EA will be enforcing the use of their new, Steam-like service, Origin, in the PC version of their upcoming Call Of Duty competitor, Battlefield 3.
If you don’t already know (and I wouldn’t blame you), Origin is Electronic Arts brand new digital distribution platform that allows the purchasing and downloading of PC games and downloadable content. It needs a client and is very much like Steam, except for the fact that it’s currently only filled with EA games. It has Facebook, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network integration but they’re all tied together with an EA (or Origin) account.
Since being announced, Origin has caused a lot of bad press for EA. Firstly, Crysis 2 was removed from Steam. Next they released the game Alice: Madness Returns as an “Origin Exclusive”, but later backflipped to put the game on Steam and other services.
And now EA has caused quite a stir by announcing that Battlefield 3 will not be coming to Steam and now Daniel Matros, the DICE community manager, has announced that Origin will be required on all PC retail copies of the game.
You’ve got to hand it to EA. Not even I thought they’d screw Origin up this bad.