Electronic Arts executive vice president Andrew Wilson agrees that the company’s Origin distribution platform is perceived as “just one more thing [PC gamers] have to install, another roadblock in the way of getting and playing a game.”
Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Wilson said, “I think when I look at the journey that service has taken, I think the transaction component of that service has taken a disproportionate amount of the communication and mind share of what we really try and provide, and the barrier that puts in between you and the game that you want to play.”
Wilson said that the solution was to emphasise the platform’s benefits as a service. “If you take away the transaction part of that, which for us in all honesty is a very small part of the service, and you think about consistent downloads, consistent access, and understanding of friends' presence, you think about game enhancements like chat and one-click join and in-game overlay, and all of a sudden you start to get to what Origin is – which is a service that makes your EA games better.”
“Some people really do like Origin, for all of those reasons; other people don't because of some less than optimal experience they've had. Initial experiences are hard to overcome, and that's going to take time,” conceded Wilson. “What we would say is ‘We get it. We understand it. We have heard, we have made some changes already in terms of how we do things, and we're looking at more changes that we'll talk about over the coming months that really are gamer-focused.’
