly be getting FIFA 12 there.

Widespread use of Origin will depend on whether EA has something to offer. Pre-order bonuses will only get them so far. For games that I don't pre-order, it will likely come down to price. EA loved doing "Buy two or more, get everything half off" sales with the EA Download Manager, which was the precursor to Origin. If they keep that up, I can see buying quite a few things through Origin. Nothing like getting a brand new game for 50% off just by spending $2.50 for that Mass Effect DLC pack I never bothered to get, right?

Sorry, I honestly didn't check, you are correct they only pulled Crysis 2 and some of the comming releases: http://www.vg247.com/2011/06/15/crysis-2-now-only-on-origin-d2d-impulse-more/

Btw Steam do have FIFA? atleast, FIFA manager, not sure if theres a diffrence, dont hit me! I got no clue about these games

 

[GraveeKing]

I'm sticking with steam.

 

[Sp3ratus]

They have, as far as I know, all EA titles has been pulled from the store, the games you already own are still oyur on steam, but Steam isn't allowed to sell any more EA games there.

A quick search on Steam reveals that The Sims 3, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect are all still there.

That being said, EA has always been stingy with pre-order bonuses when it comes to Steam. I don't believe for a moment that Steam making DA2 available for pre-order the day after the free upgrade to the Signature Edition offer ended was any coincidence. So when it comes to major EA titles, I'll probably use Origin. Also, Origin has the FIFA series, which Steam never bothered to acquire for whatever reason. So I'll certainly be getting FIFA 12 there.

Widespread use of Origin will depend on whether EA has something to offer. Pre-order bonuses will only get them so far. For games that I don't pre-order, it will likely come down to price. EA loved doing "Buy two or more, get everything half off" sales with the EA Download Manager, which was the precursor to Origin. If they keep that up, I can see buying quite a few things through Origin. Nothing like getting a brand new game for 50% off just by spending $2.50 for that Mass Effect DLC pack I never bothered to get, right?

Exactly. Or better yet, looking at their publisher catalog: http://store.steampowered.com/publisher/Electronic%20Arts reveals that there are actually a whole bunchload of games still available.

I agree with the DA2, it was most certainly not a coincidence. I still think it was quite silly and still haven't bought DA2(not entirely because of that, I'm waiting for it to go down in price as well).

The move make TOR available only on Origin, when it comes to digital download is certainly an aggresive one, to promote Origin. From my point of view, while I can understand why it's done, doesn't seem like a good one. Rather than getting Origin up and running, I think it'll make TOR less popular, that it potentially could've been. I'm still going to try it out, but again, it just seems plain silly to limit your sale of such a multi-million dollar game.

 

[Gardenia]

I'm not a big fan of EA, so I will definitely stick with Steam. Crysis 2 wasn't even that good.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Btw Steam do have FIFA? atleast, FIFA manager, not sure if theres a diffrence, dont hit me! I got no clue about these games

Yeah, FIFA Manager is different than just FIFA. Manager, as the name implies, is a management sim, while FIFA involves actually getting out on the field and playing football. I imagine the reason that they never got the FIFA series is because it really does need a control pad. Thankfully, I got one to play Test Drive Unlimited 2 better. And I'd rather get the new FIFA on my PC than on my XBox, where I'd have to pay to play online.

The move make TOR available only on Origin, when it comes to digital download is certainly an aggresive one, to promote Origin. From my point of view, while I can understand why it's done, doesn't seem like a good one. Rather than getting Origin up and running, I think it'll make TOR less popular, that it potentially could've been. I'm still going to try it out, but again, it just seems plain silly to limit your sale of such a multi-million dollar game.

TOR has been one mistake after another. The game looks great, but I cannot justify a monthly fee for what looks to be an MMO in name only. I'd pre-order it RIGHT NOW if it were announced that they were scrapping the stupid MMO aspect, and just let me have a co-op campaign for free like Baldur's Gate. I can't believe I'm the only one on that particular ship, either. I don't see how they'll manage the million subscribers they say they need to be profitable. Maybe for a month or two. Almost certainly not 6 months or more after release.

 

[Snork Maiden]

I don't know why anyone would choose to *exclusively* use either Steam or Origin. I'll buy from whichever one has the best offers for the games I want, I think.

Btw Steam do have FIFA? atleast, FIFA manager, not sure if theres a diffrence, dont hit me! I got no clue about these games

Just FIFA manager (the management sim that's basically an inferior version Football Manager) - FIFA the game most people mean is the one where you control players on a pitch. I've always played FIFA/Pro Evo on consoles to be honest, so not having it on PC is no big hit.

 

[TriggerHappyAngel]

I love Steam and it's insane discounts

 

[Phishfood]

I'm sticking with steam. I really don't want to end up in the situation where I have multiple digital distribution platforms installed all hogging resources to run in the background. Ok, so I can stop them starting automatically but then I have the hassle of manually switching.

As I said in another thread, we could do with a completly neutral third party distribution platform that everyone would agree to use. That would be nice.

 

[Aris Khandr]

As I said in another thread, we could do with a completly neutral third party distribution platform that everyone would agree to use. That would be nice.

I disagree. Competition can do nothing but good things for us. Sure, EA could pull all of their games from Steam, but that isn't likely to happen. So what will happen is that Origin and Steam will have to compete for customers. As I said before, pre-order bonuses will only get either company so far. Which means they'll have to offer something to us after the game is released. More than likely, that means sales. Competing for customers can only help us. I'd rather them fight for my money like gladiators, living or dying at the whim of the fickle Roman Empress watching them spill blood for my amusement.

 

[Gr8gam3r]

Steam's got first movers advantage. I don't think Origin can catch up.

 

[Phishfood]

I disagree. Competition can do nothing but good things for us. Sure, EA could pull all of their games from Steam, but that isn't likely to happen. So what will happen is that Origin and Steam will have to compete for customers. As I said before, pre-order bonuses will only get either company so far. Which means they'll have to offer something to us after the game is released. More than likely, that means sales. Competing for customers can only help us. I'd rather them fight for my money like gladiators, living or dying at the whim of the fickle Roman Empress watching them spill blood for my amusement.

Well, I'm thinking more the way my sony ereader thing works. Or even music. In both cases I can buy media from various places, but then I use one app to control said media. In the case of music I shove it all into itunes. In the case of ebooks I shove it in the Sony software and from there to the reader. So, EA, Steam, Gamestop and anyone else who cares to play can have their own store with their own prices and their own sales but when it gets down to the PC us users have just one icon sat in the system tray or the start menu. We could even have competing platforms same way we have itunes and winamp and vlc etc, just have everyone standardise on their digital download format and the API to join games.

 

[StBishop]

They have, as far as I know, all EA titles has been pulled from the store, the games you already own are still oyur on steam, but Steam isn't allowed to sell any more EA games there.

So I guess they arn't as much as "filling a niece" as "Making one that they then can fill themselves"

But I feel the same, I got around 130 games or so on Steam, and leaving to, what to me seems like an inferier system with not even 1 10th of the games, steam has to offer. Oh well.

At least in Aus I can (as of about 30 seconds ago) still buy Sims 3, Mass Effect 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 etc on steam.

I like steam. I will continue to use steam.

 

[Elsarild]

They have, as far as I know, all EA titles has been pulled from the store, the games you already own are still oyur on steam, but Steam isn't allowed to sell any more EA games there.

So I guess they arn't as much as "filling a niece" as "Making one that they then can fill themselves"

But I feel the same, I got around 130 games or so on Steam, and leaving to, what to me seems like an inferier system with not even 1 10th of the games, steam has to offer. Oh well.

At least in Aus I can (as of about 30 seconds ago) still buy Sims 3, Mass Effect 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 etc on steam.

I like steam. I will continue to use steam.

I already covered this and excused my lack of research, please refain from stating it over and over.

 

[StBishop]

Btw Steam do have FIFA? atleast, FIFA manager, not sure if theres a diffrence, dont hit me! I got no clue about these games

Yeah, FIFA Manager is different than just FIFA. Manager, as the name implies, is a management sim, while FIFA involves actually getting out on the field and playing football. I imagine the reason that they never got the FIFA series is because it really does need a control pad. Thankfully, I got one to play Test Drive Unlimited 2 better. And I'd rather get the new FIFA on my PC than on my XBox, where I'd have to pay to play online.

The move make TOR available only on Origin, when it comes to digital download is certainly an aggresive one, to promote Origin. From my point of view, while I can understand why it's done, doesn't seem like a good one. Rather than getting Origin up and running, I think it'll make TOR less popular, that it potentially could've been. I'm still going to try it out, but again, it just seems plain silly to limit your sale of such a multi-million dollar game.

TOR has been one mistake after another. The game looks great, but I cannot justify a monthly fee for what looks to be an MMO in name only. I'd pre-order it RIGHT NOW if it were announced that they were scrapping the stupid MMO aspect, and just let me have a co-op campaign for free like Baldur's Gate. I can't believe I'm the only one on that particular ship, either. I don't see how they'll manage the million subscribers they say they need to be profitable. Maybe for a month or two. Almost certainly not 6 months or more after release.

Everyone I know would rather play it single player. It's how I play my MMO's anyway.

 

[Zantos]

I'll probably have both. They'll most likely give nice bonuses and cheap rates to get people in as it starts up.