Valve boss Gabe Newell has, like many of us these past few months, taken EAās new Origin service for a spin. Hearing his thoughts on the thing are interesting, though, because he runs the company that runs Originās dominant competitor.
āI think it does some things wellā Newell told PC Gamer. āI think there are still some areas where, as a customer, Iād like to see it improve. Itās not that different from any other system like this. There are positive things and negative things.ā
With the release of the Battlefield 3 demo this week, Iāve had to use Origin, and have hated every second of it. Mostly because it takes an eternity to get up and running, but also because when once running, there are always hangs or errors. Which for a service people have to use to play such a big game isnāt good enough.
Asked later about competition for his own service, Newell raises a very valid point, saying āI and everyone at Valve know that youāre only as successful as what youāve done lately.ā
āSo the idea that Steam is somehow the answer to digital distribution ignores the fact that every two or three years, something is going to change dramatically.ā
And this is why none of Steamās competitors, Origin included, can make a dent in Valveās domination of the PC download market. Steam is successful because it came in and did something new, damn near perfected it, and is now reaping the benefits. Instead of building something new, something that will replace Steam, other companies just keep making Steam clones that donāt work as well as Steam does.
Gabe Newell reviews EAās Origin [CVG]
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