Valve boss Gabe Newell has provided his thoughts on Electronic Arts’ competing Origin service, and he managed to remain quite complimentary and civil about it, saying that it does some things well, and other things not so well. How sporting.
“I think it does some things well,” he said. “I think there are still some areas where, as a customer, I’d like to see it improve. It’s not that different from any other system like this. There are positive things and negative things.”
He also talked about the competitive aspect of Origin, revealing that Valve takes all challenges serious: “I and everyone at Valve know that you’re only as successful as what you’ve done lately. So the idea that Steam is somehow the answer to digital distribution ignores the fact that every two or three years, something is going to change dramatically.”
I was forced to finally download Origin on my computer and it felt like I’d given a burglar the keys to my house. That said, it’s cleanly designed and it works, which is about all you can ask for. It just feels so utterly, utterly pointless. Having a service just for one publisher’s games doesn’t strike me as competitive more than it does worthless.
Gabe Newell reviews EA’s Origin [CVG]
