EA Is Dealing the Final Blow to Origin, and Taking Some Users With It
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EAs Origin App was introduced in 2011 so you could browse and purchase EAs PC games on its digital storefront instead of Steam. The most notable launch from this time was a strict Origin requirement for Mass Effect 3 in 2012. However, it never really seemed to take off.Due to clunky UX and frustrating login processes, many PC gamers chose to outright avoid using Origin as much as possible. Despite this, EA persisted, but has now finally decided to outright replace Origin with the equally clunky EA app.This comes along with several caveats. Own Titanfall on Origin but cant access your account? Too bad, if you dont make a formal account switch from Origin to EA, youll lose access to the games youve paid for.Along the way, anyone running a 32-bit system will also be left behind, as the EA app supports 64-bit OS only. To be fair to EA, Steam itself also dropped support for 32-bit operating systems in early 2024, with a scant few users on 32-bit systems remaining. Its extremely unlikely that anyone who has purchased a new PC or laptop, or assembled a custom gaming PC in the last five years will be running on a 32-bit OS. However, Microsoft did sell 32-bit versions of Windows 10 up to 2020. If youre on Windows 11, theres no sweat. 64-bit support was first introduced in Windows Vistas release almost 20 years ago.A quick way to check is to see how much RAM your system is running. A 32-bit OS can only use a maximum of 4GB of RAM, so if youve got more than that in your system, youve likely got nothing to worry about. However, if youve accidentally installed a 32-bit version of Windows, youll have to wipe your entire system and reinstall a 64-bit version of the OS.While support being dropped for 32-bit systems isnt too surprising in 2024, it calls into question the nature of digital ownership. Its no fun losing access to a library of games that youve owned for years due to hardware changes. Steam isnt free from this either, as Valve has also dropped 32-bit support, leaving players who cant upgrade to modern systems high and dry.Invasive digital DRM solutions like Denuvo are also becoming increasingly commonplace in PC games, since some elements require deep kernel-level access to your PC, or have arbitrary installation limits, despite your purchase.One way of preserving a legitimately purchased digital library is to support GOG, run by CD Projekt. The DRM-free nature of every game listed on the store means that once you download a title, youll be able to run it and own it on whatever hardware the title supports, forever.However, the window this opens up for developers is the possibility of software piracy. But, thats not stopped new titles from being released on the platform, with the upcoming RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 coming soon to GOG.Sayem is a freelancer based in the UK, covering tech & hardware. You can get in touch with him at @sayem.zone on Bluesky.
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