While the influential indie developer doesn’t think EA’s service is perfect, he’s glad that platforms like Steam now have some competition.
One of the internet’s most abundant and renewable resources is pure, unadulterated rage, and when it comes time to export, EA’s digitial distribution service, Origin, seems to be on its short list of recipients. Markus “Notch” Persson, the infamous creator of indie whirlwind Minecraft, however, has a slightly different take, revealing to GameSpy that he’s glad the service is available to gamers.
“I think it’s a bit dangerous to only have one digital distribution platform like Steam,” he said. “I love Valve, but out of principle, I find the idea of one platform a bit scary. So I like that there are others competing – for example, Desura and Impulse, who recently got bought by GameStop. It’s a good thing that there are more.”
But just because Notch is glad that EA has launched a competitor to the Steam juggernaut, that doesn’t mean he’s completely on board just yet.
“Origin does a couple things badly compared to Steam,” Notch admitted, “which is impressive since they had eight years to study Steam.”
During those eight years, Steam has established itself as the dominant force of similar distribution methods, boasting 35 million current active users, and an impressive peak of 5 million simultaneous users online. Compare that to EA’s Origin service, which currently caters to only 9.3 million gamers, with only 1 million of those active per day.
Even though currently dwarfed by Steam, 9.3 million users is nothing to scoff at. Unless you’re Notch, in which case the scoffing sounds a bit like this: “They should definitely have a chance to do their thing,” he said, “but they might want to move away from titles that make people use it and show people why they should use it.”
Still, one or two jabs aside, Notch still approves of the service, saying, “But I think, in principle, it’s a good thing.”
