EA's Origin never got any respect. Born out of a dispute with Valve
over how DLC was to be sold (Valve said, 'sell it through Steam so we
can get our cut', EA said, 'no we wanna sell it through the game'), it
was seen by gamers - at best - as an inconvenient middle-man. Nobody
used Origin because they wanted to; it wasn't a destination; it was
annoying middleware that automatically launched whenever you played an
EA game. That it was feature-poor compared to its competitors only
made it more of a laughing stock. For many gamers, all EA Origin did
was take their games out of the limelight; if they weren't on Steam,
it was almost as if they didn't exist.

So I'm sure there's some celebrating that EA's Origin client is on
life support, with an end-of-life date somewhere around the end of the
year.*

But before you get too excited... Origin may be dead, but only because
it's being replaced by the new "EA App". Yes, even though EA has come
to its senses and started selling games via Steam again, it still is
insistent that it wedge its own pointless client into the mix. It's
not so much that Origin as dead, as we're getting Origin 2.0 with a
new name.

I'm sure there are - from EA's perspective, at least - good reasons
for this change. The software was probably quite dated, and EA App
probably is better suited to streaming games (and sucking down user
data). Plus, they are probably glad to shed the Origin brand's tainted reputation (certainly the announcement reads like that: "we’ve
listened to your feedback and acknowledge the limitations of this
platform" they say). From the end-user's perspective I doubt things
will be much better; it's still pointless middle-ware that nobody
wants to use.

Well, at least they aren't sullying the "Origin" name anymore. Fans of
classic PC games will understand how offensive that was to some of us
;-)

I haven't installed the new client yet, but then why should I? I maybe
launch Origin only two or three times a year; there's no rush. The
next time I fire up EA's client, I'm sure it will prompt me to
'upgrade'; until then, why bother?



====================
* read the announcement here: https://www.ea.com/news/ea-app

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On Sat, 08 Oct 2022 21:59:19 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

I haven't installed the new client yet, but then why should I? I maybe
launch Origin only two or three times a year; there's no rush. The
next time I fire up EA's client, I'm sure it will prompt me to
'upgrade'; until then, why bother?

I had to log in to see how much I care.

I have a grand total of 12 games on Origin. Of those 12, there are
only two I care about. One of those two I have on GOG. The other I
have on Steam. So in actual fact, I care about zero of my 12 Origin
games.

So, in conclusion, I do not care.

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Would I be upset if Origin were to go away without a replacement,
leaving my library stranded? I guess I would.

I sure would. And the App Beta would not launch the dead space games
when I tried it. Hopefully that's changed by now.

rms

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On Sun, 09 Oct 2022 09:49:05 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On Sat, 08 Oct 2022 21:59:19 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

I haven't installed the new client yet, but then why should I? I maybe >>launch Origin only two or three times a year; there's no rush. The
next time I fire up EA's client, I'm sure it will prompt me to
'upgrade'; until then, why bother?

I had to log in to see how much I care.

I have a grand total of 12 games on Origin. Of those 12, there are
only two I care about. One of those two I have on GOG. The other I
have on Steam. So in actual fact, I care about zero of my 12 Origin
games.

I have... a few more than that (I say, surprising nobody), although
many of them were either freebies, were transferred to Origin after
the fact*, or were included in bundles. The number of games I've
actually purchased that used Origin probably is less than I have total fingers.** And I've never bought a game /through/ Origin.***

Would I be upset if Origin were to go away without a replacement,
leaving my library stranded? I guess I would. It wouldn't be a major
loss, but I'd notice it. I'd never be able to replay "Titanfall 2", or
"Crysis 3", or any of the Mass Effects, or even - should I be in a
particularly masochistic mood - "Syndicate" (2012). And while few of
these games rank particularly high in my inventory of video games, I
can imagine wanting to go back and play them again sometime in the
future.

I just wish I could do so without the nonsense of EA's interfering
software, whatever the name or iteration.

Still, it amuses me that even EA acknowledges how disliked its own
client was... even as the push its replacement.


=======
* that is, they can be played /without Origin/ if you still own the
original media - which I do - but which EA 'graciously' allowed me to
also add to my Origin library
** for the curious, I've not been exposed to any mutagens nor suffered
any threshing accidents, so you can assume the number of fingers is
typical.
*** I did buy some DLC for the Mass Effect games, and even that EA
managed to make annoying, by requiring an alternate currency ("Bioware
Points") to finish the transaction. Because why would EA make anything straightforward and customer-friendly when they have an opportunity to nickle-and-dime its customers to death?

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"rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote in news:thurcc$hdd9$1@dont-
email.me:

Would I be upset if Origin were to go away without a replacement,
leaving my library stranded? I guess I would.

I sure would. And the App Beta would not launch the dead space games
when I tried it. Hopefully that's changed by now.

I'd certainly miss Mass Effect and maybe Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Anyone know if they work?

Mark.

--
Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos -- the only sysadmins that matter

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On Sat, 08 Oct 2022 21:59:19 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

[snip]

But before you get too excited... Origin may be dead, but only because
it's being replaced by the new "EA App". Yes, even though EA has come
to its senses and started selling games via Steam again, it still is >insistent that it wedge its own pointless client into the mix. It's
not so much that Origin as dead, as we're getting Origin 2.0 with a
new name.

[snip]

Well, at least they aren't sullying the "Origin" name anymore. Fans of >classic PC games will understand how offensive that was to some of us
;-)

[snip]

Sounds like only the name is dead. Good. I also have too much respect for Garriot's Origin Systems. I'm sorry EA turned the trademark it into a
reviled pejorative.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

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