EA Retires Origin Platform, Affects Users

EA launched its Origin app in 2011 as a digital storefront for browsing and buying its PC games, offering an alternative to Steam. A major milestone came in 2012 when Mass Effect 3 required Origin for play. Despite this, the platform never gained significant traction.

Many PC gamers avoided Origin whenever possible due to its awkward user experience and frustrating login procedures. EA continued to support it, but has now decided to replace Origin entirely with the similarly cumbersome EA app.

This transition comes with important limitations. For instance, if you own Titanfall on Origin but can't access your account, you risk losing your purchased games unless you formally migrate your account from Origin to the new EA app.

Additionally, users on 32-bit systems will be left behind, as the EA app only supports 64-bit operating systems. It's worth noting that Steam also ended support for 32-bit systems in early 2024, affecting a very small remaining user base.

It's highly unlikely that anyone who bought a new PC or built a custom gaming rig in the last five years is still using a 32-bit OS. However, Microsoft sold 32-bit versions of Windows 10 until 2020. Windows 11 users are unaffected. 64-bit computing was introduced with Windows Vista nearly two decades ago.

A simple way to check your system is to look at your installed RAM. A 32-bit OS can only address up to 4GB of RAM. If your system has more than 4GB, you're probably already on a 64-bit system. If you accidentally installed a 32-bit version of Windows, you would need to perform a clean installation of a 64-bit OS.

While phasing out 32-bit support in 2024 isn't shocking, it highlights concerns about digital ownership. Losing access to a long-held game library due to hardware or platform changes is frustrating. Steam is no exception, as Valve's move also strands players who cannot upgrade to modern systems.

Invasive DRM solutions like Denuvo are also becoming more common in PC games. Some implementations require deep kernel-level access to your computer or impose arbitrary installation limits, even though you've purchased the game.

One method for preserving a legitimately bought digital library is to support GOG, operated by CD Projekt. Every game on GOG is DRM-free, meaning once you download a title, you can run and own it forever on any compatible hardware.

This approach does create an opening for software piracy. However, that hasn't prevented new releases from coming to the platform, including the upcoming RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which is listed as "coming soon" on GOG.