Origin Sale Takes a Jab at Steam

[Steven Bogos]

Origin Sale Takes a Jab at Steam

"70% off games you'll actually play" boasts the latest Origin sale.

Anyone who's used Steam knows about the glory that is Steam Sales - usually two or three times a year when a vast swath of the game client's library goes on sale. It's a time of great rejoice... unless you happen to have already been using Steam for quite some time, and your backlog is full of random indie games you have no intention of playing, but bought anyway because they were 90% off. The latest Origin sale is clearly taking a jab at this philosophy, boasting up to "70% off games you'll actually play."

"Your backlog can wait," continues the ad, "These games are the real deal." And indeed, some of the titles that are 70% off are ones that are definetly worth playing, such as Mirror's Edge and Dragon Age for $4.50, and Mass Effect 3 and Dead Space 3 for $6.

Furthermore, if you took advantage of EA offering Battlefield 3 for free [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134864-Battlefield-3-Is-Free-For-EAs-On-The-House-Program?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=news] as part of its "On The House" program (which you still can, by the way), you can pick up some of its expansion packs for $3 a piece.

I might get some flack for going against the "hivemind" here, but between Origin's free game program [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127004-EA-Offers-Full-Refunds-For-Unsatisfied-Origin-Customers], and a lot of other improvements the platform has made (such as the ability to stream your games straight to Twitch from the client), Origin is actually shaping up to be... quite a good service.

Never thought i'd say that.

Source: Kotaku [http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=33330X911644&site=kotaku.com&xs=1&isjs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.origin.com%2Fen-us%2Fstore%2F&xguid=c99c03302060c26bb259e36aab148b15&xcreo=0&xed=0&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2Fea-game-sale-makes-fun-of-steam-1585107496&pref=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedly.com%2F&xtz=-540]

Permalink

 

[Falterfire]

Things that are still missing: There is no ability to gift games using the Origin client. There's pretty much no way to buy Mass Effect 3 for a friend that's easier than just handing them some cash and telling them to buy it. This makes coercing friends into joining me in playing the multi more difficult.

Origin isn't that bad from what I can tell, but most of the shady stuff I've heard about Origin (Sneaking through your files) are things I admittedly don't really look at. From just a functionality perspective, it doesn't really have any bits that annoy me.

That said, I wish it played nice with the Steam overlay. Adding an Origin game shortcut to Steam doesn't help - Launching it causes it to go through Origin and some part of that process causes the Steam Overlay to stop recognizing the game's process. I want mah in-gaem chats back.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

I have to pay tax on Origin. So really, I save less for games I could just get on steam and not play either way.

And from glancing at the "Games I'd actually play"- that's rich, EA. Really fucking rich. I a quarter of those games in the last two steam sales and have only installed one.

I still really don't like Origin. Yeah, the on the house thing is nice, but I just feel safer using steam, and the fact that Steam's library is like fifty times that of EA's...

 

[Sanunes]

I think more competition in the market is going to be a good thing for consumers even if you don't like EA as a company giving people a choice to pick between services will always lead to new innovation and better experiences.

 

[Lilani]

Origin making fun of Steam sounds like Pepsi making fun of Coke. It's cute and all...but everybody knows what everybody's preferred choice is.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Medal of Honor Warfighter, Insaniquarium and CnC 4.

Sure Origin, these are games I'll actually play. Totes.

Though admittedly the name of the sale is pretty funny.

 

[Micah Weil]

In all honesty, the only - and I mean ONLY - reason I could see myself needing to use Origin for is the Command and Conquer Ultimate Collection...and even then, I've got an older PC that will run The First Decade.

Sorry, EA. You're just...not selling me on it. :\

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Hmmm, nope. No games I want to play.

Nothing for me either. Though I do have to give them credit, these are real games that actually exist.

Origin making fun of Steam sounds like Pepsi making fun of Coke. It's cute and all...but everybody knows what everybody's preferred choice is.

Hey, I prefer Pepsi.

 

[scotth266]

Yeah, I don't think so. I'm not paying EA to install yet another stupid client on my computer. I'd rather pay for a console and pick their games up on that, because at least there I'd be opening myself up to other options.

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

EA has been showing surprising signs of improvement lately. Like that new battlefield trailer that leaked? Here are all the things they got very, VERY right with that:

- they did not fall for the trap of making it into a sci-fi shooter like every other major modern military shooter franchise. Sci-fi is great but I suspect it's going to be to this generation what modern military setting was to the last one and world war 2 was to the PS2 era. Instead, they went for a seldom explored police theme.

- they got Visceral - a studio famous for its singleplayer campaigns - to work on the singleplayer campaign. And they have actually been listening to feedback and are opening it up a bit. Looks like not standing in the one designated correct spot all the time is not going to gameover your ass anymore.

- I'm sorry, I still can't get over how positive a step involving Visceral was. Do you remember that one stealth section in Battlefield 3? When you were supposed to sneak up on a guy and knife him in the throat? When a prompt would appear and ignoring it or moving any further would kill you instantly, even though the guy, or indeed anyone around had no chance of seeing you? Now there are detection meters. And semi-open maps. And freedom of approach. And responsive enemy AI. All those concessions of modern shooters that have actually added something to player enjoyment as opposed to uniformity and frustration.

- they did not pull the leaked trailer immediately, attempting to pretend the game didn't exist and suing everyone involved, like it seems to be a trend in the industry today. that's something I would expect EA to do just a couple years ago. But they seem to be just going with it.


No, I haven't forgotten how EA has been behaving just last year. But I can't believe just how much they've been working on turning their PR around. The fact that they have been consistently making good decisions is, to me, incredible. Sure, there have been hiccups and sure, they attempted to see what they can get away with a couple times but holy shit people, I think we may have managed to... er... hate them into submission.

Yeah, they are not winning any awards just yet but seeing them actually try and work on their PR is extremely refreshing.

Oh yes, and Origin has been getting really good lately. I am concerned about Steam though. That quality control issue is starting to get out of hand and they are just about the only digital distribution service without a returns policy. Which is an issue. I bought a copy of dishonored which is region restricted and I was not warned of that before purchase. Valve has flat out refused to acknowledge the issue, let alone give me my money back. It's sad.

 

[Something Amyss]

I see games I already own, and games I'm not interested in. Hmmm. Well, at least the marketing was cute.

Lol... I wonder if origin realizes it's not that people buy games they don't want... they buy soooo many that they actually have a backlog. You know the sort of thing that happens when a store has lots of stuff you like as opposed to just the stuff they want to sell.

You can rationalise it all you want, but if half of games remain unplayed, or whatever that insanely high statistic was, there's a backlog issue.

Origin making fun of Steam sounds like Pepsi making fun of Coke. It's cute and all...but everybody knows what everybody's preferred choice is.

That analogy would make Origin the choice of a new generation. That's scary.

 

[lacktheknack]

Origin making fun of Steam sounds like Pepsi making fun of Coke. It's cute and all...but everybody knows what everybody's preferred choice is.

Pepsi/Origin, right?








OT: Well, people WERE complaining that they were being coerced into buy games they never play... I'd say that EA used that to their advantage beautifully.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Furthermore, if you took advantage of EA offering Battlefield 3 for free [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134864-Battlefield-3-Is-Free-For-EAs-On-The-House-Program?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=news] as part of its "On The House" program (which you still can, by the way), you can pick up some of its expansion packs for $3 a piece.

But Premium isn't on sale. So you get the maps and the guns, but miss out on any premium bonuses. And if you want to buy premium, there is no price reduction for already owning some of the content.

I was genuinely interested for a moment there, but they still reek scumminess.

Not to mention the Fuck Australia tax they put on their games everything. ($6 for each DLC instead of $3 for example)

 

[K12]

I got the Dead Spaces, Mass Effect and Mirror's Edge for 75% on steam about a year ago. So... nope.

 

[EndlessSporadic]

BF3 and ME3 for a combined $6? Even with all the shit that went around ME3's ending I think I can pick it up for $6.

I have so many mixed feelings about both Steam and Origin/EA. I love cheap games as a consumer, but I despise them as a developer.

 

[Elfgore]

I've been meaning to buy Dragon Age 2 for the PC for quite some time now. Six bucks sounds like a fine price to me. Honestly, I don't get the Origin hate. They hand out free games and people still complain.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

That's cute, EA. Don't try and pretend that you wouldn't want people to blindly splurge money on games they may never play.

 

[iblis666]

nothing on sale that i want that i dont all ready have on steam except C&C that i got some time ago