What is EA’s Origin?

Electronic Art’s Downloader has been rebranded, and is now called Origin. Currently the app works the same as it did before – allowing you to purchase and play EA games on your PC. But the rebranding seems to involve just a little bit more…

The popular PC FPS game Crysis 2 has been removed from Steam, and can now only be purchased through Origin (but if you already have it on Steam, it will still work!). This means PC gamers are pretty much going to have to use both Steam and Origin, if downloading games is your thing. Battlefield 3 will probably be the first game to really bring PC gamers into Origin, due later this year.

EA are also rolling out the service for mobile gaming – iOS first, with Android coming later. Now when playing EA games you’ll be able to sign in to Origin and interact with your friends on the service. That means iOS gamers will need an Origin account if they like Game Center-style community features.

I can totally understand why EA are making Origin their gaming platform, but by removing Steam support and not supporting Game Center, gamers are being forced to sign up to yet another service. Will this really improve user experience with EA games?