EA’s competitor in the digital distribution platform space, Origin, has been quick out the gates with 11 million registered users since its launch less than a year ago.<\/p>\n
This is in no small part due to its decision to force PC gamers wanting to play Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 to use the Origin client. Likewise, The Old Republic MMO players wanting to buy the through a digital distributor have no choice but Origin.<\/p>\n
The Origin ranks now stand at 35 publishers strong, with Sega being the latest big name to sign on to the service.<\/p>\n
While a lot of users have been disgruntled with the service, particularly because it has been somewhat shoved down their throats, Minecraft creator Markus \u2018Notch\u2019 Persson insists that it\u2019s actually a good thing.<\/p>\n
According to Notch, a monopolized digital distribution market, as was nearly the case with Steam before Origin arrived, is \u201ca bit scary.\u201d<\/p>\n
“I think it’s a bit dangerous to only have one digital distribution platform like Steam,” he said. “I love Valve, but out of principle, I find the idea of one platform a bit scary.<\/p>\n
“So I like that there are others competing – for example, Desura and Impulse, who recently got bought by GameStop. It’s a good thing that there are more.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt that competition breeds a better product, but Notch does think that the Origin service has a fair few things they need to fix; in particular the fact that it is a mandatory install if you want to play an EA game.<\/p>\n
“Origin does a couple things badly compared to Steam – which is impressive since they had eight years to study Steam,” he jokes. “They should definitely have a chance to do their thing, but they might want to move away from titles that make people use it and show people why they should use it. But I think, in principle, it’s a good thing.”<\/p>\n
While most would agree with Notch, if Origin hadn\u2019t forced users onto their service, at least in the beginning, it\u2019s unlikely they would have 11 million users today.<\/p>\n