EA’s digital distribution platform is not exactly loved by the gaming community. It is clear, however, that EA is trying to compete with Valve’s Steam, another popular distribution platform. Though, Origin has nothing on Steam in terms of functionality and support; when you factor in some of the incredible deals that Steam offers, and take into account how much more robust Valve’s game catalog is- the winner between the two is obvious.

As it would turn out, EA plans to launch Origin on Android, following somewhat in Valve’s footsteps. Steam was made available for mobile devices not too long ago.

Of course, no further information was offered by EA when they made the announcement, so we don’t really know how the mobile version of Origin is going to work. I’m assuming that like Steam, pretty much all of the supported features will make the jump between platforms. More specifically, you’ll probably be able to browse community forums, check out the game catalog, watch videos or exclusive content, and more.

It’s not clear whether or not EA is going to adapt the mobile Origin platform to work with Android games, but that’s also likely. Essentially, it will be a mobile version of Origin possibly equipped with support for Android titles, and that includes achievement tracking, and maybe even a proprietary storefront for mobile games.

In addition, EA will also make Origin available for Mac (OS X), Facebook, and Smart TV. EA first made this information available during their press conference at GamesCom. Except for the news that Origin would be coming to Mac, that was actually revealed much earlier in a press release for the latest SimCity title.

Personally, I love Steam, but as for Origin… not so much. I can’t imagine keeping a version of Origin installed on my mobile devices, it sure seems like a waste of resources already. Who knows at this point though, maybe my opinion will change after the platform is released?

Do you think I’m being a little too harsh? Have you used Origin? Do you like it? Which distribution platform do you prefer, Steam or Origin? What features do you like best from either platform?

[via The Verge]