Steam EA games activate on Origin

By Robert Purchese Published 22 July, 2011

Keep your enemies closer.

EA's digital PC store Origin can activate Steam codes for some EA games.

PC Gamer successfully redeemed keys for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2 and Alice: Madness Returns. Mass Effect 1, however, did not work.

PC Gamer managed to validate the Steam product key for Dragon Age 2 on Origin, and then launch the Steam version of DA2 from the Origin client. The Steam overlay and chat functions were intact and present.

Origin already has a peek around your PC for existing EA games. Will peeking in your Steam library for EA games be the next step?

EA wants Origin to be the de facto online place to buy and download EA PC games. Origin will be the only place to digitally buy Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 10 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DarkOni #1 10 months ago

    And this is new how? You could always register Retail/DD Games with the EA Download Manager (I did it with Crysis [Retail], ME 2 [Steam], DA 2 [Retail], Sims 3 [Direct2Drive] and quite a few more.)

    Origin launching the Steam version isn't exactly Witchcraft either. It simply launches the .exe your Registry points it to, which in this case was the Steam version.

    This revelation is at least 1 year too late.
    Edited by DarkOni at 22/07/11 @ 10:45

  • Platinum_2011 #2 10 months ago

    Publicity disguised as news. Very common unfortunately.

  • Shinomo #3 10 months ago

    On a completely unrelated note: I won't give a toss about Origin until it enables auto-patching. No Steam code hi-jackery matters.

    Seriously, why compete with a behemoth like Steam when you don't even have that basic function in your own DD service? Maybe that makes me lazy, but it's no less relevant a function: if you're going to compete for customer's affections, do it properly and have the most appealing feature available from the word go.

  • bemaniac #4 10 months ago

    The reason it wont win is because I don't just want EA games but I do want one place where all my games are.

  • bobfish09 #5 10 months ago

    Like DarkOni said, this isn't new and is in fact the only redeeming feature of the EA Downloader and Origin... that you can add retail and DD games from EA to it.

  • cheeky_pete #6 10 months ago

    Shank, Command & Conquer 4, Red Alert 3, Burnout Paradise and Medal of Honour also work.

  • DirectAim #7 10 months ago

    I will use Steam over Origin! Steam is bigger, better and frankly 10x better than EA

  • Mechorpheus #8 10 months ago

    You can add Crysis 2 to the list.

    To give EA their dues, at least you don't (yet) have to keep Origin running to play games you've installed, and can actually install games to a specified location, rather than within its own folder (like EVERY other bloody DD client in the world other than steam).
    Edited by Mechorpheus at 22/07/11 @ 12:11

  • lockload #9 10 months ago

    @DarkOni Actually i think you misread you can actually enter the serial code for a game purchased on steam and it can download on Origin as if purchased there

  • DarkOni #10 10 months ago

    @lockload That's what I meant with "Register[ing] [...] with the EADM", meaning you can then download them there. This does not add Steam functions.
    If you download it there, you are playing the game as if you installed it of a Retail DVD. When they started the (already installed through Steam) Game, Origin simply used the Steam Version.
    Edited by DarkOni at 22/07/11 @ 13:00

  • Gastrian #11 10 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • oceanmotion #12 10 months ago

    Some of you Steam fans should just a buy a console. Seems to suit your needs of a closed paltform.

  • thiagots85 #13 10 months ago

    NO.FUCKING.SHIT.


  • Alestes #14 10 months ago

    Cool news, shame it doesn't work with Mirror's Edge :)

  • Lunaticorc #15 10 months ago

    WooHoo!!! wrote: Some of you Steam fans should just a buy a console. Seems to suit your needs of a closed paltform.

    That makes no sense whatsoever. Being able to download all your games from one place is a matter of convenience. I personally don't see the benefit of multiple services, but that doesn't mean i won't use them when it becomes necessary. EA is free to do as they please and a little inconvenience is not going to stop me from buying games that i want to play. Doesn't mean i think what they're doing is a good idea though.

  • Shinomo #16 10 months ago

    @Gastrian

    I wasn't aware that I was "whinging", merely pointing out that a competing platform for DD didn't have a primary feature that it really should have at release.

    And fair enough, it has auto-patching NOW (something I'd admittedly missed), but you'd think that -given the ROBUST competition- Origin would have had auto-patching long before this. How long has EADM been around? 6 years? Didn't Steam have this feature from day one? It's not that much to ask, is it? Not to mention that that's not the only complaint I have with the system: Don't get me started on the arbitrary download limitations and the ludicrous deletion of accounts if not used for 24 months.

    It's not "whinging" to expect more out of a service (though you're quite welcome to sit there and lethargically scratch your arse if it makes you happy, I'm not going to judge your for it), especially when that service is trying to persuade you away from another, extremely similar service that's been around longer and does everything better (as of right now, at least): that it took until NOW (or at least, recently) for auto-patching to become relevant doesn't inspire much confidence if the whole idea is that EA are trying to compete with Steam and talk you (the consumer) into spending your money right now. You don't come out of the gate with an inferior system with next to nothing new to offer on the table, simple as that. You can call it "whinging", I call it "stating the fucking obvious".

    Don't get me wrong, I've no doubt Origin will fill the gaps eventually (like they have allegedly done with the auto-patching system), and chances are that if there's a game I want and I can't get it on Steam, I'll get it on Origin if I really have to. That doesn't excuse a half-built system that still makes demands for your hard-earned money.

    But what do I know, right? I'm just the kind of asshole that understands a need for quality. *shrug*

  • bodhi85uk #17 10 months ago

    Im a big fan of Steam/Valve, never intended to use Origin - but seeing as I just got a BF3 Alpha invite it is now installed on my computer. Feeling dirty at the moment.

  • Gastrian #18 10 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • Shinomo #19 10 months ago

    Not sure I follow: I've admitted that I was wrong about my initial statement and put forward more reasons for which I'm not convinced Origin deserves my cash. I can't elaborate on why I'm not behind Origin just because I can't validate my original, erroneous statement? Even when I've put my hands up and said "Yeah, you're right, I missed that" and moved on. Grow up, please.

    To be completely honest, you're right: I'd last checked Origin earlier this month, maybe even before that and at that stage, it didn't have auto-patching as a feature (something I maintain should have been there 6 years ago, never mind this month). I haven't looked at Origin since. Perhaps I should have, but then, I wasn't expecting officer-pedantic to be waiting in the wings, lubing up his baton and waiting for the slightest opportunity to wave his bits in my unsuspecting face.

    In case it wasn't clear, I stand by what I said. Imaginary, illusionary fanboyism aside, Origin is not ready to be taking on Steam in its current state, and it should have been long-prepared to compete properly, most notably with auto-patching as a default, basic feature, not an update 6 years in the pipeline. Is that a shame? Well, yes, because it's doing a diservice to the big EA releases later this year and early next year. If you're happy with that, like I said, more power to you. I'll it again: I'm not.

    Kudos on your clever and witty spelling of fanboy though: your e-penis is way bigger than mine, and it completely validates your being a phenomenal ass-hat on a public forum. *nod*