Origin is a digital distribution platform developed by EA. Origin allows users to purchase and play products though the origin client. Origin is one of the fastest growing digital distributor of games on the PC platform. Origin has suffered controversy from some gamers who don't wish to support EA or want to play the exclusive games on other services such as Steam. Despite the often sour reception, Origin has been making increasing profits and has been praised for the considerable updates EA has provided it over its life. Origin's largest competitor is Steam.
History[edit]
Despite Origin only been out for a year, EA has had an online store since 2005 and has had a few names, Origin is the latest and most largest attempt. The name 'Origin' comes from 'Originworlds' which was a developer brought by EA.
Origin Store[edit]
Products can purchased or redeemed through the Origin Store. Once purchased, they can be downloaded using the Origin Client. Origin allows users to buy games or download free games as well as demos. Products include Full games, downloadable content, trailers, demos, music or other product in the store. Origin is a region based store which can lead to controversy about the price structure of games outside of the United States (for example a game within the U.S could be $60 while in Australia it could be $99. In effect if a country has banned or changed a game then the legal version (if any at all) will be in the store (for example in Australia 'syndicate' is not available for purchase). Games in the Origin store do not have to be by EA and many third-party groups have joined up.
Non-Essential features[edit]
Some Origin games have the following features. Friends, Chat , Cloud Storage, In-game Overlay, Auto-patching and Cross-platform connection.
