WSJ Reports SWTOR Exclusive To New EA Download Service

In an interview with Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello, the Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required to view) Star Wars: The Old Republic will exclusively be a part of their new digital delivery service named Origin. EA will announce more details about Origin tomorrow (Friday).

The article reaffirms players will be able to purchase SWTOR in retail stores as well as from Origin, but the EA service will be the only internet-based one to digitally distribute the game. As we reported in our coverage of the UBS Media and Communications conference, EA CFO Eric Brown stated the game's PC client will be available in both a retail packaged format and digital download format. The Origin service is described as similar to iTunes and will let players purchase, download and keep track of multiple EA game purchases as well as act as a social networking platform. This functionality is available to players even if they don't purchase the game through Origin.

Update 8p PT: BioWare official response after the jump

Update 5a PT 6/3:


After EA's press conference next week at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, you'll also be able to access exclusive game content and trailers for Mass Effect 3, FIFA 12, SSX, Need for Speed: The Run, STAR WARS: The Old Republic, The Sims 3 and Battlefield 3. EA's E3 press conference is scheduled for 12:30PM PST on June 6, 2011. Be sure to watch the live stream right here on EA.com.
Stephen Reid

Hey everyone well, apparently once again the online world trumps newsprint, as a story that was supposed to pop tomorrow popped up tonight! Let me give you a couple of notes on Origin.

First off: Origin is a fantastic new digital initiative from EA, and we're pleased to confirm that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be available exclusively for digital download from Origin.

However, even though you'll only be able to buy and download The Old Republic digitally via Origin, you will still be able to buy a retail, boxed copy of the game from your favorite retailer (and that includes online retailers who'll ship the box to you). BioWare and EA know the value many gamers place on a cool boxed product... and we're producing a cool boxed product. (Or maybe I should say 'boxed products'. )

Second: it's easy to hear an announcement like this and assume it means that we're about to drop another bombshell or two, especially with E3 around the corner. The reality is, this sort of pre-show announcement is pretty standard PR work, so that the story can 'breathe' a bit before E3 news obliterates everything else.

While I will say we have some super-cool stuff coming out of E3 some of which you're actually going to see before E3 starts I don't want you to jump to conclusions just yet. Instead I'd suggest you just strap in and enjoy the ride. We know every single one of you wants to know when The Old Republic is going to launch, and I assure you, when we are ready to give you a date we'll broadcast it loud and clear.

As I'm sure you know, we're 100% committed to making Star Wars: The Old Republic the best quality game (and service) it can be, as you'd expect from a BioWare MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe.

I've said before that an announcement as big as release date will be so big, it'll come thundering towards us and we'll all hear it long before it arrives. That train's coming... but so far, I'd just say we've laid down some early track.

You have questions, no doubt, and all of them will be answered in time. For now, sit back and enjoy E3 next week.

Comments

  • Dark Lord
    LuckyArc's avatar
    • Posts: 307
    #17 LuckyArc Posted 6/3/2011 1:10:34 AM
    I'm kind of sad I won't be able to link it up through Steam, but I know that they have some good intentions from doing this.

    What I really would like to know, is how this affects the EA-Valve relationship. It seems (or seemed) that they had a good partnership, releasing many a great game through the digital distributor.

    -Will I be able to link my ME3 copy to Steam as well as Origin to get the Steam Achievements for it?
    -Will it let me pre-load the digital copy of SWTOR so that I can play it on launch day w/o having to wait for my crappy download rate to catch up with everybody else?
    -Will it let me chat with my friends while in game?

    If their answer is yes to 3/3 of my questions, I won't have any qualms about switching over.
  • Dark Lord
    zechio's avatar
    • Posts: 391
    #27 zechio Posted 6/3/2011 2:43:03 AM
    Well, you can link any game into Steam if you want, it just won't have steam exclusive features ( Such as steam achievements and such )...basically it works as a shortcut...which is all an MMO on steam is anyways since they handle everything else on their own, such as patching.

    1) Buy ME3 on Steam ( If it's not available on Steam, there won't be steam achievements. If it is, they said - at least for TOR, and that's all we have to go on ATM - that it will also be attached to Origin. )

    2) Probably, as EADM can already do stuff like that. However, being an MMO getting the client will be easy, just use the open beta client. There will still be the usual day 1 patch though.

    3) Can't really help ya there. At the very least, I'd imagine they would need Origin as well. Going to have to wait for tomorrow to see if there is any kind of friends and chat system in it.

    My main issue is just that I'll be up to 3 download services now. /sigh I prefer Impulse, but some things require Steam. Now add in Origin, and I'm about ready to hurt some people. They better have some decent sales to make up for this. The main reason to launch their own service, is to avoid the fees they have to pay on each sell for a 3rd party service like Steam ( Typically around 15% ). It'd be nice to get the TOR ultimate edition pre-order at 10% off.
  • Gamorrean Thug
    Adaram's avatar
    • Posts: 51
    #33 Adaram Posted 6/3/2011 3:34:56 AM
    *This* is a good summary of how I feel. I really don't want another digital distribution platform to have only *some* of my stuff. On the other hand, I understand the financial incentive for EA to do this, so I'll get over it :)
  • Dark Lord
    Jonnehz's avatar
    • Posts: 381
    #36 Jonnehz Posted 6/3/2011 3:42:46 AM
    I doubt ME3 will be on steam now.
  • Nerf Herder
    Sarna's avatar
    • Posts: 10
    #47 Sarna Posted 6/3/2011 8:09:27 AM
    Don't count on a discount zechio , that's just not happening.
  • Daelda's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #16 Daelda Posted 6/3/2011 1:08:57 AM
    So...will this replace the EA Download Manager(EADM) then? Since the EADM already manages digital versions of EA titles.
  • Dark Councilor
    RogueJedi86's avatar
    • Posts: 3,411
    #25 RogueJedi86 Posted 6/3/2011 2:19:27 AM
    I would hope so. EADM is a mess. I can't download anything on it without the downloads erroring out. I'd rather a straight download than using the EADM.
  • Dark Lord
    DarthShnooky's avatar
    • Posts: 345
    #14 DarthShnooky Posted 6/3/2011 1:07:16 AM
    You guys might want to change that headline; as you can see, it's confusing those who don't read the actual articles very well! :)

    Sounds like EA wants to keep all that profit in house, and not give Steam the massive amounts of cash this game is likely to generate. Probably a smart move, assuming they have the tech to pull this off smoothly at launch. *Hint for EA: allow customers to download and pre-install the game prior to the actual launch date to reduce the initial hit your servers will take at launch. Just a suggestion!

    Oh, with the article now having more info at the end; it sounds like Origin is going to be EA's Battle.net. Social platform + games -- so perhaps there will be cross-game communication through a single Origin account and other similar features. Considering Rift utilizing social media tools like facebook and youtube in game, i'm curious to see what EA and Bioware will do to develop the community for this game. Bigger community is (usually/hopefully) a good thing.
  • Dark Lord
    Jonnehz's avatar
    • Posts: 381
    #12 Jonnehz Posted 6/3/2011 1:03:53 AM
    Not a fan of some new service being responsible for swtor distribution. Stuff tends to go wrong with new stuff :s
  • Nerf Herder
    sleepr's avatar
    • Posts: 16
    #13 sleepr Posted 6/3/2011 1:06:59 AM
    Don't worry, they wouldn't mess this up... i bet they will put the beta in the platform in order to test it. ;)
  • Nerf Herder
    spideygenx's avatar
    • Posts: 17
    #9 spideygenx Posted 6/3/2011 12:54:27 AM
    I wonder if they are gonna use TOR to launch the service- if so - maybe well see the game release before turkey day. (fingers crossed)
  • Nerf Herder
    RizzoRatchet's avatar
    • Posts: 8
    #7 RizzoRatchet Posted 6/3/2011 12:52:19 AM
    I wish this would have just gone on Steam...

    Oh well. Doesn't really matter that much.
  • Dark Lord
    Evel's avatar
    • Posts: 284
    #6 Evel Posted 6/3/2011 12:52:07 AM
    I have serious doubts that it will be "exclusively" released through digital only. Especially considering the size that the game will be it won't be an option for other countries like Canada that have caps on their internet downloads. It would also be a great disappointment to fans to not have the option of a Collector's Edition either.
  • Jawa Trader
    JediJoeK's avatar
    • Posts: 75
    #10 JediJoeK Posted 6/3/2011 1:02:30 AM
    It says it will be available retail as well as the digital download service in the second paragraph...
  • Nerf Herder
    Blooddagger's avatar
    • Posts: 5
    #18 Blooddagger Posted 6/3/2011 1:29:56 AM
    I would just like to say that our download caps wouldn't prevent us from downloading a game like SWtoR. Our caps may be smaller but there are plans that offer larger download caps (mine is 60gb), but I've never not been able to download a game because of my download cap. Just thought I would clear up that misconception.
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