EA wants 'Origin to be the Facebook to Steam's Myspace'

[garyopa]

'Our aim is to be a better version of Steam'



That's right, Electronic Arts basically called Steam the Myspace of DD.
VP of global ecommerce David DeMartini has also responded to Valve and Steam boss Gabe Newell’s criticisms.

Electronic Arts' VP of global ecommerce David DeMartini said that the company isn't satisfied with being the second best and has laid down its plans to be the "Facebook" of digital distribution, compared to "Valve's Myspace".

“If MySpace had stayed the one answer in social networking and no one switched to Facebook, then we’d all be stuck on MySpace right now and we wouldn’t have had the Facebook phenomenon,” he told MCV.

“There are better mousetraps that ultimately get built out of this innovation and the only way you get to the innovation is to have other people try and do a better version of what someone has previously done. And that’s what we’re attempting to do on Origin.

He also responded to Gabe Newell’s criticism that Origin has yet to do anything "super-well" saying that he is delighted that the platform is now ‘part of the conversation.’

“Gabe was quick to point out in the first time he ever spoke about Origin publicly that he didn’t think we’d achieved that yet. I would agree with that – we’re on a path of constant improvement. I didn’t expect to be able to out-feature Steam within the first 12 months. But I’m quite optimistic we will differentiate ourselves as a service. We’ve built the foundation and now we are starting to add value to the service off of that foundation.”

“If 12 months ago you would tell me we’d be in the conversation, I would have been pretty happy. And when you look at the fact that over 12m people have downloaded Origin, we have over 50 partners that have flocked to the service in less than 12 months, and we did over $150m in revenue, which represented 400 per cent growth over the previous year – those numbers show we are making huge progress.

And finally he added that EA wants to “be 90 plus Metacritic at everything”:

“EA is in a really interesting place. We have this bar that is set so high, so that whether it is any of our games or services, we want to be 90 plus Metacritic at everything.

“Origin is moving in that direction. We are not there yet. We understand that. But we are going to get there soon.”

Silly comments? What do you think?

NEWS SOURCE #1: EA Origin our aim is to be a better version of Steam (via) MCV UK
NEWS SOURCE #2: EA wants Origin to be the Facebook to Steam's Myspace (via) Destructoid

Our thanks to 'Gauss' for this news item!

[wewii]

Origin > Steam

because

Facebook > Myspace


Ya I don't think so.

[billysastard]

and this is from a company who has shares dropping faster than a ferrari self immolates and who is hated around the globe for its greedy anti consumer behavior.

[Signa]

I'm willing to eat my words, but EA will NEVER EVER make a service as good as Valve has. Valve is privately owned, and that alone is all the reason they need to stay on top. EA's shareholders will demand more and more return on their investments, and as such EA will have to gouge customers more. If by some miraculous chance shareholders start to understand that there is more profit in consumer goodwill, we *might* see an Origin capable of competing with Steam. I just don't see that happening outside of everyone in Wallstreet dying from aids.

[tech3475]

Personally, Origin can never beat steam for me because I like the service despite it's flaws and it's sales, the latter of which EA said they wouldn't be doing.

[MadonnaProject]

oh well, good luck to them.

[JonathanD]

Hmmmm I give Origin about a .0001% chance of beating Steam any time soon.

[billysastard]

Hmmmm I give Origin about a .0001% chance of beating Steam any time soon.

you think it has that much chance? i think its closer to .0000%

[JonathanD]

you think it has that much chance? i think its closer to .0000%

Yeah I might have needed to add a few more zero's, I mean there still is a chance though. WWIII could break out and for some odd reason Origins servers could be spared the destruction while none of Valves survive.... Sure its completely insane and I am praying that the Russians have at least 20 ICBM's aimed at EA but who knows. lol