EA reveals Steam rival Origin

EA has created a new digital distribution service called Origin.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a full reveal will happen today. No release date for Origin is mentioned.

Origin will focus on PC games - over 150 of them at launch. It's not clear whether these will expand past EA-branded titles.

Like Steam and iTunes, Origin will be an application-powered shop.

There will be social networking features such as messaging and friends lists (pulled from Facebook et al), as well as profile pages linked automatically to your EA game progress.

Further down the road, Origin could straddle other devices such as phones. A Battlefield 3 mini-game spin-off may reward points that can unlock content in the core Battlefield 3 console and PC game, for example.

To put Origin on the map, EA will make it the only place you can download the huge Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO.

Once Origin has enough momentum, will EA remove its games from other digital distribution shops?

EA has been digitally distributing PC games through the EA Store for years. Presumably that Store will eventually be replaced by Oirigin.