EA launching Origin digital download service to challenge Steam

EA have confirmed that they're launching a digital download service to rival Steam. A full announcement later today promises more details, but for now Eurogamer and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that the service will be called Origin, and will have a PC focus, with more than 150 PC games for sale on launch. It'll be the only place you can buy Star Wars: The Old Republic digitally when it's eventually released.

In future Origin plans to spread to smartphones, providing additional downloadable mini-games alongside their major game releases. EA have already followed a similar tactic with games like Dead Space, but Origin plans to consolidate these games into a more convenient single service. It's unclear at the moment whether Origin will replace the EA Store, but we'll know more when EA make the official announcement later today.

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Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.