EA ditching Origin name with new EA Desktop app as part of ongoing rebranding efforts
Plus redesign and new features incoming.
Last month, EA announced it would be consolidating its EA Access and Origin Access subscription services and rebranding them as EA Play, and the publisher now says its Origin desktop launcher is getting a new name and overhaul as part of its rebranding push too.
EA's PC desktop client has used the Origin name since the service launched in 2011, but the long-running brand will soon be phased out entirely when the publisher's overhauled PC client, known simply as the EA Desktop app, arrives.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, EA's senior vice president of strategic growth Mike Blank explained the new desktop app won't just have a new name; it'll offer a streamlined, more easily navigable user experience, new features including background updates, a "better patching experience", plus improvements to login, registration, and game libraries.
The goal, says Blank, is to create a "frictionless, fast, socially-oriented experience for our players, where it becomes the best place for them to connect with the people they want to play with in the games they want to play".
Blank says the move signals "an ethos that is critically important to us and that we know that's important to our players", and is part of an ongoing push to offer players more choice in terms of the platforms EA games are accessible on.
It's a philosophy that's seen the publisher make a number of significant moves in recent times, bringing its once predominantly Origin-only PC catalogue to Steam and announcing its EA Play subscription service will made available as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for PC later this year. Blank also says cross-platform play will be a key part of EA's future plans.