Origin Moves to Support Indies With 90 Days Waived Distribution Fee

[News Portal]

Whenever a developer sells something through Origin, EA takes a cut - but not for the first 90 days of sales, if you're an indie with a game ready to go. EA announced yesterday that Origin will waive its distribution fees to indie games crowdfunded by Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. Brian Fargo and Jane Jensen both voiced support for the move, which is also receiving widespread support from most indie developers. Expect Wasteland 2 to be one of the first games to take advantage of the system.

Source: PC Gamer

Read full article by GON News

[DeathMist]

ah ah ah, what?

Now this is something that I can say I'm happy about.

[meji]

A present a win win for those involved. Indie developers get 3 months of essentially free distribution, EA get desired games on Origin that aren't just EA devil titles and gamers get to choose which platform they get their games on.

Now if it evolves into a free distribution, but only if it is Origin exclusive - well it's a win for everyone except the gamers.

[debri]

Sounds like a good thing for developers, but why would any consumer go with EA's Origin if they have an altenative?

[Cyrinno]

because they sure ain't going with nintendo where they won't even make enough sales to get any profits.


edit: misread

I don't mind origin. I think we need more options not less. I just wish they all worked well.

[spkypwnsuall]

Sounds a bit gimmicky to me, but I guess its always good to have more places for indie devs to go.

Well, so long as EA don't make them sign a contract saying "By signing this contract, you allow EA to have the exclusive rights to distribute your product for the rest of time"

[TRB]

So if you're an indie who has their own money instead of using someone else's [kickstarter .etc] then your SOL?

Would Minecraft have got 90 days free?
What about Kerbal space program?


Seems like an odd delineation to me.

[SaNE]

Seems like an odd delineation to me.

I think it's just a measure to ensure that the titles that get put up are both supported and less likely to fail.
I'm sure they would take any game as long as you've already got supporters though other means, you'd just have to show them.

At the end of the day, EA just wants their cut of whatever you're selling and weeding out the bad and less likely to sell (which would make EA a loss) is what a money driven company does.

It would be good if Valve would open their platform more instead of just to source engine mods/'titles', which nearly every single one is terrifically horrible in every sense of the word.

[Cyrinno]

Minecraft sure doesn't need any special support.