EA Rebrands Origin Launcher With the Most Boring Name Ever
Electronic Arts launched 'Origin' nine years ago in 2011 and its rebrand - while boring, is necessary.| Source: Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP
- EA has announced that its Origin platform will soon be known as EA Desktop app.
- The move forms part of a broader rebranding undertaken by the company recently.
- The publisher’s subscription services were consolidated as EA Play last month and will soon feature in the Xbox Game Pass.
Electronic Arts has announced that it is rebranding its Origin client to possibly the most uninspired name we’ve come across in a while. Origin PC platform will now be known as simply EA Desktop app, and with the new name comes a visual overhaul.
As a bluntly descriptive, functional name, Desktop app doesn’t exactly get the imagination going, and it’s difficult to see how the publisher plans to lure in new users with such a drab title. The publisher’s senior vice president Mike Blank says it’s all by design , though. The refresh aims to:
“to create a more 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 explains the experience will be a simplified one, with more straightforward navigation, faster downloads, enhancements to log in, registration, libraries, and an improved patching experience.
The senior VP notes that these changes are fueled by an ‘ethos that is critically important to us and that we know that’s important to our players,’ and one that aims to empower players to decide where and how they play games.
Broader EA Rebranding
This latest refresh is but the latest move in a broader strategy pivot undertaken by the company in recent months toward ‘democratizing gaming’ through simplicity and multi-platform distribution.
EA Access and Origin Access Basic became EA Play last month, a consolidation of the subscription services that coincided with the arrival of parts of EA’s catalog on Steam . Last week, Microsoft announced that it is expanding the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for PC subscription services with EA Play later this year. At no extra cost, no less.
EA Desktop app joins the growing list of alterations and additions we’ve seen enshrined into the gaming lexicon in recent times: Xbox Series X/S, Dual Entitlement, Prime Gaming, and AAAA, to name but a few. Hopefully, it will calm down a little once all the next-gen fuss dies down later this year.
