Valve Doesn't Hate Origin

[Marshall Honorof]

Valve Doesn't Hate Origin

Steam's frontman bears no ill will towards EA's digital distribution platform.

Big game developers have a way of getting into pulling its titles [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112486-EA-Slings-More-Mud-at-Activision] off of Steam, so he may have an ulterior motive behind his polite words.

"I think [Origin] does some things well," said Newell. "I think there are still some areas where, as a customer, I'd like to see it improve." The Valve boss did not go into specifics about the service, stating only that it had "positive things and negative things," and that Origin does not appear significantly different from any other digital download service. Newell's comments seem fair, although they sound like they could refer to basically any service, including Steam.

Origin has over 4 million users. If its base continues to grow at this rate, EA will probably not miss the sales it would have gained on Steam, but Newell will. "We want EA's games on Steam and we have to show them that's a smart thing to do," he remarked back in August. Either way, Newell showed that it's still possible for competitors to evaluate each other's products without sounding like enormous bullies, and that speaks volumes.

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/320652/gabe-newell-reviews-eas-origin/]

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[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Kind of what I expected Newell to say. Stay classy Valve.

 

[Woodsey]

He's hardly going to shit on it when they're wanting them to come back to Steam.

"Origin has over 4 million users. If its base continues to grow at this rate"

Any confirmation on whether EA accounts that were automatically converted are included in this? Because if so, that's what you call "bullshit".

 

[Waaghpowa]

Any confirmation on whether EA accounts that were automatically converted are included in this? Because if so, that's what you call "bullshit".

That's what I was thinking. I don't think it's so much that 4 million people decided "Hey! Origin sounds great!", they just converted the EA accounts and decided to count those.

Anyway, Valve shouldn't hate Origin because it wont pose a threat to them. As of now, Origin works only with EA games and who knows if they actually manage to get anything else. Until EA can get more than just their games on Origin, it's simply a waste.

 

[Hiname]

Sure, he doesn't hate Origin.

It's like that annoying little cousin your sister always has to drag along when visiting you. You can't tell to her face that you hate that rude, incontinent jackass, but damn you're happy every time he's finally gone again.

 

[falcon1985]

Newell is a cool guy and a good businessman.

Can't really tell which side of that is going into these statements, though. Probably a little bit of each.

He's hardly going to shit on it when they're wanting them to come back to Steam.

"Origin has over 4 million users. If its base continues to grow at this rate"

Any confirmation on whether EA accounts that were automatically converted are included in this? Because if so, that's what you call "bullshit".

My regular EA account was automatically turned into an Origin account without me downloading Origin, so yeah.

Yup, same here. I'm guessing there haven't been many actual new accounts, just the old converts.

 

[rsvp42]

I doubt anyone really "hates" it. At worst people dislike it, but then that gets magnified by the internet. It's survival of the fittest when it comes to forum topics and "I rather dislike Origin" probably won't get as many hits as "Origin is the worst thing to ever happen to gaming" or something like that. People get so worked up. I hope we invent some more negative adjectives soon because the worst ones are already being used by gamers to describe minor concerns.

 

[vrbtny]

Eh, unlike Steam, Origin is stable and doesn't chow down on CPU and RAM until your computer grinds to a halt and bursts into tears under the insane demands of the system.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Versuvius]

Eh, unlike Steam, Origin is stable and doesn't chow down on CPU and RAM until your computer grinds to a halt and bursts into tears under the insane demands of the system.

Just my 2 cents.

This is utter rhubarb. Rhu. Bhaaaarb

 

[Enkidu88]

Origin has over 4 million users.

I'm sure half of those are people like me that had to make an EA account at some point, and suddenly got an email saying "congratulations, you're an Origin user now."

 

[DigitalSushi]

Eh, unlike Steam, Origin is stable and doesn't chow down on CPU and RAM until your computer grinds to a halt and bursts into tears under the insane demands of the system.

Just my 2 cents.

This is utter rhubarb. Rhu. Bhaaaarb

Steam doesn't work on my PC either, can't find a solution, it just bogs it down, I also can't uninstal it without it re-installing itself because I once had Half Life and Half Life 2.

TF2 keeps re downloading and stops at 66% if I'm not paying attention to my computer even though I have the orange box.

I'm probably a strange case, but I can't be arsed with Steam because its happened to several PC's with several IP's, Steam just doesn't work for me.

 

[Phishfood]

I'm all for getting EA back on steam.

Will valve games ever be on origin though?

What we need for a truly competitive digital market is for it not to matter which download service you use. I've said before and will say again, we need to separate the download client from the shop. Let us have one universal downloader installed on the PC and have it talk to the EA store, the steam store and the impulse store etc.

 

[elvis-66]

never had trouble with steam hogging resources, sounds more like a local issue to me.

On another note I dont want origin because I am just too damn lazy to go to two different places to get my pc games, plus I dont want the hassle of two accounts, usernames, passwords etc.

Sorry to sound a hippy but cant we {pc gamers}all just get along?

 

[Loop Stricken]

Over 4mil accounts? Might that not be a little bit disingenu-...

"Origin has over 4 million users. If its base continues to grow at this rate"

Any confirmation on whether EA accounts that were automatically converted are included in this? Because if so, that's what you call "bullshit".

Ninjas. Damn.

 

[matrix3509]

The fact of the matter is I'm sick and tired of having to sign up a separate account for every goddamn publisher I buy a game for. I'm already signed up to more shit than I can remember, which is a huge security risk for me.

Besides, if EA wants me to buy games through Origin they might actually try to offer me an incentive to do so. Rather than holding some exclusive titles over my head like a fucking 3rd grade bully, how about, you know, actually maybe offering some discounts?

 

[Loop Stricken]

Trust me, Gabe knows better than to throw his weight around.

And now you've delayed Episode 3 for another month. Well done.

 

[Callate]

Well, that's great, Gabe. I'm glad you could be cordial and respectful, when so much of the rest of the industry is-

oh my God don't turn your back on EA, Gabe, they've got a shiv-!