14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts has clarified its position about how it will treat its newly launched digital distribution platform Origins and rivals like Steam, Direct2Drive, Impulse and GamersGate saying that the publisher will seek to make its games available through as many outlets as possible.
David DeMartini, who is the leader of the Electronic Arts division in charge of Origin, has said, “Obviously when a big publisher comes up with their own application and launches a site where you can buy games directly, people immediately jump to the conclusion that means they're going to exclude everyone else.”
The executive believes that any download service should embrace the idea that the player is the only one able to decide whether to get his content.
DeMartini added, “We feel like if you buy the product with Origin, where we're going on a long-term basis is we'll integrate some of the Origin feature set into many of our highest-profile IP... but by all means if your preferred retailer is Best Buy or Direct2Drive or Impulse or Steam or Amazon... we're going to make our product available to you.”
He also clarified the Crysis 2 situation from earlier in the summer, saying that the game was taken out of the store by Steam because the downloadable content released for it was not offered through the Valve service, which breached the terms of the agreement between the two companies.
DeMartini says that the two companies still have a great deal of respect for each other and that they will continue to work together in the future.
In the near term, the team working on Origins aims to create more features for the service, specifically aimed at making it more interesting than Steam for those who are heavily focused on playing Electronic Arts made games.
It's not clear how well Origin can perform in a digital distribution market that already has plenty of big players and competition.