In an unexpected turn of events, Electronic Arts has given its somewhat stagnating Origin PC gaming service a fresh coat of paint, rebranding it as the EA Desktop App.
This renaming was actually a long time coming, given how its Origin Access and EA Access subscription services were merged to form EA Play back in August. It probably was for the best, as EA had only recently started porting over its massive PC game catalogue over to Steam back in June.
“All of that is signaled by creating a common and consistent brand that is centered around EA and what EA stands for,” EA’s Senior Vice President, Strategic Growth, Mike Blank told Gamesindustry in a recent interview. “And what signals it is this inflection about how EA stands for bringing your players together around the games they want to play on the platforms they want to play on. So yeah, it’s not just a name change. It really signals an ethos that is critically important to us and that we know that’s important to our players.”
Blank stated that the launch of the EA Desktop App is intended to “create a more frictionless, fast, socially-oriented experience” for gamers that lets them “connect with the people they want to play with in the games they want to play.”
What exactly he meant by that remains to be seen, though it is clear that EA aims to capitalise on the rise of cross-platform play (as seen in the likes of Star Wars: Squadrons), coupled with the genesis of the next console generation.
Additionally, EA also announced that it will be incorporating EA Play into the Xbox Game Pass service at no additional cost, which will be interesting as the impending launches of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S loom on the horizon.
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.
Trinity Sun
Jake Su
