The Wall Street Journal reported that Electronic Arts was readying its answer to platforms like Steam and Direct2Drive by building and offering its own digital distribution hub, a story EA later confirmed. Origin will offer over 150 titles at launch and be the sole digital platform for Star Wars: The Old Republic, as well as having exclusive access to certain demos, games, and bonus content. Origin service will be a “cross-media” device, and will maintain multiple social networking capabilities on a single profile. Expect specific details to be discussed at EA’s E3 press conference.
(via The Wall Street Journal, PC Gamer)
I’m all for competition in this market, but there’s also such thing as too many digital distribution hubs. Hopefully in the end the consumer will benefit the most out of this from competitive sales, rather than being forced to use a platform for an exclusive.