The Old Republic Downloads to be Exclusive to EA's "Origin" Service

[Scott Bullock]

OH NOZ! Either sign up for Origin, or go out and buy a physical copy!
Just like I do with all my games!
Seriously when did leaving the house to get a game become too much work?

Ever since the internet taught me just how much I could do without having to scrape myself off of my chair and move.

I'm just waiting on the ability to download Mountain Dew and pizza into my belleh, and I can just staple myself to my computer.

 

[iniudan]

OH NOZ! Either sign up for Origin, or go out and buy a physical copy!
Just like I do with all my games!
Seriously when did leaving the house to get a game become too much work?

Since about 3 years here, need to go about 2 hours of road for a store with decent PC game selection.

 

[Scott Bullock]

plans to establish a game download service along the lines of Valve's Steam service or Stardock's Impulse service.

It's Gamestop's Impulse now.

Oh, yeah. Activate editing powers!

Good catch, by the way.

 

[BGH122]

Oh handy, I'll boycott this game. I'm getting incredibly tired of 'exclusives', but this takes the biscuit by far. If things keep going this way I'll need to have a unique DRM/digital delivery platform for each game developer.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Prof.Beany]

Silly EA, how will you have a TF2 tie in without Steam? Hats sell like hot cakes.

 

[CommanderKirov]

Owwwww, this is a very bad move on the part of EA.

People got used to Steam and it's DRM so it's fine. When you put in entirely another platform with more annoying updates and adds and other things... This is going to cause some annoyance.


For example for me, I'm now questioning should I buy it on release or just wait and see if people will like it. Previously I was thinking of getting it on release.

 

[UnravThreads]

I think EA will give in to Steam in due time... Take a look at their beloved The Sims 3, which was initially not available on Steam. That franchise once was exclusively distributed by EA, but it became available on one of the most widely used Digital Distribution Service in the world.

It was on Direct2Drive, and I think GamersGate too. Steam was pretty much the only platform without it. I don't think it's ever been EA-exclusive.

 

[manythings]

Not alot of skin off my back. I already plan not to buy The Old Republic. The lame space/rail-shooter from the 80's was about as creative as copying Steam outright.

You're main problem is a part of the game that makes up less that 1% of the whole thing? Good job.

 

[qwertyz]

HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! BAD! BAD! No really, this could be seriously bad. If they deprive Steam of BF3 and/or its limited edition, I'm afraid I'll have to not buy the game. I REFUSE to buy a game off Steam. Heck, if they deprive Steam of ANY EA title, they will lose my money.

I really hope they do not put exclusives on their service, because that would be absolutely horrific.

 

[Coldie]

Well, that sure makes the decision whether or not to check the game out easy: "no chance in hell".

Doubt the exclusivity will stick, though. After all, MMOs can't really be bound to a game distribution service - even Steam provides standalone clients for them anyway.

 

[Zhukov]

If I were a perspective buyer of The Old Republic, this would annoy the hell out of me.

 

[Andaxay]

I have absolutely no interest in The Old Republic, but it's hilarious to see EA come up with yet another reason to dislike them. They sure do love screwing people over. I haven't liked them for a couple of years now, they've made some poor decisions.

Buying it in disc form isn't THAT taxing, though, is it? Easily done.

 

[Buizel91]

I honestly don't see the problem...?

If you don't want to download it...buy it off the shelf? Really people get worked up over THIS?

Sure if your a gamer who downloads to play games, this could be a bit of a pain, but then why not sign up to the Origin system? You had to sign up to Steam to buy the games off there, so what's the difference...or am i missing the point?

 

[Quesa]

Spoiler

Not alot of skin off my back. I already plan not to buy The Old Republic. The lame space/rail-shooter from the 80's was about as creative as copying Steam outright.

You are main problem is a part of the game that makes up less that 1% of the whole thing? Good job.

Part of the reason I was turned off as well; not the only reason, but it certainly left a poor taste in my mouth. Certainly some left over angst from SOE's failings on my part.

 

[manythings]

Spoiler

Not alot of skin off my back. I already plan not to buy The Old Republic. The lame space/rail-shooter from the 80's was about as creative as copying Steam outright.

You are main problem is a part of the game that makes up less that 1% of the whole thing? Good job.

Part of the reason I was turned off as well; not the only reason, but it certainly left a poor taste in my mouth. Certainly some left over angst from SOE's failings on my part.

It seems a bit like sending back the steak because there was a sprig of parsley on it.

 

[Hungry Donner]

This is an incredibly bad idea by EA.

All new MMOGs should try everything possible to get as many subscribers, what with the black hole that is WoW draining them all. Making the game exclusive to an untried online distribution platform, which itself will struggle against Valve's own black hole, is insane. It might make your platform more popular for a bit, but it would do so at the cost of the game's sales. A game which, I might add, is costing a very large amount of money.

It's not a bad idea. Really, a large chunk of the profits from a game sell goes to the distribution company, whether it be physical retailers or digital store companies like Steam's Valve. By doing this, EA is retaining 100% of the profits of the sales of it's digital games. This is even more so true by it not having to print the physical disc and box for those either.

I don't see anything wrong with EA putting together it's own distribution service, however I have to agree with InevitableFate that shackling an MMO to a relatively new and untested service like this is a bad idea. MMOs are notoriously difficult to get off the ground and while I know TOR has a lot going for it if this Origin service isn't running well it will throw a spanner in the works.

If Origin is running well by the time TOR is released I can see the logic behind this move, but I don't see this service having much time to work the bugs out before TOR hits the shelves.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I put down $20 on Origin failing miserably

I mean buying your games on Steam is really dodgy business even tho Valve is quite the respectable establishment, but to entrust our games to EA... are you people insane.

 

[Buizel91]

I put down $20 on Origin failing miserably

I mean buying your games on Steam is really dodgy business even tho Valve is quite the respectable establishment, but to entrust our games to EA... are you people insane.

Would you rather EA or Activison?

Oooh god! Activision...Do NOT get idea's for the love of god no!

 

[Gender Unknown]

Seems like a silly idea, EA. I could see this limiting sales a little.