Kajetan wrote on Jun 15, 2011, 00:42:

Hyatus wrote on Jun 15, 2011, 00:33:
The difference between then and now is that Valve created a new market for this sort of deal and does a damned good job with it.

That's what we can say years later. But then people bitched and whined and MOST OF THEM installed Steam to play Counterstrike and HL2. And then, they get used to it. And now they can't think of a life without Steam.

EA is bringing nothing to the table ...

EA doesn't have to. They bring TOR and probably BF3 and ME3 and every other potential hit to Origin. That's all they have to do. Enough people will follow. And get used to it.

No, you do not have to follow. But enough people will as they followed Steam, as they accepted online DRM and account locked content and other annoyances just to play a popular game. Many gamers are addicted to games. They will do anything.