Head of E.A Origin says "Steam sales are bad" & wants Origin to be the hub for gamers

[StriderX]

lol i'm trolling? most of you obviously didnt reasd the actual interview and just see the headline

Usually any interview with EA or Activision personnel, is PR huffpuffery which just wastes everyone's time.

I understand fully what he said, but unfortunately he misses the point that usually these 90% discounts and such, are usually for a limited time, possibly just a day.

The advantage is that it gets advertised if its a good game.

Steam, by now has had quite a lot of numbers crunched, they know what discounts are good and the profit they can get off of each, so its hardly like they are randomly putting 90%, 50% or 20% discounts on random games.

 

[Woden]

lol i'm trolling? most of you obviously didnt reasd the actual interview and just see the headline

Yes you are trolling. Unless not having massive deals will somehow make Origin cheaper?

 

[Random Guy]

The problem for Mr. EA here is that to be as good as Steam, you need to win the goodwill of gamers, and EA have repeatedly failed over the years to do so. Besides, Origin is if anything seen as the "Corporate" alternative to Steam - who wants that?

 

[BSmith]

I will never buy anything off Origin, ever.

 

[HangTime]

I found that a pretty good read (regardless of what one thinks of the viewpoints), thanks.

I do think with the headline there's a touch of the EA-bashing sensationalism though, picking out something that could be perceived as negative rather than mentioning e.g. free 90 day hosting of indie crowd-funded titles that I hadn't heard about previously.

 

[HangTime]

I understand fully what he said, but unfortunately he misses the point that usually these 90% discounts and such, are usually for a limited time, possibly just a day.

The advantage is that it gets advertised if its a good game

I don't think he does miss the point though, he even acknowledges it (citing Gabe... the water cooler bit)

My take on it is that for old games it is a great idea, lets be honest the majority of gamers do not routinely buy games that are more than say 3 years old at normal price (even if the normal price is lower than modern games). Big discounts on modern games I'm not so sure, as they will still be shifting some units.

What I would say however is that short term big discounts are probably more effective than modest reductions.... a midpriced £20 game dropping to £15 isn't going to generate much interest unless it is a very new title, it won't get any publicity or show up on sale pages, so the only people buying it will be people interested in it in the first place. Whereas a £20 game dropping to £5 or £6.66 could pique people's interest. As you suggest, sales are advertising in their own right, especially in the modern age of social advertising (including on forums such as this one).

 

[Sin_Chase]

Cheapens IP?

IP cheapens naturally the older it gets. If it was uneconomical to discount games (IP) as in Steam sales it would not happen. Clearly it works though, generates sales and perhaps an interest in the genre/developer/lineage of that title either there and then or later down the line.

Digital distribution has just accelerated the rate sales become available and, more importantly, their visibility. It's always happened, bargain binned games from the 3rd party distributors who buy rights to sell on titles whose IP has died.

Rather make a sale at a smaller margin than not make one at all. Origin can avoid discounting because they force full RRP with their AAA IP. BF3 for example. No origin? no BF3. It's an unsustainable model in everything but their own wares. EA Origin cannot be compared to Steam.

 

[Gimpymoo]

free 90 day hosting of indie crowd-funded titles

Would be interesting to know their commission after the 90 days. Their shareholders need feeding somehow, anyone who thinks otherwise is being very gullibal if they are taking E.A statement at face value.

Nearly all devs who have spoken out also say that Steam has the fairest terms. I cannot imagine E.A being the same.

 

[arknor]

Would be interesting to know their commission after the 90 days. Their shareholders need feeding somehow, anyone who thinks otherwise is being very gullibal if they are taking E.A statement at face value.

Nearly all devs who have spoken out also say that Steam has the fairest terms. I cannot imagine E.A being the same.

steam require the game to be approved though and many inide devs have said in the past that found it impossible to get added to the steam store

 

[HangTime]

Oh I'm sure there is an alterior motive, it could be free for 90 days but you have to agree not to use a rival platform within X time period for example. Basically meaning that if any dev is successful on Origin then they have to stay on Origin and can't jump ship to e.g. Steam immediately once the freebie is up. Still an interesting concept though, EA is clearly backing Origin and trying to make inroads into the marketplace by trying to find some differentiators from Steam. It could be that EA feels threatened as a traditional publisher and so needs to find new ways of signing up developers.

Did find it a bit cheeky to start talking about Origin only being around for a year though, as it is basically a reskinned version of EA Downloader which is well old, I've got purchases from 2009 and it seems it was around for a few years prior to that.

 

[Gimpymoo]

Did find it a bit cheeky to start talking about Origin only being around for a year though, as it is basically a reskinned version of EA Downloader which is well old, I've got purchases from 2009 and it seems it was around for a few years prior to that.

Good point.

They talk about it as their "first crack of the whip" and it soo was not.

E.A Downloader was terrible.

 

[arknor]

Did find it a bit cheeky to start talking about Origin only being around for a year though, as it is basically a reskinned version of EA Downloader which is well old, I've got purchases from 2009 and it seems it was around for a few years prior to that.

who cares aslong as it keeps steam on its toes.

steam will have to be more indie friendly in future because origin are.

 

[Aedus]

The thing is people like Valve as a company and they like people like Gabe as they're down to earth. People don't like EA, they may like the games EA publish, but no-one likes them. Their Origin "Service" is there to rake in as much money as possible from people who want to play EA published games, selling off extra's as digital content as if it's a physical copy and you're getting more physical goodies included (Which you're not), oh boy you get an extra gun, an extra skin and a .pdf file artbook! £20 more please. What a joke.

Valve saw it as a way to provide a better service, EA saw the success of Steam and decided they wanted a slice of the pie too as the profit margins would be bigger. I wish EA would just die, they're a cancer killing gaming.

 

[Woden]

steam require the game to be approved though and many inide devs have said in the past that found it impossible to get added to the steam store

Dont see this as a bad thing. Why would Valve not list something that will make them a profit?

If Valve aren't selling it, theres a good reason. A reason Origin staff will hapily ignore apparently.

 

[m4rk84]

I feel a legitimate competitor to steam would be healthy for the PC games market, however EA are incapable of ever producing something to legitimately compete with steam. The PC consumers know EA too well to ever put that kind of power in their hands.

 

[Klo]

who cares aslong as it keeps steam on its toes.

steam will have to be more indie friendly in future because origin are.

I'd rather Valve keep at least some quality control.

 

[Woden]

I'd rather Valve keep at least some quality control.

+1

I dont really mind buying I don't like, thats a matter of taste. I *hate* buying a game that's broken.

 

[Gimpymoo]

We [Origin] won’t be doing that [deep-discounting in sales]. Obviously they think it’s the right thing to do after a certain amount of time. I just think it cheapens your intellectual property. I know both sides of it, I understand it. If you want to sell a whole bunch of units, that is certainly a way to do that, to sell a whole bunch of stuff at a low price. The gamemakers work incredibly hard to make this intellectual property, and we’re not trying to be Target.

http://blogs.battlefield.com/2012/09/10th-anniversary-intro/

Today only: Battlefield Anniversary Sale
To kick off the celebrations, Origin are discounting every PC Battlefield game currently on sale on Origin to just $10 or equivalent in your territory. Head to Origin now to stock up on the Battlefield games missing in your collection, but make sure to do it today. The offer only lasts until midnight today on September 20th (incidentally the date when Battlefield 1942 originally launched in Europe).

Saw this on another forum, EA are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Battlefield series discount all games to £9.99 each on Origin for today only...

http://store.origin.com/store/eaeme.../categoryID.60028300/childCategoryID.60028300

I call that deep discounting.

 

[Dicehunter]

I hope EA crash and burn badly and all people who work for them get raped by wild horses, Can you tell I despise EA ?

 

[mythicdawn07]

EA are a joke, everyone with half a braincell knows they are just greedy gits who dont care anything for the customer only about the profit, its a wonder why people give them sales to be active and buy out game companys then ruin a brand/genre because they pump out cheap boring sequels to once great games.

EA is a blight on all gaming. Fact!