14 DAY TRIAL // Video game company Electronic Arts will have its E3 new conference during Monday but one major piece of news that it plans to deliver has already been revealed with various news outlets reporting that the publisher will introduce a new PC based digital distribution service called Origin.
It seems that Origin will be very close in terms of functionality to the Valve developed Steam, with gamers able to buy, download and organize their PC games.
Initially the Origin service will come with a library of 150 video games and the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be probably sold exclusively on the new service when it launched later during the year.
The exclusive presence of The Old Republic is designed to push the growth of Origin early on and demonstrate its advantages.
Origin will integrate a number of social platform elements, allowing players to communicate with one another and organize based on shared interests, either video game or real life.
It seems that Electronic Arts also plans to launch a number of mobile mini games based on its biggest franchises, like Battlefield, that communicate with the PC versions through Origin and will allow players to get access to more content and rewards as they play.
John Riccitiello, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Arts, says that the launch of Origin is the next step in his company's drive towards a digital future.
For the fiscal year that ended on March 31 EA says that it has received revenue of 833.000 dollars from digital video games, much of it linked to the Playfish division.
It's unclear whether the launch of Origin will mean that the EA Store will disappear and what will happen to content that has been purchased through it.
At the moment the PC digital distribution market is controlled by Steam from Valve, with other important competitors being Direct2Drive, Impulse and GamersGate.